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Students from high schools across the country are getting the chance to “live like a philosopher” thanks to a Wesleyan course taught by Tushar Irani, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Letters. The course is offered through Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab—an initiative that seeks to democratize college access and advance education justice by providing college-level courses to students attending Title 1 high schools across the country. (The New York Times wrote about the program previously.) There are six high schools participating in the course—from Albuquerque to El Paso to the Bronx—with a total of over 75 students…

Wesleyan’s newest Phi Beta Kappa Society members plan to impact the world through service, research, policymaking, music, literature, and art. There were 15 high-achieving Wesleyan students inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at a ceremony in the McKelvey Room on Dec. 6, joining over 500,000 members from 293 campuses across the country. They join former presidents, members of Congress, and Nobel Laureates as part of the nation’s oldest scholastic honor society. “It is really an impressive honor,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78, who is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. “It's not just your grades, it's not…

Four prototype mosaics sit on display in storefront windows along Main Street’s Downtown Business District this fall. The quartet are a sample of what Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art and Art Studio Technician Kate Ten Eyck will install in the pedestrian tunnel connecting downtown Middletown to the Connecticut River as part of a new public art project. The ongoing multi-year mural installation project, called “Mosaics on Main/TunnelVision," will showcase 200 million years of local history. Ten Eyck’s mosaic depicts the dinosaur Anchisaurus, one of the few fossilized skeletons found in the region, in Manchester and East Windsor. Ten Eyck held…

When given the option to control how their data is being collected and distributed with a simple click on a button, 94 percent of participants in a study from researchers at Wesleyan University said they would use the tool. The new opt out mechanism, called Global Privacy Control (GPC), promises to allow people to universally exercise their right to opt out of data sharing and selling through a simple click in their browsers to communicate their preferences to websites across the internet. “The opt out right is especially important because it controls whether or not people’s data enters the online…

President Michael S. Roth made the following announcement on December 5: Dear Friends, I am sorry to report the death of Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s former first lady, on December 3 at her home in Essex, CT. Midge’s contributions to the University were wide ranging and impactful. She and the late President Emeritus Douglas J. Bennet ’59, Hon. ’94, P’87, ’94, GP’27, ’27 worked steadily to improve relations with the City of Middletown, frequently opening their campus home to local officials and residents for receptions. She took a keen interest in a variety of arts initiatives, served the Board of…

Author and academic Michael Eric Dyson will offer the keynote address at Wesleyan University’s Democracy in Action Convening, a weekend exploration of the convergence of higher education and democracy. The event will be held February 16-17, 2024, and is free for Wesleyan students and $25 for all other attendees. Registration is now open. Across two days of thought leadership and engaging activities, participants will hear from a collection of scholars, community leaders, experts, and peers. Following a Friday afternoon filled with student-centered engagement opportunities, the Convening opens to all with Dyson’s keynote address that evening. Saturday will be filled with…

Phoebe C. Boyer ’89, P’19, ’23’s long Wesleyan journey has taken her from being an undergraduate worker who helped at Board of Trustees meetings to her upcoming role as the University’s next Chair of the Board. Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees named Boyer as Chair of the Board for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2024. The decision was made during the Board’s November 18 meeting. “I am honored to assume this responsibility and look forward to continuing to contribute to the Board’s collaborative efforts in support of this extraordinary, and ever important institution,” Boyer said. “I am so grateful that…

Hoping to expand the diverse ways the Wesleyan community engages in public discourse, Associate Professor of Sociology Robyn Autry has been named director of the Center for the Study of Public Life, at the Allbritton Center. “Provost Nicole Stanton has trusted me to do something new with the CSPL (Center for the Study of Public Life). I am still figuring out what I want to do, but it is connected with a lot of the public writing I’ve been doing for the past few years,” said Autry, who is a critical sociologist. The new role dovetails with Autry’s research interests…

Artificial intelligence is a disrupter the likes of which humanity has never seen before. It can magnify existing societal evils, but also offers students unique educational opportunities. It can both replace human knowledge and offer unprecedented opportunities to capture and harness it. It’s seemingly inevitable; it must be regulated. What was clear from the conversation at the Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, held Nov. 10 and 11, is that the rapid rise of artificial intelligence represents an inflection point for humanity. Groups of experts from a variety of fields came together at the seminar to talk about “Artificial Intelligence or…

Newly published research on cognitive remediation’s impact on those with mood disorders calls for public health officials to consider assessing and treating cognitive deficits. Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Behavior Matthew Kurtz said offering those people with mood disorders and cognitive deficits some type of behavioral treatment may help mitigate their difficulties. Kurtz, Zoey Goldberg ’21, and Brina Kuslak ’21 published “A meta-analytic investigation of cognitive remediation for mood disorders: Efficacy and the role of study quality, sample and treatment factors” in the June edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders. By meta-analyzing 22 unique, controlled studies with nearly…

Richard (“Dick”) Van Wyck Buel Jr, Professor of History, Emeritus, passed away on November 22 at the age of 90. Dick received his AB from Amherst College and his AM and PhD from Harvard University. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1962, where he taught American history until his retirement in 2002. During those years he published six books, including In Irons (Yale University Press, 1998), a macroeconomic history of the American Revolution, and for 22 years he served as associate editor of History and Theory. After his retirement, Dick remained involved at Wesleyan in the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty, and he taught a course on American intellectual history for students in Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. “I…

In a piece for Time Magazine, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 and Yale School of Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld argue university leadership has an obligation to speak out to ensure safety for students and employees. "It’s not an infringement on free expression to take a stand as an institutional leader, whether it’s to condemn perpetual military occupation, to denounce scientific falsehoods during a pandemic, to defend the importance of telling the truth about the legacies of Black slavery, or to point out that progressive pieties often make use of ancient anti-Semitic tropes to promote sick silos of solidarity," they…

High School Students ‘Live Like A Philosopher’ Through Partnership

Fifteen Students Inducted to Phi Beta Kappa

Wesleyan Professor to Create Mosaics on Main

Privacy Controls Important For Users, Study Says

Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s Former First Lady, Dies

Dyson to Offer Keynote Address At February Democracy in Action Convening

Phoebe C. Boyer ’89, P’19, ’23 Named Next Chair of the Board

Autry Named Director of the Center for the Study of Public Life

Artificial Intelligence Explored in Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns

New Research Calls For Public Health Officials to Consider and Treat Mood Disorders

Richard Van Wyck Buel Jr., Professor of History, Emeritus, Dies at 90

Wesleyan in the News: November