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On Sept. 3, Class of 2019 students met with their faculty advisor to discuss their fall semester pre-registration enrollments and educational goals. The individual faculty advising appointments are part of New Student Orientation for the Class of 2019.

Students in the Class of 2019 were selected from some of the toughest competition the Office of Admission has ever seen. “Our new students are superbly prepared—by traditional academic measures as good as it gets. And, particularly well prepared to work across the entire curriculum of arts and sciences,” said Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid. “The range of talents, cultures, family backgrounds in this group is remarkable. In many ways, this may be the most diverse class ever enrolled at Wes—and that’s saying something!” The Class of 2019’s top projected majors are economics, biology, psychology, film studies and English while 13 percent are undecided.

Annie Dillard, who taught writing at Wesleyan for more than 20 years, will receive the 2014 National Humanities Medal, the White House announced on Sept. 3. President Barack Obama will confer the medal on Dillard and nine others at a ceremony at the White House on Sept. 10 (which will be live-streamed at 3 p.m. here). The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizen’ engagement with history and literature or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources. The medal was first awarded in 1996. This year’s…

Registration is now open for Fall courses through the Wesleyan Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL) in topics including art, literature, poetry and meditation. A special one-day program will take place at the Florence Griswold Museum, the internationally-known home of the Connecticut impressionists, on Nov. 14. It will coincide with the museum's exhibition, The Artist in the Connecticut Landscape, drawing from its Hartford Steam Boiler Collection and that of ten partner institutions from around the state. This marks the 10th semester of courses offered by WILL, an initiative that began in 2009. The program features short, intellectually stimulating and lively courses taught by current and retired members of…

Wesleyan welcomed more than 800 new, transfer, visiting, international and exchange students to campus during Arrival Day activities Sept. 2. Several Wesleyan student-athletes, staff and faculty helped the new students and their families carry their belongings into the student residences. Allen and Zenola Harper P’19 of Westchester, N.Y. borrowed a friend’s SUV to haul their son’s belongings to campus. Salim ’19, a basketball player, brought along a rug, microwave, laundry soap, printer, athletic apparel, a box of brownies, but most importantly his shoe collection. “I can’t believe how many shoes he has,” Zenola said, looking over a heap of unpacked…

Wesleyan has hired Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC, a Middletown-based solar energy company, to construct a new ground-mounted solar array at the corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth Road. The 750 kW-AC solar PV array will produce 1.2 million kilowatt hours of clean renewable energy each year. Construction will begin in spring 2016, and the project is expected to be completed by Sept. 1, 2016. The array will be set back from the road, and screened by the arboretum along Long Lane. "We are excited to partner with Greenskies on this project, which will take us closer toward our goal of…

Wesleyan welcomed 88 international students and 31 U.S. citizens living abroad to campus this week. On Sept. 1, they gathered for a group photo and dinner. Starting Aug. 31, the students, who hail from more than 58 countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, participated in International Student Orientation. ISO is held prior to New Student Orientation in order for students coming from across the the globe to recover from travel. ISO offers sessions that address health and medical insurance issues, programs about cultural adaptation, weather adjustment, and liberal arts education, as well as informational sessions about U.S. systems that many international students…

This fall, Wesleyan welcomes to campus 15 new tenure-track faculty and more than 40 visiting faculty with research interests ranging from ecological and evolutionary functional genomics to behavioral economics; from Chinese history to sociological and cultural studies of knowledge, medicine and health; from psychosocial determinants of healthy aging outcomes among women to political psychology. On Sept. 1, the new faculty members attended an orientation program that included discussions on classroom climate; active learning, service learning and community service; flipped classrooms; and effective lecture styles for larger classrooms, among other topics.

Wesleyan’s graduate students participated in New Graduate Orientation Sept. 1-2 in Woodhead Lounge. The orientation included a meet and greet with each other and faculty members, tours of campus and the Office of Graduate Student Services, a session on graduate pedagogy, a chemical hygiene/lab safety training for science students, and a picnic lunch. Wesleyan has 11 PhD candidates in the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and Physics; 13 MA students in Astronomy, E&ES and Music; and 18 BA/MAs who received a Wesleyan BA in May 2015 and are staying for one additional year to earn an MA. The graduate students come from…

Since 2011, Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE) has supported students who want to change the world by providing training, grants, advising, networking and an incubator workspace. PCSE has a funding gap for 2015-16, and is seeking to raise money through a crowdfunding campaign. The crowdfunding campaign, the first run by the Patricelli Center, launched on Aug. 17 on the website Indiegogo and closes on Sept. 26. Donors can choose from a variety of different perks, depending on their contribution level, including a ticket to Wesleyan’s Social Impact Summit (Nov. 13-14), a mentoring session with a Wesleyan alumnus/a, lunch at the…

Wesleyan vibraphonist and composer Jay Hoggard was named the Music Ambassador for the City of Middletown on Aug. 31 at the Mayor’s Office. In addition to being recognized for his valuable artistic and creative contributions, the Music Ambassadors’ music becomes the featured ‘music on hold’ for all City of Middletown phones. Hoggard, who is a member of the Class of 1976, is an adjunct professor of music and adjunct professor of African American studies. City of Middletown Mayor Dan Drew also proclaimed that August 31 is Jay Hoggard Day. Read more in The Middletown Press. The Music Ambassadors' program is sponsored by…

Assistant Professor of Economics Damien Sheehan-Connor is the author of an oped in the Orlando Sentinel (available to subscribers) arguing that raising the gas tax would not only help the environment, but would save lives on the road. Sheehan-Connor considers the findings of a new study out by the National Safety Council, which suggested that automobile accidents are on the rise again after years of decline. While many factors could potentially contribute to this reversal, he writes that it's likely that two seemingly positive developments--lower gas prices and stricter fuel economy standards imposed by the government--have played an important role. How? Lower…

Faculty Hold Advising Appointments with Class of 2019 Students

Diversity and Talents of the Class of 2019

Professor Emerita Annie Dillard to Receive National Humanities Medal

WILL Announces New Fall Courses on the Mystery Novel, Picasso, Japanese Poetry and More

More than 800 Students Move in on Arrival Day

New Solar Array to be Constructed on Campus

Wesleyan Welcomes New International Students

New Faculty Attend Orientation Program

Graduate Students Learn about Wesleyan, Mingle at Picnic Lunch

Patricelli Center Launches Crowdfunding Campaign

Hoggard Named Middetown’s Music Ambassador

Sheehan-Connor Advocates in Orlando Sentinel for Raising the Gas Tax