Faculty – Page 8

Every time author and Assistant Professor of English Rachel Heng begins a new project, she asks herself, “what are the stakes?” Why is she writing this story? When writing her new novel, The Great Reclamation, she saw her mother reminiscing about former greenscapes converted to tall buildings in her native Singapore. She grew up hearing stories of life before the high-rise filled city she grew up in. “My mother would go to places and say, ‘oh, you know, we used to live here, but I don't really know where it is anymore because they changed all the roads,’” Heng said.…

A group of artists and academics came together in the first of a series of climate change conversations to examine how art can impact policy. This event is part of the Ocean Filibuster: Art and Action series—a semester of art and activism, science and storytelling—building to the Connecticut premiere performances of PearlDamour’s "Ocean Filibuster" in the CFA Theater from Thursday, May 4 through Saturday, May 6, 2023. For more information and related events, please visit www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/ocean. The first panel discussion on March 28 considered the relationship between artmaking and policy—how artists, scientists, and policymakers can be more powerful, and more able to shape…

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…

Who collects your data? Which data? Why? Where does it go? Who is buying it? What are they doing with it? Can we protect our data or choose who gets to use and sell it? What laws are in place to protect your data? What’s the path forward for data privacy? These were all questions tackled by data privacy experts from Wesleyan, New York University, Google, Harvard, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, and others who spoke at the annual Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns on March 31 and April 1. “The importance of freedom from unauthorized intrusion is on the top…

As political violence spreads throughout Haiti and gangs take over neighborhoods, local Vodou temples are vulnerable to destruction, losing an important part of the country’s religious and cultural patrimony. Professor of Religion Elizabeth McAlister is working alongside colleagues in Haiti to help preserve the precious art and sacred objects at one particular temple. To support her efforts, McAlister has recently been named a 2023 Crossroads Research Fellow by Princeton University. The Crossroads Project “responds to challenges that call for deeper public understanding of and scholarly engagement with Black religious histories and cultures,” according to its website. McAlister, Lewis A. Clorméus,…

Reinhold Blumel, Charlotte Augusta Ayres Professor of Physics, has recently published three papers in the journal Scientific Reports: "Effects of the coupling of dielectric spherical particles on signatures in infrared microspectroscopy;" "Space-resolved chemical information from infrared extinction spectra", and "Domes and Semi-Capsules as Model Systems for Infrared Microspectroscopy of Biological Cells." David Kuenzel, Associate Professor of Economics, published Non-tariff Measures: What's Tariffs Got to Do with It? in the February 2023 issue of the Canadian Journal of Economics. The paper systematically examines the empirical link between various tariff measures and the imposition of non-tariff barriers in WTO member countries. Matthew M. Kurtz, Professor of Psychology, published a piece…

In a recent article in the journal Regional and Federal Studies James McGuire, Professor of Government, found that Trump's 2020 vote share was a strong and robust predictor of a lower COVID-19 vaccination rate across US states, US counties, and Connecticut towns alike, adjusting for wide range other factors thought to affect the vaccination rate. At each of the three subnational levels, McGuire showed, the Trump 2020 vote share was also correlated more closely than the Trump 2016 vote share or the Romney 2012 vote share with the COVID-19 vaccination rate. McGuire estimated the statistical impact of the Trump 2020…

Community-based, data-driven stories are Koeppel Fellow Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’ bread-and-butter. Instead of walking into a pitch meeting with a defined story arc, as is often required in the modern media landscape, Thomas prefers to come in with a general topic to take to community members and find the story from there. “Community-based reporting is sort of just standing on the sidelines and observing what's happening. Listening to people at community meetings or the park or wherever, staying attuned to the Facebook groups that are the communities in the areas you're serving, and then determining what the story is,” Thomas said.…

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…

Former Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibarguen ’66, Hon. ’11, P ’97 announced he is stepping down as the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—a philanthropic organization that has invested in media, arts, and culture. President Joseph R. Biden nominated Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm ’88 to be the new commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force, one of the three main Marine forces, according to Marine Corps Times. An aviator by training, Cederholm has served as deputy commandant for aviation since July 2022, according to his official bio. Neuroscientist Michael Greenberg ’76 was one of three winners of the Lundbeck…

One spring day in 2011, 15,000 people gathered in the streets of Tokyo, all of them singing a song that had been released online just three days prior. It was a self-cover of a love song, but re-configured and lyricized to protest the use of nuclear power in Japan following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A tale of a teenage crush reignited at a high school reunion was turned into accusations of governmental lies about nuclear safety. Flickering love to unwavering anger. A sentiment that carried thousands to the streets. The song “Zutto Suki Datta” (“I Always Loved You”) by Kazuyoshi…

Heng Publishes New Novel The Great Reclamation

Artists and Academics Discuss Climate Change

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

Internet Privacy Roadmap Developed at Shasha Seminar

Religion Prof Receives Fellowship to Help Preserve Vodou Temple

Faculty Achievements: Spring 2023

New Research Shows 2020 Vote for Trump a Strong Predictor of Lower Vaccination Rates

Koeppel Fellow Jacqueline Rabe Thomas on the importance of community-based reporting

Wesleyan Media Project Publishes New Study on 2022 Midterm Advertising

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

Wesleyan in the News: March 2023

Visiting Professor Talks Protest Music in Japan Following the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster