Students

For the sixth year in a row, Wesleyan has been recognized as one of the colleges and universities with the highest number of students selected for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international academic exchange program. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Fulbright…

In Professor of Physics Francis Starr’s Lab, researchers focus on studying the complexities of soft matter and materials. One target of their investigations are phase change materials, or substances that can transition from one state to another, similar to common transitions between a solid and liquid, but in this case the material can very rapidly switch between two different solid phases. In a recently published paper, Starr and his student co-authors developed a novel model to simulate a phase change that could one day have an impact on such practical matters as how quickly our smartphones process data. For their…

The Africana Research Collective, a group of faculty, students, and recent alumni, journeyed to Southern Louisiana for a hands-on research experience focusing on the intellectual and cultural history of the African diaspora. This was the collective’s second ever trip after an inaugural research excursion to the Dominican Republic in 2022. This particular trip was organized around the theme of “agency,” which can be tentatively defined as “someone’s or something’s capacity to produce an intended or unintended effect,” said Assistant Professor of African American Studies Garry Bertholf. This four-day, cross-institutional research collaboration brought together undergraduate fellows from Wesleyan’s Bailey College of…

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, 15 students were formally inducted into Wesleyan’s Gamma chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society. This impressive group were early-decision inductees, meaning they met the rigorous criteria before they are expected to graduate. At the start of the event, Nadja Aksamija, associate professor of Art History and president of the Phi Beta Kappa Committee, shared that these high-achieving students joined an estimated 525,000 society members from across the country. Aksamija went on to explain that Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776, is the oldest surviving Greek letter society in America. To receive this honor, the latest group…

For 85 years, WESU, Wesleyan’s campus radio station, has offered a mix of music and public affairs programming. This year, the station launched a new program, Engage Radio, to shine a light on the community-engaged work of its university partners and residents from across the greater Middletown community. Broadcast bimonthly on Friday afternoons, Engage Radio has featured a blend of stories that has included artist in residence Sunny Jain talking about his music and the experience of South Asians globally; Center for Prison Education (CPE) Director Tess Wheelwright sharing the history and milestones of CPE; and community partner Donna Hylton,…

The Wesleyan Field Hockey team has a new home at Hicks Field, officially named at a Sept. 21 ceremony. This new field also has a new type of AstroTurf called Poligras Paris GT zero, which is the first carbon-zero hockey turf developed worldwide. "Playing on Hicks field has been surreal, a dream come true,” said Christine Kemp, field hockey head coach and assistant strength and conditioning coach. “We play faster, smoother, and more skilled field hockey than ever before. It's been incredible to see our players take such big steps in elevating the level of play, individually and as a…

Wesleyan’s holistic approach to admissions continues to support a socioeconomically diverse student body with the Class of 2028. Among the 824 first-year students and 48 transfer students who joined the campus community this fall, there are more first-generation and Pell-grant-eligible students compared to last year. A notable 16% are the first in their families to go to college, which is higher than the percentage of children of alumni. Of those who self-reported their race or ethnicity, the data is comparable to last year: The percentage of domestic students of color remains at 32% of the class. The number of Black/African…

The veteran community at Wesleyan now has a dedicated space to study, gather, and dine. Several community members—student-veterans, advisors, faculty, staff, and Public Safety officers, among others—did just that at the opening of the new Wesleyan Veterans Lounge in Hewitt Residence Hall on Sept. 12. “Support of veterans, or of any student for that matter, doesn’t end at admission. Retention, progression, and graduation—in short, their success—requires holistic support across campus, in academic, co-curricular, residential, and wellness spaces,” said Noble Jones, associate dean of admission and director of enrollment analytics. “We heard for several years that our student-veterans felt the need…

Six members of the Wesleyan community have accepted grants through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, a prestigious international academic exchange program that offers graduates, graduate students, and young professionals opportunities to study, research, or teach English abroad in over 140 countries. During the 2024-25 academic year, this year’s cohort — which includes Melanie Cham ’24, Eliot Kimball ’24, Sophie Mann-Shafir ’22, Daisy Montoya ’24, Simon Worth ’24, and Joanna Paul ’18 — brings their skills, interests, and curiosity to a far-flung geography spanning Argentina to India to Madagascar. The prestige of Fulbright experiences helps open doors to exploration and opportunities…

During Robin Wall Kimmerer’s first days as a university student, a professor asked why she wanted to study botany. She replied that she wanted to understand why goldenrod and asters — flowering plants cultivated by Native Americans — looked so beautiful together, a perspective influenced by her upbringing as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The professor ridiculed her, dismissing her comment as unscientific. “Your way of thinking is not welcome here,” she recalled him saying. Years later, Kimmerer’s way of thinking received a standing ovation from students during their first days at Wesleyan. In addition to being a…

The Class of 2028 gathered on Andrus Field for a joyful celebration on Aug. 30. More than 600 first-year students took part in the 17th annual “Common Moment” as part of new student orientation. The celebration also included new transfer students from both the Class of 2027 and the Class of 2026. Joshua Lubin-Levy 06, director of the Center for the Arts, said the “Common Moment” is an opportunity during orientation for new students to get out of their heads and into their bodies, feeling and sensing the world around them through dance as they reflect on the kind of…

Senior Julia Armeli '25 is one of a dozen undergraduate students using innovative technologies to make sense of the deluge of political ads targeting citizens at Delta Lab, the computational arm of the Wesleyan Media Project (WMP). This election season, Armeli, her student colleagues at Delta Lab — and another group of students at WMP known as human coders — will continue to apply their research and analytical skills to shed light on an increasingly diverse and polarized media messaging landscape. Delta Lab is a student-centered lab that draws on the skills and passion of students to analyze political ads…

Wesleyan Named Fulbright Top Producer for Sixth Year

Starr Lab Develops New Model to Study Novel Phase Change Material

Africana Research Collective Visits Louisiana

Fifteen Wesleyan Students Joined Phi Beta Kappa

New WESU Program Shares Community Engagement Stories

Carbon-Zero Field Hockey Turf Unveiled at New Hicks Field

Wesleyan Maintains Diversity in Class of 2028

Wesleyan Veterans Lounge Creates Space for Community

Wesleyan Fulbright Fellows Embark on Global Journeys of Curiosity

At Common Read, Author Asks Class of 2028 to Reimagine Relationships with the Earth

‘Common Moment’ Tradition Connects New Students Across Difference

Student-Led Lab Shines Light on Political Advertising