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New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick ’75, P’07, Hon. ’05 and his daughter, Amanda Belichick ’07, visited campus during Homecoming/Family Weekend on Nov. 3. After greeting and speaking to members of the Wesleyan football team, the Belichicks attended a reception at the Belichick Plaza (formerly Warren Street lobby), dedicated in recognition of the leadership and generosity of Bill and Amanda Belichick. (Photos and information by Olivia Drake, Cynthia Rockwell and Tom Dzimian) (more…)

Two Government Department faculty recently co-authored scholarly articles with recent Wesleyan undergraduates. Chloe Rinehart '14 and James McGuire, chair and professor of government, are the co-authors of “Obstacles to Takeup: Ecuador’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program, the Bono de Desarrollo Humano," published in World Development in September 2017. Rinehart and McGuire examined factors that keep impoverished people from benefiting from the social assistance programs for which they are legally eligible. Taking the case of Ecuador's Bono de Desarrollo Humano (BDH), a U.S. $50 monthly cash transfer to families in the poorest 40 percent of the income distribution, they used field research in Ecuador to identify potential obstacles to…

On Oct. 31, Wesleyan’s Neighborhood Preschool participated in the annual NPS Halloween Parade. The children, accompanied by their families and care-takers, stopped at Exley Science Center, Olin Library, South College and North College to trick-or-treat, sing songs and show off their costumes. Many trick-or-treaters are the children of Wesleyan faculty and staff. Wesleyan President Michael Roth and several staff from University Communications offered candy to the parade participants. (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

On Oct. 17, Wesleyan’s Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) toured the basement level, or “tunnels” of the Butterfield complex. Built in 1965, the Butterfields encompassed 166,000 gross square feet in three separate dormitory buildings — A, B and C — which are connected by vibrant, graffiti-rich underground tunnels. Through the years, the tunnels served as passageways to student residences, classrooms, administration offices, recreational areas, restrooms, laundry rooms, study areas, kitchenettes, mechanical areas, a mailroom, photographic darkrooms and even a kosher kitchen. Skateboarders marked the ground with safe paths, noting where to stop at blind corners. Artists, poets and writers…

Brimstone and Glory is the feature-length documentary produced by Benh Zeitlin ’04, Dan Janvey ’06, Kellen Quinn ’05 and others, on the annual festival in Tultepec, Mexico, where pyrotechnics are the major industry. The weeklong celebration honors San Juan de Dios, patron saint of firework makers, and celebrates the artisans who dedicate themselves to pyrotechnics. Directed by Viktor Jakovleski, and edited by Affonso Gonçalves, the film is scored by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer, the two who collaborated on the Beasts of the Southern Wild score. Dubbed “Best Documentary Feature” at the San Francisco Film Festival, Brimstone and Glory opens in…

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(by Andy Chatfield) The Center for the Arts, in collaboration with the College of the Environment, invites an artist or artists from areas affected by the hurricane season of 2017 to campus for a short-term residency in April 2018. Artists working in all disciplines from Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands may propose a project that explores the evolving human relationship to water, and responds to the following questions: How can the arts address and respond to the environmental and humanitarian crises wrought by climate change? How do we redefine humankind’s evolving relationship to nature, specifically to…

President Michael Roth recently returned from a trip to China and South Korea for a round of receptions, lectures, media interviews and visits with alumni. The trip provided an opportunity to both enhance Wesleyan’s visibility in these countries and to discuss the value of liberal learning, Wesleyan style. In Shanghai, Roth met with business leaders to discuss liberal education’s role in preparing students for productive careers, and then spoke at a reception and book launch for the new Chinese edition of Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters. The reception was attended by more than 130 current parents, prospective students…

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As a first-generation college student from Scottsdale, Ariz., Caroline Liu ’18 is always aware of the many “nuanced and small ways in which my life experience differs from my peers.” These differences can be especially visible and discouraging during high-stress moments in the semester. For example, she said, students often talk about having their parents read over their school work. “As a first-generation American and low-income student, I don’t have the privilege to discuss any of my academics with my parents, much less have them check over my more theoretical work. They neither have the English language capacity nor the…

Laura R. Walker ’79, P’21, president and CEO of New York Public Radio (NYPR), has an agenda: She wants at least half of the podcasts produced to be hosted or co-hosted by women. "We're making progress," she reported at Werk It 2017, an annual festival she helped to create in 2015 to give women the tools they need to become creative forces in podcasting. Walker came up with the idea after she’d read a report on this new medium and discovered that of the top 100 podcasts on iTunes, only 20 percent were hosted or co-hosted by a woman. "Podcasting…

(By K Alshanetsky '17) Author Daniel Handler ’92 enjoys a prolific career as a celebrated novelist, best known for using the pseudonym Lemony Snicket to publish A Series of Unfortunate Events. This 13-book series about three orphaned children and their increasingly tumultuous lives—which has been adapted for film, video games and, most recently, a Netflix series—established Handler as an appealingly sinister storyteller, a writer with a penchant for narratives without happy endings. The first episode of Articulate on PBS delves into some of Handler's inspirations and how he came to develop his dark approach to children's writing. In the clip,…

Belichick Plaza Dedicated in Recognition of the Leadership, Generosity of Bill ’75, P’07, Hon. ’05 and Amanda Belichick ’07

Government Faculty, Recent Alumni, Co-Author Articles

Preschoolers Trick-or-Treat on Campus

C-CERT Explores Closed Butterfield Basement and Former Tunnel System

Zeitlin ’04, Janvey ’06, Quinn ’05 Produce Brimstone and Glory Documentary

Hallie Lecture Focuses on Ancient Greece and Beyond

Wesleyan to Offer Residency for Artists Impacted by 2017 Hurricanes

Roth Sees Growing Appreciation for Liberal Education in China

duCille Delivers Slotkin Lecture on “Why Racial Representation Still Matters”

First Things First Introduces First-Generation Students to Wesleyan, Each Other

WNYC’s Walker ’79 P’21 at Werk It: ‘Lean In to Podcasting’

‘Very Fortunate’ Handler ’92 Featured on PBS Series Articulate