Community Impact

There are only three places in the United States where incarcerated individuals never lose their right to vote: the District of Columbia, Maine, and Vermont. Connecticut is one of 23 states where incarcerated people lose their right to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2021, the state passed a bill restoring the right to vote for most people on parole and probation. Two advocates for this bill’s passage—State Senator Gary Winfield and organizer James Jeter—joined reentry expert Tracie Bernardi Guzman in conversation about barriers to voting in Connecticut at Wesleyan’s Allbritton Center for the Study of…

For three days in mid-September, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) embarked on an unusual trip. The university’s three chaplains—representing Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith traditions—took a dozen students from Wesleyan’s Mega Interfaith Leadership Council (MILC) to Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass. Over the course of the long weekend, the group engaged in interfaith conversation, introspection, and community. Between moments of silence, guided hikes, and presentations on topics like spirituality, leadership, and resilience, the spiritually diverse group connected with each other across what can seem like vast, even intractable, differences. “We’re at the beginning…

Joshua Cardenas ’19 had worked for five members of Congress but had never been involved in vetting and research before he took a job at the White House for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022. “If you have opportunity to work in the White House, you take it. Whether it be pushing the snow, cutting the grass, anything to work there,” Cardenas said. As associate director of research and vetting in Harris’ office, he said he was tasked with ensuring events were focused on the people and issues the administration wanted to support. Cardenas always knew he wanted a career…

Daniel Coxson ’27 spent his summer in Olney, Maryland letter writing, phone banking, and encouraging people to register to vote, among other civic engagement activities. “I made yard signs and a political pumpkin,” he said of the large fruit he painted dark blue with white letters spelling the word v-o-t-e in all caps. “That was my favorite.” Coxson is one of 24 recipients of the 2023-2024 Student Political Engagement Fund grants, funding administered by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life to support student engagement in the public sphere. With these grants of up to $5,000 during the…

A few years ago, New York Times investigative reporter Hannah Dreier ’08 obtained a swath of data on the locations of children immigrating to the United States without their parents — a demographic easily targeted by unscrupulous employers. She dialed around in search of anything that could point to whether these children were working underage, but each call resulted in the same conclusion: no one claimed to know anything. So, she put down her phone, hopped on a plane, and traveled where the data pointed her. Within a day or two at each location, she found and interviewed migrant children…

Two recent Wesleyan graduates, Dylan Campos ’24 and Cate Levy ’24, were named Watson Fellows by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Each will travel abroad to several countries on year-long, independent exploration projects. “The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is unique among leadership fellowships because of its globe-spanning and open-ended nature,” Erica Kowsz, Wesleyan’s associate director for Fellowships, explained. “Aspiring fellows can propose the project that most suits their own passions, however idiosyncratic they may be, without the pressure of producing academic publications or pursuing a graduate degree.” Campos will venture to cities in Australia, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, and…

The midday sun beamed through barred windows into a high-ceilinged auditorium at Cheshire Correctional Institution as Andrew “Duke” Dickson ’24 donned a red gown and took to a centerstage pulpit. He was moments from receiving the college degrees he’d earned through Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education in front of an audience that included his mother, son, professors, other incarcerated individuals, and, seated stage right, President Biden’s education secretary. But first, Dickson reflected on the trials, transformation, and good fortune that led to him and the 18 other incarcerated individuals receiving degrees to this day. “It is not that we are…

Students contribute to the Wesleyan community in their own unique ways. Some lead through work in student government or engage in local community service; some make break-through films, eye-catching art, or captivating theater productions, and others focus their contributions in the classroom. Some do all the above. Whatever they do, each student has some impact on the day-to-day life of Wesleyan. Every year, the University and its more than 40 academic departments recognize students for their in-and out-of-classroom work by awarding student prizes. The following students are just a select few of the many recognized. Read the complete list of…

Three impactful student organizations—the Mudanza Dance Project, Pyari, and Nailepu Foundation—each received $6,000 New Venture Awards from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship on April 22. “The 2024 Patricelli Center New Venture Awards were the most competitive in the Center’s 13-year history," said Ahmed Badr, director of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship. "We’re proud to have provided funding for all the applicants, for a total of $44,000. For the first time, all applicants received [at least] a $1,000 grant towards their ventures.” Diana Kimojino ’26 founded the Nailepu Foundation with one goal in mind—to elevate the women and girls…

Student-veteran Desaree Edwards ’25 was one of 60 student leaders selected as Truman Scholars in 2024, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation announced on April 12. Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counseling, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government. Edwards aims to go to law school to become a legal advocate for adult survivors of human trafficking. She said she specifically wants to see federal expansion of the Trafficking Victims Protection…

When Gad Nkurunziza ’27 excelled in sixth grade in the Burera district of Rwanda, his school’s headmaster gave him a chicken for his academic achievements. That single chicken introduced Nkurunziza’s family to poultry farming and transformed their lives, he said. Soon, Nkurunziza will bestow the same gift onto other families in his village, with the hopes it will help bring prosperity to his home community. “We as youths are able to not only impact our own lives, but also impact others,” Nkurunziza said. “I believe that society can change for the better. This [can] be done if we put creativity…

Wesleyan students, faculty, alumni, and members of the broader university community came together with education, political, and media thought leaders Feb. 16 to 17 for critical discussions about the roles universities and students can play in defending a democracy, especially a vulnerable one. The goal of the two-day, on-campus convening, Democracy in Action—part of the Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns—was to inspire people, especially Wesleyan students, to get involved and do the work necessary to save what many believe is the nation’s faltering democracy. From lingering false claims of widespread voter fraud to book bans and voter suppression laws, the…

Breaking Down ‘Barriers to the Ballot’

Bridging Differences Through Interfaith Community and Dialogue

Democracy in Action: Meet Joshua Cardenas ’19

Grants Empower Students to Strengthen Democracy

Dreier ’08 on Pulitzer Prize-Winning Investigative Series

Watson Fellows to Research Urban Agriculture, Sexual Discrimination Abroad

At Center for Prison Education Commencement, Enduring Change Through Higher Education

Wesleyan Announces 2024 Student Prize Winners

Patricelli Center Awards Funding to Three New Student Ventures

Student Veteran Named Truman Scholar

Student’s Agricultural Project in Rwanda Wins Davis Projects for Peace Grant

How Did We Get Here? Wesleyan Puts Democracy in Action