Laurie KenneyThomas Kail ’99, who is currently directing the blockbuster hit Hamilton on Broadway, written by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, brought the energy of live theater to the small screen as he set the stage direction for Grease: Live, a musical extravaganza starring Julianne Hough as Sandy and Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, along with Aaron Tveit as Danny, Carly Rae Jepson as Frenchy, Mario Lopez as Vince Fontaine and Boys II Men in the role of Teen Angel. The musical, which was staged in front of a live audience, aired on Fox on Jan. 31. (more…)
Lauren RubensteinFollowing an ISIS attack in the heart of Jakarta earlier this month, Assistant Professor of Government Ioana Emy Matesan writes on the blog "Political Violence @ a Glance" why she believes ISIS will not thrive in Indonesia. The ISIS affiliate in Indonesia remains very small, and "varies drastically from its counterpart in Syria in terms of motivations, organization, and perhaps more importantly, ability to challenge the state or claim territory." Matesan notes, "Indonesia has seen its fair share of violence, and even some earlier attempts to build an Islamic state." She provides a history of different groups that over time…
Olivia DrakeDavid Pollack, associate professor of mathematics, and Wai Kiu "Billy" Chan, chair and professor mathematics and computer science, recently attended a conference titled “Lattices and Applications in Number Theory" in Germany. Pollack and Chan traveled to the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach (MFO), the first research institution established in Germany after World War II, to take part in a weeklong workshop held Jan. 17-23. Dedicated to providing an institute for international cooperative research, the MFO brings together leading experts from all over the world in order to pursue their research activities, discuss recent developments in their field, and generate new ideas. Pollack…
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The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life will host a series of three panels in February and March on the refugee crisis. All events will take place in PAC 001. The first panel, The Development of the Crisis and the Response in Europe, will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 3. Moderated by Professor of Economics Richard Grossman, the panel is comprised of Bruce Masters, the John E. Andrus Professor of History; Robert Ford, former U.S. ambassador to Syria; and Marcie Patton, professor of politics at Fairfield University. The second panel, The Refugee Experience, will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 17. Moderated by…
Gina Athena Ulysse, professor of anthropology, professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, writes an "Ode to Haiti's Neo-Comedians" in The Huffington Post about Haiti's recently cancelled election runoff. The title of her essay refers to Graham Greene's The Comedians, a book whose description read: "Set in Haiti, amid an atmosphere of brutal force and terror-ridden love, three desperate people work out their strange destinies." Ulysse writes: Relevance of The Comedians is apparent in Haiti's recently cancelled election runoff that was set for this past Sunday. Indeed, until then, the outgoing president Michel Martelly, a chap with dictatorial tendencies who leads the "Bald Headed Haitian Party"—insisted on…
Wesleyan University President Michael Roth ’78 has announced a $20 million gift from outgoing Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Joshua ’73, P’06, P’09 and Dr. Amy Boger P’06, P’09 to the university’s THIS IS WHY fundraising campaign. In recognition of the Boger family’s generosity and leadership, the building located at 41 Wyllys Avenue on the university’s College Row will be named Boger Hall.
The Bogers are the largest donors to the campaign. Their gifts include $11 million to establish the Joshua ’73 and Amy Boger Endowed Wesleyan Scholarship Program, which has already benefited more than a dozen Wesleyan students and will provide access to Wesleyan to many more in the coming years; $3 million to endow the Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, currently held by Professor of Chemistry David L. Beveridge; and $2 million for the Joshua Boger ’73, P’06, P’09 Endowed Fund for Student Research, which provided lead funding for 50 faculty-mentored student research fellowships in 2015.
An exhibition titled "We Chat: A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art" opened Jan. 26 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. In her introductory remarks, Center for the Arts Director Pam Tatge ’84, MALS ’10, P’16 noted that this was the first gallery exhibition of work by this generation of Chinese artists in this country. Born after the end of the Cultural Revolution, these young artists are challenging traditional notions of Chinese identity and inventing new ways to shout out in the global arena. This exhibition debuts at Wesleyan and features works by Sun Xun, Jin Shan, Ma Qiusha, Lu…
Wesleyan students and Middletown residents gathered on Foss Hill Jan. 24-25 following Winter Storm Jonas. Foss Hill is a popular sledding spot during the winter months.
The Davison Art Center has been awarded two photographs by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, as part of a gift from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to 33 leading colleges and universities around the world. The prints, titled "Ghada" and "Sayed," are part of Neshat's Our House is on Fire series, an exploration of Egypt after the Arab Spring, which was supported by the Foundation. "Shirin Neshat is one of the most important photographers of our time, and these deeply moving portraits evoke our common humanity. Looking closely at the photographs, you can see a veil of calligraphy—the text in Persian…
On Feb. 18, Stanley Fish will deliver the 25th annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The title of his talk is, "Micro-aggressions, Trigger Warnings, Cultural 'Appropriations' and History: What's Happening on Campus?" The talk begins at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. Fish is the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and professor of law at Florida International University; Floersheimer Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School; Emeritus Professor of English and Law at Duke University; and Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Distinguished Professor of English, Criminal Justice and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He…
Sonia Sultan, professor of biology, professor of environmental studies, is the author of Organism and Environment: Ecological Development, Niche Construction, and Adaptation, published by Oxford University Press (London and New York) in November 2015. Organism and Environment is an authoritative graduate textbook of ecological development ('eco-devo') set in the context of diverse natural systems. The book explores how niche construction contributes to ecological interactions and evolutionary dynamics and includes detailed case studies showing how regulatory mechanisms lead to plastic eco-devo responses. Sultan worked on the book for the past six years, including a year spent on a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced…