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This semester, Wesleyan's Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, which assists students from underrepresented groups in preparing for, entering and progressing successfully through post-graduate education, received a five-year renewal grant from the U.S Department of Education. Wesleyan's program will receive $232,265 annually, for a total award of $1,161,325. The federal money is supplemented with an additional $50,000 per year from the President. Since 2007, the program has supported 135 students all of whom were first-generation college and low-income and/or from groups underrepresented in graduate school. The program provides research opportunities and funding, mentoring, graduate school admissions assistance and academic support…

Earth and Environmental Sciences faculty and senior seminar students have identified a potentially fast and inexpensive method for collecting and measuring Saharan dust in the Caribbean. E&ES faculty members Dana Royer, Tim Ku, Suzanne O’Connell, and Phil Resor, and students Kylen Moynihan ’17, Carolyn Ariori ’09, Gavin Bodkin ’09, Gabriela Doria MA’09, Katherine Enright ’15, Rémy Hatfield-Gardner ’17, Emma Kravet ’09, C. Miller Nuttle ’09, and Lisa Shepard ’17 have coauthored an article published in the January 2018 issue of Atmospheric Environment. The paper, titled “Tank Bromeliads capture Saharan dust in El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico,” summarizes student research…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News WNPR's Where We Live: "A Life with Food Allergies and Intolerances" Associate Dean for Student Academic Resources Laura Patey is a guest on the show to talk about how Wesleyan works with and supports students and other community members with food allergies. Patey comes in around 40 minutes. 2. The Middletown Press: "Colleague Picks Up Mantle of Late Wesleyan Professor's 20-Year Book Project on South African Hometown Under Apartheid" Professor of History, Emeritus Richard Elphick completed an unfinished book by his late colleague,…

On Dec. 4, This Podcast Has Fleas, a partnership between WNYC Studios and kids’ television veterans Adam Peltzman ’96 and Koyalee Chanda ’96, joined that studio’s roster of innovative audio programming and signaled its foray into children’s podcasting. This Podcast Has Fleas is six-episode scripted comedy series about a dog, Waffles (Emily Lynne), and a cat, Jones (Jay Pharoah), who live in the same house, each hosting their own competing podcasts. Additional household pets are a goldfish played by Alec Baldwin and a gerbil played by Eugene Mirman. Chanda and Peltzman, whose television credits include Blue’s Clues, Wallykazam! and the…

This year the list of Grammy nominations includes work by Gail Marowitz ’81. Founder of The Visual Strategist, a company devoted to designing for music, Marowitz is not a first-timer on the coveted list. Her work has garnered her three nominations in the Best Recording Package category, with a win in 2006. Now in the running is Marowitz’s work on Jonathan Coulton’s Solid State. Marowitz, who claims “a misspent youth, looking at albums in record stores” and sends e-mails under the name “childorock,” says that her fascination with album covers began when she was 6 and her older brother brought…

In recognition of their career achievements, faculty members Karen Collins and Ellen Thomas were appointed to endowed professorships. Karen Collins, professor of mathematics, received an Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, established in 1982. Collins joined Wesleyan’s department of mathematics in 1986 after receiving her BA from Smith College and her PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on graph theory, enumerative combinatorics, and algebraic combinatorics. Her most recent publication was “Split graphs and Nordhaus-Gaddum graphs” (Discrete Mathematics, 2016). She has served on several prize committees, most recently the committee for the 2016 George Polya Prize in…

On Nov. 28, Wesleyan's Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship received a $10,000 grant from the Newman's Own Foundation to support student internships. "The gift from the Newman Foundation will be used to offer stipends to students doing social impact and entrepreneurship work during the summer," explained Makaela Kingsley '98, director of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship. "We are grateful for the support of Newman’s Own and our other donors who make this work possible." Trustee Emeritus Bob Patricelli '61 P'88 P'90 is a board member for Newman's Own and has generously encouraged the foundation to support Patricelli Center programs over…

In this Q&A, Assistant Professor of Government Justin Peck speaks about his research interests, teaching at Wesleyan and road-tripping across the United States. (Brandon Sides ’18 contributed to this article.) Q: Professor Peck, what are your primary areas of research? A: My dissertation attempts to explain when and why post-WWII Congresses enacted legal constraints on executive authority. And that's now my primary area of research; the second area of my research concerns when and how the Republican Party’s position on civil rights issues has changed since the Civil War. Q: What are your current projects? A: I'm working on a book…

During an initiation ceremony on Dec. 6, 17 Wesleyan seniors were elected to the Connecticut Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honor society. To be elected, a student must first have been nominated by the department of his or her major. He or she also must have demonstrated curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations and must have achieved a GPA of 93 and above. During the ceremony, Gamma Chapter PBK President Steven Horst, professor of philosophy, professor of science in society, said this class has a 94.4 GPA and above. "For students elected this fall, it is…

As the northern hemisphere nears the winter solstice (Dec. 21), the Wesleyan community acclimates to shorter days. Pictured are scenes of campus between 5 and 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 6: (more…)

Robert Rosenbaum, University Professor of Mathematics and the Sciences, Emeritus, died on Dec. 3 at the age of 102. Rosenbaum received his AB from Yale in 1936, and his PhD in mathematics from Yale in 1947. He joined the Wesleyan faculty in 1953 and taught mathematics here for 42 years until he retired in 1995. He was a member of the “Mystic Nine” — a group of faculty in the early 1960s who were instrumental in developing Wesleyan’s graduate programs. He became dean of sciences in 1963, provost in 1965, the first-ever vice president of academic affairs and provost in 1967, and chancellor…

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McNair Program Receives Refunding, Will Continue to Support Underrepresented Students

E&ES Faculty, Alumni Author Article on New Method for Saharan Dust Collection in the Caribbean

Wesleyan in the News

Chanda ’96, Peltzman ’96 Podcast With WNYC Studios Has Fleas

Artist/Designer Marowitz ’81 Rocks A Grammy Nomination with Best Recording Package

Collins, Thomas Honored with Endowed Professorships

Newman’s Own Foundation Awards Grant to Support Internships

American Political Development Expert Justin Peck Joins Government Department

17 Seniors Elected to Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society

Campus Glows during Early Evening Hours

PIMMS Founder Rosenbaum Dies at the Age of 102

Students Teach DNA, Self-Awareness Workshops to Local Children