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The Asian American Student Collective (AASC) and Shakti, the South Asian Student Association, hosted the annual Holi (Festival of Colors) celebration April 28 on Foss Hill. Students tossed colored powder at each other, celebrating the spring season. The event served as the culmination of a month-long celebration of Asian-American culture, identity, history, and activism. (Photos and video by Melissa Rocha) (more…)

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Wesleyan's Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) has been awarded a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Introduced as a pilot initiative in 2011, the ICPP is the first institute of its kind, a center for the academic study of the presentation and contextualization of contemporary performance. The low-residency program offers students a master's degree in innovative and relevant curatorial approaches to developing and presenting time-based art. The grant will be used to support performing artist case studies, working with artists at critical points in their careers to provide analysis of their entrepreneurial strategies, as well…

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, Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry, explains why some E. coli live peacefully in our bodies while others make us very sick. Taylor also is associate professor of environmental studies, associate professor of integrative sciences. Why are some E. coli deadly while others live peacefully within our bodies? E. coli outbreaks hospitalize people and cause food recalls pretty much annually in the United States. This year is no different.Obviously some E. coli can be deadly for people.…

The 2017–18 winter season was a historic one for the Wesleyan athletic programs, highlighted by the men's basketball team winning its first-ever NCAA Tournament game, while Laila Samy '18 of women's squash, Caroline Murphy '20 of women's swimming and diving, and Isaiah Bellamy '18 and Devon Carrillo '17 of wrestling all earned All-American honors. Here is a team-by-team breakdown: Men's Basketball (22–7, 7–3 NESCAC) * NCAA Second Round / NESCAC Finals Set a program record in overall wins (22) and tied a program record with seven NESCAC victories. Hosted first- and second-round games in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the…

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Students in the Mixed in America: Race, Religion, and Memoir course explored mixed-race identities not only through reading, writing, and classroom discussion, but through performative art. Throughout the semester, students used the genre of the memoir as a focusing lens to look at ways that Americans of mixed heritage have found a place, crafted an identity, and made meaning out of being considered "mixed." The course is part of Wesleyan’s Creative Campus Initiative, which pairs non-arts faculty with artists for collaborative teaching and research. Professor Liza McAlister teamed up with the local professional theater organization ARTFARM to offer students a module of four classes…

Laura & Emma, the debut novel by Kate Greathead ’05, was reviewed by Wesleyan magazine books editor Laurie Kenney, who wrote: "Nine-time Moth StorySLAM champion Greathead’s debut novel offers an insightful and witty exploration of class, family, and privilege in New York blue-blood society in the 1980s and early ’90s, as told through the eyes of Laura, an Upper East Side single mother born into wealth, and her daughter, Emma, conceived during a one-night stand. Filled with an eclectic cast of supporting characters and told in vignettes that span more than a decade, Laura & Emma offers a fresh take on…

On April 19, 20, and 21, the Center for African American Studies and Second Shades student organization presented the play La Violecion of My PapiYon (Papiyon means butterfly in Haitian Creole) in the Patricelli '92 Theater. The play was written by Arline Pierre-Louis '19 and directed by Ruby Fludzinski '20 and Ray Achan '19. The production was put together by a cast and crew of over 50 people who all identify as people of color. Set in the beautiful town of Jacmel, Haiti, during the post-Duvalier era (1988), Gylda (played by Inayah Bashir '20 and pictured below in the purple and…

Senior Katherine Paterson's passion for theater and environmental studies has grown over the past two months while she constructed a greenhouse for an honors thesis that explores and links together urban farming, communal activity, and theater. On Earth Day, April 22, Paterson presented (at)tend, a durational performance of song, poetry, and spoken word, which unfolded over the course of the spring semester. The project involved the collective construction, seeding, and tending of a greenhouse by students and community members, and culminated with a spring harvest. "The goal of the project was to serve as an experiment in creative place-making—in creating a space that the larger…

Ruth Striegel Weissman, the Walter A. Crowell University Professor of the Social Sciences, Emerita, was presented with the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) Lifetime Achievement Award during a ceremony in Chicago on April 21. The award honors senior AED members for their lifetime of contributions to the field of eating disorders. In presenting the award, Marsha Marcus, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, spoke of Weissman's "impressive history of NIH-supported research, [which] has led to findings that have elucidated eating disorders risk, epidemiology, classification, psychopathology, treatment, health care policy, and cost-effectiveness." This scholarship "has had…

Students Celebrate Spring, South Asian Culture at Holi Festival

Honors, MA Students Share Research at Science Theses Celebration

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Supports ICPP’s Performing Artist Case Studies

Taylor in The Conversation: Why Are Some E. coli Deadly?

2017–18 Winter Athletic Season Ends with Historical Victories

Author André Aciman Delivers Annual Sonnenblick Lecture

Students Share Research at Psychology Poster Session

Mixed-Race, Interfaith Identities Explored through Performative Conversations

Q&A With Novelist Kate Greathead ’05 on Writing Laura & Emma

CAAS, Second Shades Present Student-Written, Directed Play

Paterson’s Senior Thesis Explores Urban Farming, Communal Activity, Performance

Weissman Receives Lifetime Achievement Award