Frederic Wills '19Hilary Barth and Andrea Patalano, associate professors of psychology, recently co-authored a paper in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review along with two former Psychology Department undergraduates, Laura Machlin and Jason Saltiel. The paper is titled, “The Role of Numeracy and Approximate Number System Acuity in Predicting Value and Probability Distortion.” When people make “risky decisions” like choosing between two gambles with different values and different probabilities of success, their choices appear to be based on distorted versions of both the values and probabilities. Although there are many theories attempting to explain the distortion, we don’t know exactly why it happens. This study…
Lauren RubensteinIn its recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure on eight faculty members, effective July 1, 2015. They are: Associate Professor of Sociology Robyn Autry, Associate Professor of Government Sonali Chakravarti, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Amy MacQueen, Associate Professor of Music Paula Matthusen, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Rich Olson, Associate Professor of Mathematics Christopher Rasmussen, Associate Professor of Economics Damien Sheehan-Connor, and Associate Professor of Classics Eirene Visvardi. Brief descriptions of their research and teaching appear below: Associate Professor Autry is a cultural sociologist with broad interests in collective identity, memory, and visual culture. Her…
In honor of Black History Month in February, Wesleyan Students of Color hosted a campus formal on Feb. 19 and a performance by world-renowned poet Saul Williams on Feb. 20. The second event, held at Crowell Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts, also featured performances by Tarishi Midnight-Shuler, a professional Connecticut-based spoken word artist, and Destiny Polk ’19. Williams performed at Wesleyan as part of his “MartyrLoserKing” tour, offering the audience an original compilation of spoken word and performance. (Photos by Andrew Hirsh '18) (more…)
At its meeting Feb. 27, the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition and residential comprehensive fees by 3.3 percent for the 2016-17 year. Tuition will be $50,312 for all undergraduate students. The residential comprehensive fee will be $13,950 for first-year and sophomore students, and $15,858 for juniors and seniors. For the past three years, Wesleyan has linked tuition increases to the national CPI average as part of an initiative to address affordability. That effort has been successful, resulting in very low tuition increases compared to most peer institutions. In recent years, we have seen increased pressure on our financial…
Laurie KenneyOn Feb. 26, Wesleyan honored Ellen Jewett ’81, P’17, a former trustee and incoming co-chair of the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, for her many years of service to the university with the naming of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships (JCCP) during a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside of the center, located on the third floor of the Allbritton Center. The ceremony was part of the university’s Board of Trustees reception. The event was attended by more than 150 guests, including Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78, outgoing board chairman Joshua Boger '73, P'06, P'09, and JCCP director Cathy Lechowicz, as well as…
Bill HolderPropel Capital, a philanthropic and impact investing fund that supports innovative strategies to deploy capital for social impact, has announced a challenge grant to Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE). Every dollar raised in gifts or pledges to the PCSE endowment by June 2017 will be matched 1:1 by Propel, up to $700,000 which will fully endow the Center. Co-founded by Jeremy Mindich ’87 and Sarah Williams ’88, Propel Capital provides grants and investments to nonprofits and social enterprises early or at critical junctures in their development. Mindich and Williams were part of a small group of Wesleyan alumni…
Cynthia RockwellIt doesn’t seem an obvious choice, publishing one of the most important memoirs to come out of the Holocaust into the language of a country that is home to the world’s largest Muslim population—but that’s exactly the project Max Bevilacqua ’12 and Mansoor Alam ’15 have taken on. The project is the brainchild of Bevilacqua, who grew up in a Jewish household and studied Christianity as a religion major at Wesleyan. As a Fulbright scholar, he requested placement in Indonesia, which is 88 percent Muslim, and where he taught English. State department officials—as well as family and friends—encouraged Bevilacqua not…
This month, the Workshop, a new student-run arts collective, opened in the basement of Hewitt 8, The collective was created to provide space, support and resources to any student wanting to pursue a creative project—from bookmaking and woodworking to photography and filmmaking to sewing and weaving.
Ramanan Sivalingam ’10, vice president at Deutsche Bank, was named to Forbes magazine's “30 under 30” list in finance—a young professional who is “influencing money flows in the global economy.” An economics and East Asian studies double major at Wesleyan, he continued his high school exploration of the Chinese language, as well as his burgeoning interest in the stock market, which soon became a passion. He began trading stocks independently and also took a leadership role in Wesleyan’s undergraduate investment group with Mike Levin ’09, who now works for the top-ranked auto research team at Deutsche Bank. After graduation, Sivalingam accepted…
Wesleyan is one of only 12 institutions awarded a prestigious Beckman Scholars Program this year, according to Francis Starr, director of the College of Integrative Sciences and professor of physics, who directs Wesleyan’s Beckman program. The Beckman Scholars Program provides intensive research experiences and career mentoring to help Wesleyan undergraduates develop as leaders in the sciences. Up to two Wesleyan students will receive this award annually, which carries a total stipend of $18,200 plus funds to support supplies and travel. Awards are normally made to sophomores to support research during the summer through the summer following junior year. (more…)
Gregory Heller ’04, CEO of American Communities Trust (ACT), was named Urban Innovator of the Week on Feb. 15, by Urban Innovation Exchange (UIX), an initiative to advance urban improvement and highlight those who are on the leading edge of this movement. Begun in 2012 as a three-year project in Detroit and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, UIX is now showcasing talented people from all over the country who are transforming the cities and neighborhoods in which they live. As head of ACT, Heller, who has spent more than 10 years in community development in Philadelphia,…
Michael Roberts, the Robert Rich Professor of Latin, professor of medieval studies, professor of classical studies, recently contributed his work, “Venantius Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours: Patronage and Poetry,” to a journal dedicated to providing an expert guide to interpreting the works and legacy of Gregory, Bishop of Tours (573-594) in religious and historical studies. Published in A Companion to Gregory of Tours, in December 2015, Roberts’ article looked particularly at the relationship between the historian of 6th century Gaul, Gregory, Bishop of Tours, and the Italian-born poet Venantius Fortunatus. Throughout his work, Roberts argues, “that Gregory was Fortunatus' patron and friend…