Community Impact

Wesleyan’s Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows shared stories about their work this academic year during the program’s Think Tank at their third and final salon this spring, held in the Library’s Smith Reading Room on April 20. Two previous salons–intimate, informal gatherings looking at works-in-progress and building community–were held in February. The initiative’s Summer Leadership Institute, “The Power of We,” takes place on campus from June 5 through June 11. The April salon was facilitated by two Summer Leadership Institute faculty members who have worked with partnering organization Urban Bush Women: choreographer and artist Marjani Forté-Saunders, and movement coach and community practitioner…

It started with Akansha Singh’s ’23 babysitter in India, Rashmi, who struggled to find a job after completing school. Rashmi married at 17 and had a child, a daughter she does not plan on educating because of the lack of job opportunities available, Singh said. After working at a non-profit that educated women in rural areas of India for a year after high school, Singh, an Applied Data Science major, realized this experience was more pervasive than she initially thought. Around 67 percent of educated women in rural India are not employed, according to a 2015 United Nations report. Because…

Before Ben Levin ’23 was a Wesleyan student, he visited a friend on campus. They ventured into a classroom together to find a student working through a math problem on a chalkboard while blasting punk rock through his headphones. The student then took off his headphones and passionately explained what he was working on. “It felt like I was in a movie scene,” Levin, chosen to speak at Commencement on May 28, said. “I was excited because it was really the first time where I thought ‘this is the kind of person I really want to surround myself with,’ even…

By Maia Bronfman '24 Seven students at different stages in their startups delivered pitches to potential partners and funders on Friday, April 14, at Beckham Hall during the Patricelli Center’s New Venture Awards Finalist Showcase hosted by Interim Director Ahmed Badr. “The public showcase of the New Venture Awards is a key priority of the Patricelli Center, as it presents an opportunity for students to introduce their work to the larger campus community, as well as alumni working across sectors. The gathering kicks off a series of engagements between students and alumni, and is always followed by new friendships, mentorships,…

Keleki Logoh ’23 lived in Togo, located in West Africa, until she was seven years old. In 2021, she went back home for the first time since she was a little girl. “I was shocked by the state of the country,” Logoh said. Food scarcity was an issue since over 60 percent of the citizens experienced moderate to severe food insecurity. Imported vegetables were expensive. People had trouble balancing financial burdens with feeding their families. Just a few months later, Logoh was back at Wesleyan going down an internet rabbit hole of videos of different kinds of farming techniques. When…

Thomas J. Watson Fellow Jocelyn Velasquez Baez ’23 will travel to at least six countries in a year’s time to explore how the integration, adaptation, and practice of traditional medicine is perceived in diverse Indigenous and ethnic communities around the world. The Watson Fellowship, sponsored by the Watson Foundation, allows recent graduates from 41 partner institutions to do year-long independent exploration projects outside of the United States. Velasquez Baez will travel to the Philippines, Ecuador, Nepal, Ghana, New Zealand, and Canada—with the hope of more—to visit and learn from various Indigenous and ethnic communities in each country over the course…

Wesleyan’s Jewett Center for Community Partnerships convened a group of scholars, public policy specialists, funders, and activists to explore what community safety is, what it can look like, and the systemic barriers in place preventing an ideal version of that goal. The recent conference, “Re-imagining Community Safety,” showed the challenges in creating a more just world. The daylong conversation took place Thursday, April 13. The Center for Justice Innovation was a co-sponsor of the event. “We have a long and deep tradition of activism and community engagement, so consider yourself at home” said Clifton Watson, director of the Jewett Center.…

The statistics on sexual abuse are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men report experiencing rape or sexual abuse before they turn 18. “This means that a significant portion of young adults entering college have already been impacted by sexual violence,” said Amanda Carrington, Wesleyan’s Associate Director for Sexual Violence Prevention. The numbers are not much better while at college. About 1 in 5 female students, and 1 in 16 male students experience sexual violence through physical force, violence, or incapacitation while in college, according to the Rape, Abuse &…

Sharing music. Teaching and advocating for sexual health and justice. Protecting the environment. Tutoring children. Wesleyan students are known for incorporating their own personal passions into work benefitting the wider community. A group of deeply involved students shared their civic engagement experiences at the latest Virtual WESeminar held on March 29. The conversation was moderated by Abigail Maymi ’22, Jewett Center for Community Partnerships Civic Engagement Fellow. Speakers included Annika Shiffer-Delegard ’23, Wesleyan Reproductive Advocacy and Legislation (WRAL); Blythe Guecia ’23, Adolescent Sexual Health Awareness (ASHA); Sam Multer ’23, Traverse Square After School Program; Imogen Frazier ’25, Food Rescue; Sarah Bank ’23, WESU Radio; and Lily Krug ’24, Sunrise. They spoke of…

Does theater really change somebody? That is the question that director and Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl always asks herself when she does a show about an issue she cares about. In her most recent work “Ocean Filibuster,” Pearl explores the intimate, critical relationship between humans and the ocean. “I make a play because I want to have a conversation with the topic,” Pearl said. “I like to think of the rehearsal room as a little radical ecosystem. As a director my job is to create a community that is in the conversation that the play is wanting to…

The 2022 midterm elections featured a record volume of television advertising, while, in addition, candidates in federal races spent almost $150 million on digital ads, according to a post-mortem analysis from the Wesleyan Media Project. Late February, the Wesleyan Media Project published two reports on television and digital ad spending in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics. “After all was said and done, and after billions of dollars were spent on political advertising in the 2022 U.S. midterm election campaign, American politics mostly changed on the margins,” according to the Wesleyan Media Project. According to WMP…

Through a series of intimate and informal salons, Wesleyan’s Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellows shared some of the work they have created this year during the program’s Think Tank. The salons are mini-festivals of arts, ideas, and activation, looking at works-in-progress and building community, said Stephanie McKee-Anderson, Executive Artistic Director of partnering organization Junebug Productions and Special Advisor to Provost Nicole Stanton. A Fellow might have the seed of a creation, so a salon could be a helpful place to dialogue about that idea, while the others might act as thought provocateurs. “What questions make a creator more excited about their…

Embodying Antiracism Fellows Share Their Stories During Salon

Student, Two Staff Members Receive 2023 Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ’03 Awards

Student Speaker Levin ’23 Will Miss People at Wesleyan

Three Students Win Patricelli Center New Venture Awards

Logoh ’23 to Start Up Aquaponics Farm in Togo

Watson Fellow Jocelyn Velasquez Baez to Explore Ethical Understandings of Traditional Medicine in 6 Countries

Jewett Center Hosts Community Safety Conference

Wesleyan Recognizes Survivor Solidarity Month

Wes Students Share Civic Engagement Experiences

Connecticut Premiere of “Ocean Filibuster” Takes Place May 4-6

Wesleyan Media Project Publishes New Study on 2022 Midterm Advertising

Arts, Ideas, and Activation: Embodying Antiracism Fellows Share Creations