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Barbara-Jan Wilson, vice president for University Relations, recently announced that she will retire in December, ending a Wesleyan career that began in 1982 and included leadership of two major capital campaigns. Wilson assumed her present role in 1999, but she is also well known to generations of alumni through her prior leadership of Admission and before that, Career Resources – the position she took when she was hired by President Emeritus Colin G. Campbell Hon. ’89. Her efforts as Wesleyan’s energetic and highly successful fundraiser spanned two presidents and four Board chairs. She worked with President Emeritus Douglas J. Bennet…

In The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life (Oxford University Press, 2018), Donald L. Rosenstein ’80, MD, and Justin M. Yopp, PhD, tell the stories of how seven men whose wives died from cancer came to terms with their grief and learned how to move forward into a meaningful future with their children. The book is based on the experiences of the men as members of a support group run by Rosenstein and Yopp at the Comprehensive Cancer Support Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Rosenstein and Yopp's clinical and…

The Wesleyan Campus Map, created by the Office of University Communications, provides prospective students and visitors to campus with a user-friendly interface integrated with Google Maps. To search for a location, either enter a keyword or use the menu featuring categories on academics, athletics, arts and events venues, residential options, campus life, and administration. The map also includes visitor parking sites, EV charging stations, and dining locations. “Our goal was to create an interactive, immersive campus map experience for prospective students and visitors optimized for mobile and online viewing," said Melissa Datre, director of creative services for University Communications. "Whether…

Connecticut Public Radio tapped Joshua Boger ’73, P’06, ’09, chair emeritus of the Wesleyan Board of Trustees, for his recollections of a historic flight he had taken back in 2007 with noted physicist Stephen Hawking, who died March 14 at the age of 76. The flight had been sponsored by Zero Gravity Corporation and provided, for those on board, eight zero-G opportunities—or "eight brief windows of weightlessness," as WNPR correspondent Patrick Skahill described them in his story, “Remembering The Flight Where Stephen Hawking Went Weightless.” Boger had written in detail about the experience of this zero-G flight with Hawking in "Weightless But Weighty" in Wesleyan magazine, 2007…

As a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation intern, Anthony Price ’20 is spending the spring semester working on Capitol Hill, where he is learning about governing institutions and the inner workings of the U.S. Congress. The CBCF's internship programs "prepare college students and young professionals to become principled leaders, skilled policy analysts and informed advocates by exposing them to the processes that develop national policies and implement them—from Capitol Hill to federal field offices. Program participants receive housing, a stipend, office placements, and opportunities to meet and interact with professional legislators and leaders working in all branches of government." "Thus far, I’ve enhanced my…

On March 2, the College of the Environment Think Tank presented a multidisciplinary performance titled, "Facing Disasters: Disturbing the Human-Environment Relationship" in Memorial Chapel and Zelnick Pavillion. COE fellows and members of the Wesleyan community explored ideas of facing disasters and motivating action by presenting multiple works that engaged with the 2017–18 Think Tank theme "From Disruptions to Disasters." Presenters included Vaishvi Jhaveri '18; Paula Tartell '18, Shingo Umehara '18 Nora Thompson '15 and Ostin Pham '17. Other participants were Katja Kolcio, associate professor of dance, associate professor of environmental studies and associate professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies; William Johnston, professor of…

Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline, “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” Janice Naegele, the Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, writes about the implications of a controversial new neuroscience study from the University of California, San Francisco. Naegele also is professor of biology and professor of neuroscience and behavior. Read her bio on The Conversation. Scientists have known for about two decades that some neurons—the fundamental cells in the brain that transmit signals—are generated throughout life. But now a controversial new study from the University of California, San Francisco, casts doubt…

Jessica Chen ’20 is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, which is often spoken in her home city of Shenzhen, China. She started learning English before she entered Kindergarten. She taught herself Korean in high school, speaks a local Chinese dialect common in her mother’s native area and is studying Italian at Wesleyan. She is not yet fluent in the latter, but hopes to be so before she graduates and possibly to pick up some other Romance languages as well. (more…)

Alvin Chitena '19 has been named a 2018 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman, is a one-year experience emphasizing personal, professional, and civic growth. Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. The fellowship also provides fellows with access to apply for exclusive scholarship and postgraduate opportunities. (more…)

On March 8, Women @ Wesleyan, in collaboration with the Women of Color Program House, hosted a photo campaign to celebrate International Women’s Day. Dozens of Wesleyan students and staff posed with #PressforProgress signs to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. The event was spearheaded by Krystal-Gayle O’Neill, area coordinator for residential life. Photos of the campaign are below: (more…)

Back-to-back snowstorms hammered Wesleyan's campus on March 6–7 and again on March 13, while students were preparing for—or away for—spring break. Winter Storm Riley swept through campus on March 6–7 with blustery winds and heavy snow, and Winter Storm Skylar delivered a constant stream of flurries to Middletown on March 13. "As students and faculty were preparing for spring break (staff at Wesleyan mostly work straight through), the New England winter reminded us all that the season wasn’t quite done blanketing our campus," President Michael Roth wrote in his blog. "It’s beautiful, but it’s slippery. It’s fun to slide down Foss Hill,…

For the first time in Wesleyan's history, the Cardinals not only hosted an NCAA Division III Tournament at Silloway Gymnasium but they also won their first-ever NCAA game, with a 101–71 triumph over Southern Vermont on March 2. The Cardinals finished the season with a 22–7 overall record—the most wins in a single season for the program. The unit was anchored by three outstanding seniors—Jordan Sears, Nathan Krill and JR Bascom—who helped lead the winningest class in Wesleyan men’s basketball history. The No. 15–ranked Wesleyan University men's basketball team cut a 21-point, second-half deficit to three midway through the final half on March 3,…

Vice President Barbara-Jan Wilson to Retire in December

Helping Widowed Fathers Move Forward with Their Children: An Interview with Author Rosenstein ’80, MD

Wesleyan Launches New Interactive Campus Map

Boger ’73 Recalls “Weightless Flight” With Hawking for WNPR

Price ’20 Spends Spring Semester in D.C. as a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Intern

“Facing Disasters” Explored in Multidisciplinary Performance

Naegele in The Conversation: Are Neurons Added to the Human Brain after Birth?

Love of Language Learning Lies behind Upcoming Symposium

Chitena ’19 Named 2018 Newman Civic Fellow

Campus Celebrates International Women’s Day with Photo Campaign

Winter Storms Blast Campus During Spring Break

Men’s Basketball Hosts First-Ever NCAA Tournament