Community Impact

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA) starts a celebration of its 50th birthday in September. The 2023-2024 season features live performances and exhibitions that reflect on the roots of the center while also bringing new artists and works to campus. Director Joshua Lubin-Levy ‘06 said he and his staff want to hear from anyone who has engaged with the CFA over the years. The CFA’s curatorial team will be asking students, faculty, staff, and visiting artists to join them in their reimagining of what it means to center art in the context of a liberal arts education. “As with…

The fourth annual Narratio Fellowship performance at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City took place over the summer. This year's fellows came from cohorts in Syracuse, New York and Richmond, Virginia. They worked all summer to create art books, self-portraits, and poems that were inspired by artifacts in The Met's Ancient Near East Collection. The fellows performed by the Temple of Dendur, but they will continue to work on their pieces throughout the year before exhibiting them in the spring in Syracuse and Richmond. The Narratio Project was founded by Ahmed Badr ’20, Interim Director for the…

An Olympic swimmer at the peak of their profession can, at best, blaze across a 50-meter pool in under 25 seconds. That’s with Goldilocks conditions—decades of training, supreme reaction time, and the perfect dismount. It’s a feat of athleticism few can truly appreciate or relate to. Now imagine trying to do the same task, but in a cardboard boat engineered and assembled by a group of high schoolers. One group of Wesleyan’s Upward Bound students did just that. They hopped into a small vessel with two recyclable paddles in hand and hit the water with calculated rhythm, momentum, and determination…

Each year, Wesleyan alumni have the opportunity to participate in the Alumni-elected Trustee process and vote for three of their peers to serve on the Board of Trustees. Screenwriter William H. Boulware ’71, investment manager Dana A. Levy ’12, and economist Monica G. Noether ’74 were elected this year to serve a three-year term. Boulware, Levy, and Noether join 33 other trustees who are responsible for ensuring the University fulfills its mission, sustains its values, and appropriately balances its obligations to current and future generations. While many schools have some Alumni-elected Trustee representation, Wesleyan is unique in that one-quarter of…

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited Wesleyan University on July 28 for a roundtable discussion with first-generation students on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to advance diversity and opportunity in higher education. Cardona engaged with students about how diversity is important to their learning experiences, bilingualism, having staff that represent their student populations, and culturally relevant teaching. He also sought advice on how to elevate students’ voices and what they want Washington to do to further this charge. “Each one of these students here today told me that one of the things they love about Wesleyan is learning in an…

Three Wesleyan students’ in-depth analysis of the causes of and possible solutions for the problem of child marriage in Indonesia won the University of Oxford’s 2023 “Map the System” Challenge. The team of Sida Chu ‘26, Sun Boonbhati ‘26, and Valensia Tandeas ‘26 were among 900 that participated in the challenge, and were chosen as one of 12 finalists to present at the University of Oxford’s Global MTS Finals. The Wesleyan team became global champions for their project “No Longer Daughters: Child Marriage in Indonesia.” “‘No Longer Daughters: Child Marriage in Indonesia’ stands out both for its depth of research, as well as the team's…

Wesleyan's esteemed faculty, staff, and alumni often appear within media coverage to provide their expertise and experience. This was the case in July as Wesleyan voices were included in the coverage of the Supreme Court of the United State's decision on Affirmative Action by several outlets. Media Coverage on the Supreme Court's Decision on Affirmative Action The Supreme Court of the United States voted to strike down 45 years of court precedent allowing for race-informed admissions—often referred to as affirmative action—on June 29 in the case of a 6 to 3 vote along ideological lines. Following the decision, Wesleyan President…

Strawberry soda and red velvet cake. They are two foods rich in flavor and in history tied to the celebration of Juneteenth—their red color represents the blood spilled by the last enslaved people freed more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. They are also the theme of Wesleyan’s table at Middletown’s third-annual Liberation Day Festival and first Juneteenth Parade on June 19 celebrating the hallmark occasion. One year after establishing Juneteenth as a campus-wide holiday, Wesleyan is excited to have been a sponsor of the event and have representatives walking in the parade—which will start on North Main St.…

A day of celebration, demonstration, and love. Middletown Pride hit the heart of the city on June 3, as locals and not-so-locals joined together in support of love, equity, and inclusion. Wesleyan was one of four partner organizations of the Middletown Pride event, alongside the City of Middletown, Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Russell Library. Andrew White, Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian at Olin Library, said that he has been attending Pride events since the 1980s and has been involved in Middletown Pride since the first event. He said it marks Middletown and Connecticut as communities striving to “be…

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…

Center for the Arts Celebrates 50 Years

Wesleyan Moments: Badr’s Narratio Project Fellows Performs at The Met

Wesleyan’s Upward Bound Students Traverse Freeman Pool in Cardboard Vessels

Newly Elected Alumni Join Board of Trustees

Wesleyan Students Offer Advice to the Nation

Wesleyan Team Wins Global “Map the System” Challenge

Wesleyan in the News: July 2023

Wesleyan Sponsors First Juneteenth Parade in Middletown

Wesleyan Partners, Walks with Middletown Pride

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