Campus News & Events

Professor of Anthropology Gina Athena Ulysse was recently honored with the Anthropology in Media Award (AIME) from the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Established in 1987, the annual award recognizes the successful communication of anthropology to the general public through the media. Ulysse was presented with the award at the association’s 2018 Annual Meeting in San Jose, Calif. on Nov. 14–18. According to AAA, Ulysse was honored for “her powerful and effective work communicating anthropological insights to the broad general public. Through her anthropological writings, blogs, talks, and her widely shared performance pieces, Ulysse has worked to expand her reach, presence,…

For his contribution to the field of ethnomusicology and music scholarship, Sumarsam, the Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music, was recently named an honorary member of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). The encomium was presented by Wesleyan alumna Maria Mendonca MA '90, PhD '02, during the 63rd SEM General Membership Meeting, Nov. 17, in Albuquerque, N.M. Sumarsam was commended for his scholarship on gamelan and wayang performance traditions, which inspired the SEM membership, explained Gregory Barz, president of the Society for Ethnomusicology. "Your mentorship of countless students and colleagues, both directly and by example, is held in high esteem, and the ways that…

Ronald Kelly '19, who is majoring in the College of Letters and classical studies, presented a paper at the first Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Conference on the Ancient World at Bryn Mawr College and Haverford College on Nov. 9–11. He attended the conference with his Mellon Mays mentor, Tushar Irani, associate professor of philosophy and letters. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) Program is the centerpiece of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s initiatives to increase diversity in the faculty ranks of colleges and universities. The program operates from the foundational principle that encouraging a diverse range of scholarship and scholars…

While 94 percent of children from wealthy Filipino households attend high school, only 69 percent from poor households continue to get a high school education after graduating from grade school (UNESCO). Through a nonprofit venture called SALIN Ed., Frederick Corpuz '20 is working to create an inexpensive, sustainable alternative to classroom learning that enables 10- to 12-year-olds in the Philippines to become independent, successful learners through an online program. To advance his social entrepreneurial skills and better his venture, Corpuz applied to participate in the 11th annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference, held Oct. 19–21 in Chicago, Ill. (more…)

Students in Assistant Professor of Government Logan Dancey’s GOVT 232 Campaigns and Elections course got a real-world lesson in the subject matter this Election Day. On Nov. 6, the students stood out in the rain to field an exit poll—a survey of voters as they’re leaving their polling locations—in Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District. The students conducted the surveys at nine different polling places spread out across six different towns in the district. In order to generate a diverse sample that reflected the demographics of the congressional district, the precincts were intentionally selected to provide a balance of more Republican-leaning, Democratic-leaning, and…

On Nov. 14, Wesleyan celebrated geography, mapping, and spatial data analysis at the annual GIS Day. GIS Day provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems (GIS) technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in our society. The first formal GIS Day took place in 1999. During GIS Day, the Wesleyan community was invited to participate in multiple activities, including a hands-on humanitarian map-a-thon, a seminar on digital storytelling with maps led by Sam Raby '17, and games involving "Fun with GIS." The events were led by students taking the E&ES 281: GIS Service Learning course…

Assistant Professor of Psychology Kyungmi Kim, Youngbin (Amabel) Jeon ’19, Alexis Banquer ’20, and Danielle Rothschild ’19 are coauthors of a study published in the October 2018 volume of Consciousness and Cognition. In the paper, "Conscious awareness of self-relevant information is necessary for an incidental self-memory advantage," Kim and her students examine the relative contributions of conscious vs. unconscious self-processing to the incidental self-reference effect. The incidental self-reference effect refers to a memory advantage for items simultaneously presented with self-relevant information (e.g., one’s own name) over those presented with other relevant information (e.g., someone else’s name) when the task at…

Wesleyan recently kicked off a strategic partnership with Eversource Energy that will support the University's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Wesleyan President Michael Roth and Eversource Vice President of Government Affairs Margaret Morton signed an agreement on Oct. 30 before receiving a tour of the Freeman Athletic Center's recent energy efficiency upgrades. The new strategic partnership supports a three-year energy efficiency plan that will save an additional 3.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. (more…)

Claudia Kahindi ’18 is a recipient of the 2019 Rhodes Scholarship for Kenya. Established in 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious, international scholarship programs in the world. It offers about 100 fully funded scholarships each year to students around the world for post-graduate study at the University of Oxford in the UK. Recipients are selected based on their “outstanding intellect and character” as well as their motivation to “engage with global challenges,” serve others, and become “value-driven, principled leaders for the world’s future.” “For me, receiving the Rhodes Scholarship means that even the…

Barry Chernoff, director of the College of the Environment, was one of eight scientists recently honored with a new musical composition based upon his research—part of a concert and album titled "The Sound of Science, performed in New York City on Nov. 10. The project aims to build "bridges between the musical and scientific worlds, celebrating their shared culture of inquiry," according to the website. The pieces were written by seven celebrated composers for amplified cello and electronics, and were all recorded and performed by world-renowned cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, longtime member of Kronos Quartet and several other groups. The Grammy…

This year, students shared global stories about humanity in 51 cities across 24 countries through the third annual Wes in the World photo contest. Sponsored by the Fries Center for Global Studies, the contest is open to Wesleyan students who have had any global experience over the previous summer and/or previous semester. This includes study abroad returnees, international students, exchange students, fellowship recipients, and foreign language teaching assistants. More than 200 students, staff, faculty, and alumni voted on the submissions within five categories: Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Landscape, People, and Sport and Play. "Our hope with these categories is to allow students to…

Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, is the coauthor of two papers published Oct. 22 in the journals Fire and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, respectively. Poulos lead-authored a paper on fire and plant evolutionary ecology titled, "Do Mixed Fire Regimes Shape Plant Flammability and Post-Fire Recovery Strategies?" Contrary to a new model assuming that plant species have evolved three divergent flammability strategies, Poulos and her fellow researchers present three case studies that indicate plant species have evolved "bet-hedging strategies" that mix a variety of flammability and post-fire recovery strategies. Poulos also co-authored a paper led by ecologist Christopher Johnson of…

Ulysse Honored with Anthropology in Media Award

Sumarsam Named Honorary Member of the Society for Ethnomusicology

Kelly ’19 Presents Paper at Mellon Mays Ancient World Conference

5 Students Attend Clinton Global Initiative University Conference in Chicago

Campaigns and Elections Class Conducts Real-World Exit Poll Research

Wesleyan Celebrates GIS Day with Hands-on Activities

Kim, Students Coauthor Paper on Self-Memory Advantage

Wesleyan, Eversource Begin 3-Year Strategic Partnership

Kahindi ’18 Awarded Rhodes Scholarship

Chernoff Honored at “Sound of Science” Musical Premiere

Students Share Global Experiences through Photography

Poulos Authors Papers on Managing Ecological Fire Risks, Recovery Strategies