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Olivia DrakeFebruary 28, 20191min
Wesleyan's student group, Cardinal Kids, led a six-part series of events throughout the month of February at the Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore. Cardinal Kids is a teaching collective run by Wesleyan students, each adapting their on-campus work into fun, interactive lessons for children in grades 1–5. Throughout the month, Cardinal Kids provided a comic book–making workshop, two introductions to world art, a lesson on protecting the environment, a class on journalism and newspapers, and a DNA-extracting workshop. All lessons were taught alongside an accompanying book. On Feb. 21, Cardinal Kids' Meera Joshi '20 led "Get That DNA!" using the book Have a Nice…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 28, 20191min
Wesleyan University was named the No. 1 "Impact School" for 2019 by The Princeton Review. Wesleyan and the other 24 schools that made the list "were selected based on student ratings and responses to survey questions covering community service opportunities at their school, student government, sustainability efforts, and on-campus student engagement." The Princeton Review also took into account PayScale.com’s percentage of alumni from each school that reported having high job meaning. Since the Princeton Review created this category in 2015, Wesleyan has remained at the top of the list. "According to our Civic Action Plan, we wish to be an…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20194min
John Finn, professor emeritus of government, is the author of Fracturing the Founding: How the Alt-Right Corrupts the Constitution, published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2019. Finn is an internationally recognized expert on constitutional theory, the rule of law and political violence, and the First Amendment. His public lectures include testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, as well as lectures in Bolivia, Canada, Chile, England, France, Italy, and Spain. Many in the radical right, including the Tea Party, the militia movement, the alt-right, Christian nationalists, the Oath Keepers, neo-Nazis, and a host of others, brand themselves as constitutional patriots. In Fracturing…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 27, 20193min
Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, is the coauthor of two published papers in February. "Response of Arizona cypress (Hesperocyparis arizonica) to the Horseshoe Two Megafire in a south-eastern Arizona Sky Island mountain range," is published in the February issue of International Journal of Wildland Fire (Issue 28, pages 62-69). It is coauthored by Andrew Barton, professor of biology at the University of Maine at Farmington. This study documents the effects of the 2011 Horseshoe Two Fire in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona on Arizona Cypress. Two Wesleyan students, Hunter Vannier '20 and Michael Freiburger '21 assisted…

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Lauren RubensteinFebruary 19, 20192min
Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” In a new article, Associate Professor of History Victoria Smolkin explains the historical context and significance today of a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church. Smolkin is also associate professor, Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies, and a tutor in the College of Social Studies. Why a centuries-old religious dispute over Ukraine's Orthodox Church matters today A new Orthodox Church was recently established in Ukraine. Shortly after, Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the spiritual head…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 19, 20192min
Martha "Marty" Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of earth and environmental sciences, presented a talk at the American Museum of Natural History on Feb. 4 titled "Venus: One Fate of a Habitable Planet." Gilmore's presentation was part of the museum's Frontiers Lecture Series, which highlights the latest advances in our knowledge of the universe by presenting the work of scientists at the cutting edge of astrophysics. Gilmore, a planetary geologist, uses surface mapping and orbital spectroscopy to study Venus's terrain. During her talk, she spoke about the planet's oldest rocks and what they can tell us about the…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 18, 20192min
(Information provided by the Office of Academic Affairs) Joseph W. Reed, professor of English and American studies, emeritus, died on Feb. 11 at the age of 86. Reed arrived at Wesleyan in 1960 after receiving his BA, MA, and PhD from Yale University, and having served on active duty in the Navy. During his time here, he served as the chair of the English Department and of the Sesquicentennial Committee, and was one of the founding architects of both American Studies and Film Studies at Wesleyan. He played an important role in cultivating numerous interdisciplinary initiatives on campus and was…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 18, 20191min
Six Wesleyan students were recently honored by Creative Writing at Wesleyan and the English Department. Caridad Cruz '21 is the recipient of the Sophie and Anne Reed Prize. Established by Leon Reed; his sons, S. Chadwick ’41 and Dr. Victor Reed; and his grandson Ted Reed ’70, the prize is named in memory of Sophie Reed and Anne Reed, for the best poem or group of poems. (more…)