Community Impact

Poet and social entrepreneur Ahmed M. Badr '20 has been named the new director of the Patricelli Center, an organization he considered a home while attending Wesleyan. After serving in an interim capacity, Badr took on the permanent role in August. “I hope that the folks going through the classes and the program realize their own capacity to create a direct impact in the world,” Badr said. Badr’s road to helping students find their way to change the world through the Patricelli Center began with finding his own voice. His family came to the United States in 2008 as refugees from…

By Rose Chen '26 On Saturday, November 11, the Bailey College of the Environment (COE) hosted “Mobilizing Power: Community Building for Environmental Justice,” an event which brought together individuals to exchange knowledge, build relationships and skills for community organizing, and collaborate on action for environmental justice. Malana Rogers-Bursen, the Project Coordinator for Food Security, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability at COE, and Hannah Phan ’25 created the event along with a small group of student leaders and faculty from Sunrise Wesleyan, the Environmental Solidarity Network (ESN), the COE and the Office of Sustainability, as well as community leaders from Save the…

Assistant Professor of Dance Iddi Saaka is teaching the fundamentals, history, and cultural importance of African drumming and dance to a group of adults over the age of 55 at the New Britain Public Library this fall. His group gathers in the downstairs Stanley Works Community Room for 90-minutes on Thursday afternoons. Over the course of eight weeks, the library class is learning two Ghanaian recreational dances, “Kpatsa” and “Kpanlogo.” Saaka previously taught “Kpatsa” to Wesleyan’s Class of 2027 during their new student orientation “Common Moment” on Andrus Field the day after they arrived on campus at the end of…

Wesleyan University has made significant strides in reducing its carbon footprint, cutting its carbon emissions by a third. In addition, more than half of the student body have participated in sustainability courses and activities over the past year. The University’s progress was documented in its first Sustainability Strategic Plan annual report, recently released by the Wesleyan Sustainability Office this week. A full text of the annual report is available at bit.ly/sspreport2023. Thanks to its renewable energy purchases, carbon offsets for air travel, and campus upgrade from steam to hot water pipes, the University reduced its carbon footprint by 35 percent…

The path from military service to the classroom varies from veteran-to-veteran. Some spend four years in active-duty service straight out of high school and then utilize their educational benefits immediately. Others spend decades serving the country before venturing out to pursue personal enrichment through academia. Regardless of a veteran’s journey to education, Wesleyan University offers its student-veterans a holistic approach to reintegrating them into the classroom. The path for Chase Williams ’25 was a long and winding one. He first came to the United States in Aug. 2001, a month prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. He took an English…

By Rose Chen '26 Students and members of the community gathered at Van Vleck Observatory (VVO) on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 14 for solar eclipse and astronomy-related fun. Despite the cloudy weather, attendees received eclipse glasses for safe future viewings and a planetarium show, as well as books available to check out from Russell Library and demonstrations in both English and Spanish from graduate students in the astronomy department. “I think, of course, everybody was disappointed that the clouds didn't cooperate today,” Associate Professor of Astronomy and Integrative Sciences Meredith Hughes said. “But it's never cloudy in the planetarium,…

By Rose Chen '26 Wesleyan hosted its first Community Campus Day on Saturday, Oct. 7, an event which invited students grades 7 to 12 to campus for hands-on art workshops in honor of National Arts & Humanities Month. The Jewett Center for Community Participation (JCCP) collaborated with the Dance Department, Olin Memorial Library, Art Farm, Oddfellows Playhouse, and WESU 88.1 FM to offer a range of workshops to students from 14 schools, including those who are homeschooled. Community Campus Day was organized and led by Briana Bellinger-Dawson, the JCCP’s Coordinator of Community Participation, who focuses on youth and education facing…

Attorney Ian Bassin ’98 was named a MacArthur Fellow by the MacArthur Foundation on Oct. 4. The prestigious award went to Bassin and 19 others who have demonstrated outstanding talent and creativity in their work. Bassin is the executive director of Protect Democracy, an organization he co-founded in 2016, which aims to counter authoritarian tactics and abuses of power. The group takes a multidisciplinary approach with work in litigation, legislative reform, research and analysis, election-monitoring software, and strategic communications. “Democracy is a rare form of government in human history,” Bassin said. “It is not something that comes about naturally or…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) recently reported a steep rise in beneficiary complaints regarding the way Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D programs were being advertised. Many of the complaints suggested that some advertisements for these programs were misleading consumers or using aggressive sales tactics to boost enrollment. To better understand this problem, the Wesleyan Media Project (WMP) collaborated with KFF to study how health insurers and brokers are marketing Medicare programs to the American public during the open enrollment period in 2022. “We have worked informally with KFF in the past since our core set of expertise…

Showing camaraderie and spirit, the first students participating in the African Scholars Program are growing acclimated to the unique experience offered at Wesleyan. The exceptional group of 13 students from across Africa assembled at a welcome dinner on Thursday, Sept. 7 in the Daniel Family Commons. The scholars and their mentors shared a meal, remarks, poetry, songs, and a shared sense of purpose. Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ‘96, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid, encouraged the students to see their time at Wesleyan as an opportunity to empower and uplift themselves. While he asked that they give of…

Everyone gets their start somewhere—an entry point into their eventual career path. For M.J. Renee Sher, assistant professor of physics, it was at her all-girls middle school growing up in Taiwan. For Victoria Manfredi, assistant professor of computer science, it was her father’s suggestion she take computer science classes in high school and college. “College was the first time I had any women computer science professors, and they were just amazing people,” said Manfredi, who did not seriously consider the career until college. “Because I was at a women’s college, my computer science classes were also all women. That really…

The interests and accomplishments of Wesleyan’s current cohort of Fulbright Fellowship recipients is diverse, ranging from education to translation to refugee reception to tracing ancient trade routes across the Mediterranean. “This reflects something that I’m not sure people realize about the Fulbright program: with hundreds of distinctly different grants available across more than 140 countries, there’s no one cookie cutter Fulbrighter,” said Erica Kowsz, Associate Director for Fellowships. Nick Bowman ’23, Margalit Katz ’22, Ben Levin ’23, Emily McDougal ’23, and Anna Tjeltveit ’23 will fan out across the globe for their Fulbright years starting this Fall. “With two…

Badr ’20 Named Director of the Patricelli Center

Bailey College of the Environment Hosts Environmental Justice Event

Professor Teaches African Drumming and Dance to Local Community

Wesleyan Cuts Carbon Emissions, Report Says

Wesleyan’s Holistic Approach to Student-Veteran Success

Community Views the Solar Eclipse

Jewett Center Hosts Workshops for First Community Campus Day

Ian Bassin ’98 Named 2023 MacArthur Fellow

Wesleyan Media Project Studies Medicare Advertisements

Wesleyan Welcomes Inaugural Class of 13 African Scholars

Girls in Science Camp

2023 Wesleyan Fulbright Fellows Begin Their Work