Campus News & Events

For the second year in a row, Wesleyan is proud to be included on the list of U.S. colleges and universities that produced the most 2017–2018 Fulbright Students, as recently announced by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education. For academic year 2017–2018, six recent alumni and one graduate student from Wesleyan received Fulbright awards. Those who accepted and are currently participating in Fulbright are: Kate Cullen ’16, academic Fulbright in Chile. Cullen is…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a recent article, Professor of Government Giulio Gallarotti debunks the myth that Trump's protectionist tendencies fly in the face of America's tradition of free trade. Gallarotti is also co-chair of the College of Social Studies and professor of environmental studies. Read his bio in The Conversation. Trump's Protectionism Continues Long History of U.S. Rejection of Free Trade Free traders have vilified President Donald Trump as a pernicious protectionist because of policies such as hiking tariffs, abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership…

A book by Professor of Anthropology Gina Athena Ulysse was long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award. The PEN Open Book Award confers a $5,000 prize upon an author of color to celebrate racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities. Ulysse's first poetry collection, Because When God Is Too Busy: Haiti, me & THE WORLD, was published in 2017 by Wesleyan University Press. The lyrically vivid meditative journey embraces and reclaims a revolutionary Blackness that has been historically stigmatized and denied. Ulysse crafts experiments with “ethnographic collectibles” of word, performative sounds and imagery to blur genres and…

Laila Samy '18 highlighted the day for the Wesleyan women's squash team as she was named the 2018 Betty Richey Award winner Feb. 18 at Harvard. The award is the most prestigious annual honor bestowed by the College Squash Association (CSA). With another win on Feb. 18, Samy concluded her dual-match season with a perfect 24-0 record; however, the 21st-ranked Cardinals lost to 18th-ranked Tufts, 7-2, to finish fourth in the Walker Cup "C" Division of the CSA National Team Championships. The Betty Richey Award is given to the women's college squash player who best exemplifies the ideals of squash…

Wesleyan Athletics Giving Days (WAGD) is a competitive fundraising initiative bringing together donors and volunteers in support of Wesleyan Athletics. For a week, athletic teams compete for the greatest percentage of donor participation for their sport. At the end of the week, the highest scoring teams—one men’s and one women’s—each win $5,000 for their most critical needs. The program runs Feb. 21–28, 2018. Donors making a gift online or over the phone at 860-685-2110 increase their team’s overall participation percentage, moving them up the leaderboard. The WAGD website will be updated each day. In addition to the winning men’s and…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News Rolling Stone: "Bethesda Founder Christopher Weaver on the Past, Present and Future of Video Games" Christopher Weaver MALS '75, CAS '76, the Distinguished Professor of Computational Media in the College of Integrative Sciences, is profiled. 2. Transitions Online: "The Search for a New World Order, Then and Now" Peter Rutland, the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, writes that a century after President Woodrow Wilson promulgated his "14 points" to guarantee world…

Wesleyan will present two honorary doctorates at the University’s 186th Commencement on May 27, 2018. Anita Hill, who for decades has fought against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace, will present the Commencement address, and Joshua Boger ’73, P’06, ’09 founder of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and chair emeritus of Wesleyan’s board of trustees, will also be honored. Anita Hill Anita Hill is University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis. In 1991, her name became indelibly stamped on the…

By using a newly acquired electron microscope, the E&ES 368 Meteorites and Cosmochemistry class was able to classify a meteorite discovered in Morocco. "We were able to determine that it was an H4 ordinary chondrite, and the chemical information being collected today will be used to document these findings and submit this meteorite to the Meteorite Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society for official classification," said class instructor Jim Greenwood, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences. Wesleyan acquired the field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) with support from a $202,300 National Science Foundation grant awarded in August 2017. Greenwood and Michelle Personick,…

Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of astronomy, assistant professor of integrative sciences, has been named a Cottrell Scholar for 2018 by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA). Hughes is one of two dozen early career academic scientists to receive this honor, which comes with a $100,000 award for research and teaching. “The Cottrell Scholar (CS) program champions the very best early career teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics and astronomy by providing these significant discretionary awards,” said RCSA President and CEO Daniel Linzer. (more…)

Susanne Fusso, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, has been awarded the 2017 AATSEEL Award for Excellence in Post-Secondary Teaching from the American Association for Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. Fusso, who teaches 19th- and 20th-century Russian prose and poetry as well as Russian language, was nominated for the award by her former students. The honor was presented as part of the President's Awards Ceremony at the AATSEEL conference held on Feb. 2 in Washington, D.C. The annual conference focuses on "the aesthetic, creative and communicative aspects of Slavic cultures" and features workshops and panel discussions with experts…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Amid a flood of accusations against public figures for sexual misconduct and other improprieties, Ashraf Rushdy, the Benjamin Waite Professor of the English Language, writes a piece exploring "the art of the public apology." Rushdy is also professor of English, professor of African American studies, and professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Read his bio in The Conversation. The art of the public apology Ashraf Rushdy, Wesleyan University Just prior to his sentencing, former USA…

Wesleyan, in collaboration with Random Hacks of Kindness Jr., is hosting a “hackathon” for social good for students in grades 4 through 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24. This free event, to be held in Beckham Hall, will show local youth how technology can be used to create solutions that benefit nonprofit organizations. The hackathon is open to the public and requires no prior coding experience. “Participants will be working with Wesleyan student mentors to create technology for social good,” explained Patrice Gans, president and executive director of Random Hacks of Kindness Jr. “By the…

Wesleyan Named a Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Students

Gallarotti in The Conversation: Trump’s Protectionism Continues Long History of U.S. Rejection of Free Trade

Ulysse’s Book Long-Listed for PEN Open Book Award

Samy ’18 Honored by College Squash Association

Wesleyan Athletics Hosts Competitive Fundraising Initiative Feb. 21-28

Wesleyan in the News

Updated: Wesleyan’s 2018 Honorary Degree Recipients Announced

NSF Grant Supports Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope Purchase

Hughes Named 2018 Cottrell Scholar

Fusso Honored with AATSEEL Award for Excellence in Post-Secondary Teaching

Ashraf Rushdy in The Conversation: The Art of the Public Apology

Wesleyan Will Host Youth “Hackathon” for Social Good, Feb. 24