Campus News & Events

The Wesleyan team Data Baes took one of the top prizes for "Best Innovation" during DataFest, held March 31 to April 2 at Exley Science Center. Seventy-five students from six institutions participated in the annual analysis competition. During DataFest, students are presented with a large, complex data set and work over the weekend to explore, analyze and present their findings. Teams of three to five students work together and compete against other teams from Wesleyan, Connecticut College, Yale University, Lafayette College, University of Connecticut and Trinity College. Under the auspices of the American Statistical Association, the event is organized by…

New climate research by Dana Royer, professor and chair of earth and environmental sciences, finds that current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and, if they continue on this trajectory "the atmosphere could reach a state unseen in 50 million years" by mid-century, according to an article in Salon. The carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere today are ones that likely haven’t been reached in 3 million years. But if human activities keep committing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at current rates, scientists will have to look a lot deeper into the past for a similar period. The…

On March 31, Wesleyan hosted #BeTheChange, Connecticut's annual Campus Sustainability Conference, featuring former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy as the keynote speaker. Organized by the Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability, the theme of the day-long conference was "Engagement and Empowerment around Climate Change: Fostering Inspiration and Action at the Local Level." About 150 students, staff and faculty from the state's public and private colleges attended the conference, which also included workshop sessions on climate and sustainability action; empowerment on campus; engaging in state policy and legislation; engaging in community and municipal action; and engaging at the grassroots level. Several…

Peter Gottschalk, professor of religion, professor of science in society, was featured in a CBS special on March 28, "Faith in America: A History." The program covered a history of Catholic, Jewish and Muslim intolerance in the U.S. "The very understanding of who is acceptable in American society goes to the very heart of who Americans are, and who Americans can be,"said Gottschalk in his opening appearance. "So issues like excluding immigrants based on a religion test, which is against various laws in our country, not only threaten those who would like to come to the United States, but it threatens those who are…

Participating in Kennesaw State University’s “Year of Russia” program, Assistant Professor of History Victoria Smoklin presented on the current state of US-Russia relations. KSU’s “Year of Russia” invites academics, artists and dignitaries “to promote a deeper appreciation for and understanding of Russia and its people.” During her presentation Smoklin discussed ideological struggle over national identity in contemporary Russia. She noted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s involvement in this struggle. His strategic engagement with his country’s history he has led to an unprecedented gain approval ratings. In particular, she cited Putin’s construction of a 54 foot tall statue of the 10th century…

Men in the U.S. today increasingly believe themselves to be victims of gender discrimination, and there are a record number of recent lawsuits claiming anti-male bias. In a study published in March in Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Assistant Professor of Psychology Clara Wilkins and her co-authors assess the consequences of these perceptions of anti-male bias. Are men who perceive discrimination more likely to discriminate against women? How do beliefs about societal order affect men's evaluations of men and women? The article is co-authored by former post-doctoral fellow Joseph Wellman, now an assistant professor at California State University–San Bernardino, Erika Flavin '14, and…

During her fall semester First-Year Seminars intensive writing course, Gina Savoy '20 investigated the career of artist Vincent van Gogh and penned an essay titled “The Church: A Lifelong Obstacle for Vincent van Gogh." On March 28, Savoy's essay took top prize at the Endeavor Foundation First-Year Seminar Essay Contest. She and four other first-year students received cash awards ranging from $250 to $75 and a book, selected by their course instructor. With support from The Endeavor Foundation of New York, Wesleyan was able to offer the offer inaugural awards ceremony and celebrate the success of 43 FYS in the fall, and 10 this…

Antonio Gonzalez, professor of Spanish and director of the Center for Global Studies, is comfortably seated in front of a semicircle of 11 students. He holds an iPad Pro that controls two large screens on the wall behind him and enables him to move effortlessly, seamlessly from Google Maps, to video clips, to text he can annotate on the iPad. All the while he converses in Spanish with his students about a movie that tells the story of a Moroccan woman repatriating the body of her brother after he died crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in a small boat. In…

Wesleyan has been nominated and named as a finalist for the Technology Excellence Award presented by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Awards are presented to universities and employers for “excellence in the use of technology and/or various social media outlets.” Wesleyan earned this distinction for the Gordon Career Center's premier podcast series, Careers By Design, which highlights the careers of some of Wesleyan’s most successful alumni. Sharon Belden Castonguay, director of the Gordon Career Center and Rachel Munafo, assistant director of the Gordon Career Center, will present on the podcast series and represent Wesleyan at the NACE…

A group of Wesleyan faculty, students and alumni attended the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodland, Texas March 20-24. The annual conference unites 2,000 international specialists in petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, geology and astronomy to present their latest research in planetary science over the course of several days. Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the George I. Seney Professor of Geology Martha Gilmore coordinated Wesleyan's group. While at the event, she presented her work on the oldest rocks on Venus and Mars gully analogues on Earth. A number of her current graduate and undergraduate students attended and several…

Hilary Brumberg ’17, who volunteers at Wesleyan's Long Lane Farm, recently received a Princeton in Latin America Fellowship to develop an environmental education program in Costa Rica. As a Princeton in Latin America Fellow (PiLA), Hilary Brumberg ’17 will spend next year working at Osa Conservation in Costa Rica developing a river conservation and environmental education program. Brumberg is double majoring in earth and environmental sciences (E&ES) and Hispanic literatures and cultures. She's also working on the environmental studies certificate. PiLA matches highly qualified and motivated recent college graduates with partner organizations engaged in socially responsible development projects in Latin America and the…

This semester, students in Antonio Gonzalez’s Spanish 258, “The Intercultural Stage: Migration and the Performing Arts in the Hispanic World” have been experiencing what they study. With the assistance of a videoconferencing system, the Wesleyan students are “joined” in the classroom periodically by a group of students studying at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Charles III University in Madrid, Spain). Gonzalez, professor of Spanish, co-teaches the course with his colleague in Spain, Julio Checa. Checa also works on modern/contemporary Spanish theater and performance, and the two have collaborated on various scholarly projects over the years. They previously ran the trans-Atlantic…

Wesleyan Team Honored for “Best Innovation” at 2017 DataFest

Royer Finds Climate Could Soon Hit a State Unseen in 50 Million Years

Former EPA Chief Headlines Campus Sustainability Conference

Gottschalk Featured in CBS Special ‘Faith in America’

Smoklin Contributes to “Year of Russia” at KSU

Wilkins, Alumni Author Paper on Consequences of Perceived Anti-Male Bias

Frosh Honored for First-Year Seminar Essays

Wesleyan Receives Mellon Grant for Pedagogical Innovation

Wesleyan Named Finalist In NACE Technology Excellence Award

Faculty, Students, Alumni Attend the 48th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Brumberg ’17 Wins Princeton in Latin America Fellowship

Students at Wesleyan, in Madrid Collaborate through Teleconferencing