Community Impact

(By Maia Dawson '24) For Josh Hinman BLS '21, an inmate at Cheshire Correctional Institution, Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education (CPE) program “felt like a gamble.” When he joined the program in there was no degree pathway and he remembers asking the pilot program directors Russel Perkins '09 and Molly Birnbaum '09, if it was a study. Now years later, Hinman is a college graduate and a member of the inaugural class of Wesleyan BLS degree recipients. Hinman and his classmates Michael Braham BLS '21 and Clyde Meikle BLS '21 shared their experiences with the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education…

Wesleyan’s intellectually dynamic faculty, students, alumni, staff, and parents frequently serve as expert sources for national media. Others are noted for recent achievements and accolades. A sampling of recent media hits is below: Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 reviews Richard Rorty's Pragmatism as Anti-Authoritarianism in The Los Angles Review of Books. "Rorty was at once an iconoclast and an adherent of progress — the odd radical who believed deeply in this country’s potential. His Pragmatism as Anti–Authoritarianism, a set of 10 lectures he delivered in Spain in 1996, has just been published. While many of the arguments are by now…

News media, advertising, and other messaging can be important tools in promoting a healthy and equitable society. The COVID-19 pandemic shows just how catastrophic the consequences can be when a communication crisis is added to a health crisis. Wesleyan’s Erika Franklin Fowler, Steven Moore and Laura Baum are launching the Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy (COMM) to help. In summarizing their research—including more than a decade’s worth of health-related advertising and news coverage on childhood vaccinations, the Affordable Care Act, education, paid leave, and health equity—they find some broad takeaways. For example, according to COMM,…

Like many other activities on campus, Wesleyan Food Rescue went into a kind of hibernation during the height of the global pandemic last year. When Food Rescue distributed food daily, over 40 students were involved. Last year the number dwindled to seven participants. Now, student coordinators were looking to rebuild the ranks of their almost 10-year-old organization. Student coordinators Gina Gwiazda ‘22, Ari Hart ‘24, and Lucia Voges ’24 are looking for at least three or four drivers to help them bring more food to the Eddy Shelter, located on Labella Circle in Middletown. Expanding the number of available drivers…

In a new study linked to her 2021 high honors thesis, Sanya Bery '21 discovered that cities that house universities have a significant likelihood of adopting ambitious climate action plans. "It is clear that as plans become more ambitious, there is a higher concentration of university cities, and as plans become less ambitious there is a lower concentration of university cities," she said. "[These cities] efforts will be critical to the world’s effort to combat climate change." Bery, who majored in government and environmental studies, is currently collaborating with Mary Alice Haddad, John E. Andrus Professor of Government, on a…

One day, back in 2019, three armed men came to Henry Dilonga Meriki’s house. He knew why they were there—they needed money to keep the fight against the Cameroon government going, or, they'd resort to kidnapping him. Anticipating the worst, Meriki put on warm clothes and shoes that would allow him to walk miles into the bush to their camps. They were separatists, a group of English-speaking fighters who have been battling with the government of Cameroon for over five years. He gave them about $180—down from $1,100 they asked for—to let him go. “We had to negotiate, and it’s better…

At the age of 16, Reginald Dwayne Betts was arrested for armed carjacking. He was sentenced to prison—where an unknown person slid a copy of Dudley Randall's The Black Poets under his cell door. It was this book that sparked a love for poetry and led to his lifelong interest in literature. "I spent nine years, writing every day, reading every day, imagining that words would give me the freedom to sort of understand what got me in prison," Betts said. "And when you're trapped in the cell—literally— words are your only lifeline. And I committed myself to using them…

While teaching in New York City public and charter schools that served low-income, students of color, Roseann Liu and her fellow educators would frequently purchase basic resources such as paper, books, and classroom manipulatives for their students out of their own pockets. Students learned from outdated textbooks and teachers hungered for professional development opportunities. Teachers and parents alike understood these conditions as the norm. "Having less became natural," said Liu, assistant professor of education studies. "Most students, parents, and teachers were unaware of how sharp the disparities were between underfunded and well-funded schools." As a newly-selected National Academy of Education…

For many first-generation and low-income students, simply the idea of attending college can be daunting. The cost of higher education might be prohibitive. The application process can be complicated and overwhelming. Even with a committed support network, it can all be too much. “Oftentimes for first-generation students, college is not something that's expected … It is now starting to be a little bit more like ‘hey, you should go to college’ but it is not as widespread as in more affluent communities,” said Miguel Peralta, director of Wesleyan's Upward Bound Math-Science program. The Upward Bound Math-Science program is pulling down…

For nearly a year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably affected our lives in varying magnitudes. In this timeline, we explore the evolution of the pandemic through Wesleyan's lens via public health advisories, photographs, and news stories. Jan. 22, 2020: Wesleyan's Medical Director Dr. Tom McLarney issues a public health advisory to the campus community. "As many of you know from news reports, there is a viral illness that has affected the Hubei Province (mainly in Wuhan) China," he wrote. "This virus is a novel (new) strain of the Corona virus ... At this time, there is no…

For Participants in Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, A Gamble Paid Off

Wesleyan in the News

Researchers Create New Collaborative to Guide Effective Health Communications

Wesleyan Food Rescue Looking for Volunteers

Bery ’21, Haddad Share Climate Action Plan Study with United Nations

Wesleyan Participates in Efforts to Protect Visiting Scholars

Betts Hon. ’21 Named a 2021 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow

Liu Explores Racial Equity in School Funding as NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow

Wesleyan’s Upward Bound Helps Local Students Prepare for College

Timeline: Wesleyan Reflects on the COVID-19 Pandemic