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Wesleyan women's ice hockey coach Jodi McKenna was among the coaches charged with selecting the team members for the USA Hockey National U22 squad that competed in a three-game series with Canada Aug. 21-24. The U.S. team won all three contests. The games were considered a friendly series that begins the next ramp up to the 2018 Olympics, which will be held in South Korea in February of that year. McKenna has been involved in Team USA coaching since the first call came in 2008. "It's an honor to be chosen and tremendous for my professional development but it can't be…

Students from 30 different countries joined the Class of 2018 during International Student Orientation, held Aug. 24-26. This fall, 109 undergraduate students come from international countries, including students who are U.S. citizens but live abroad. Three students are visiting from Germany, two from Spain and one from France. This year, Wesleyan has students who hail from Guatemala, (more…)

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This summer, 13 students had an opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor to conduct research, as well as get a leg up in the grad school application process, through the McNair Program. For 10 weeks, they studied topics in psychology and neuroscience, earth and environmental science, biology, physics, and science in society. The McNair Fellows, all rising juniors and seniors, are either low-income, first-generation college students or members of a group traditionally underrepresented in graduate school. The fellows may be engaged in research in any field, though the vast majority focus their studies in the sciences. This summer, eight fellows were fully…

Graduate Student Services welcomed 64 graduate students to Wesleyan on Aug. 26. Of the students, 19 are part of Wesleyan's BA/MA program; 12 are MA students; 20 are Ph.D. candidates; eight are Foreign Language Teaching Assistants; three are Wesleyan Writing Fellows and one is an exchange student from Germany. Twelve are studying music and ethnomusicology; 37 are pursing degrees in science and mathematics; three are studying psychology and 12 are non-degree seeking students. Of the 64 graduate students, 43 are from the United States. The other 21 are from France, Ghana, India, Greece, Spain, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Singapore, United Kingdom,…

Amy Bloom, the Distinguished University Writer-in-Residence and director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing, is the author of a novel, Lucky Us, published in July 2014 by Random House. Disappointed by their families, Iris, a hopeful star and Eva the sidekick, journey through 1940s America in search of fame and fortune. Iris’s ambitions take the pair across the America of Reinvention in a stolen station wagon, from small-town Ohio to an unexpected and sensuous Hollywood, and to the jazz clubs and golden mansions of Long Island. With their friends in high and low places, Iris and Eva stumble and shine…

Here's a wide look at Wesleyan's campus on Aug. 15 and Aug. 22. (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

Jean Redpath, a Scottish-born singer who delighted audiences worldwide and was described by The Boston Globe as “something very close to Scotland’s folk singer laureate,” died Aug. 21 at age 77. She brought her musical talent and extensive knowledge of Scottish history to Wesleyan and the Middletown community as an artist-in-residence in the 1970s. According to her official website, Redpath arrived in the United States in 1961 with $11 in her pocket. (more…)

Registration is open through Sept. 12 for Family Weekend, Sept. 27-28, when Wesleyan families are invited to attend classes and WESeminars, take in concerts and sporting events, enjoy meals, tour campus and learn about student programs and services. Breaking from tradition, this year Family Weekend will be separate from Homecoming Weekend, because Homecoming occurs during Fall break. Register for Family Weekend here. A full schedule of the weekend’s events is available here. Highlights include a South Indian vocal performance as part of the Navaratri Festival at the Center for the Arts; the 22nd annual Dwight L. Greene Symposium, featuring a movie screening…

Steven Greenhouse ’73, P’08, will bring his years of experience in journalism back to Wesleyan this semester as the Koeppel Journalism Fellow. The longtime New York Times reporter, who covers labor and workplace issues, will teach “Journalism, Nonfiction Writing and the Search for Truth.” “It's an honor to be invited to teach at Wesleyan, but it also feels a little daunting because I've never taught a full course before,” Greenhouse said. “But I imagine that I've learned a thing or two about journalism and writing and editing since once upon a time, when I was editor of the Argus eons…

Award-winning film and television director, producer and writer Joss Whedon ’87 is the subject of the informative and entertaining Joss Whedon: The Biography (Chicago Review Press) by Amy Pascale, a director at MTV. The book begins by tracing Whedon’s growth from a creative child and teenager who spent years away from his family at an elite English boarding school (Winchester College in Hampshire), through his early successes—which often turned into frustration in television (Roseanne) and film (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The biography then covers his breakout career turn as the creator, writer, and director of the highly successful Buffy television series, which…

Two graduate students and two faculty attended the 248th national meeting of the American Chemical Society Aug. 10-14 in San Francisco, Calif. Chemistry graduate students Duminda Ranasinghe delivered a poster presentation on her research titled "Efficient extrapolation to the (T)/CBS limit" and an oral presentation on "Density functional for core-valence correlation energy." Chemistry graduate student Kyle Throssell presented two poster presentations on "Potential curves of selected radical thiol double additions to alkynes" and "Assessing weak interactions in small dimer systems with PM7." The students were accompanied by George Petersson, the Fisk Professor of Natural Science, professor of chemistry; and Michael…

Coach McKenna Selected Members of USA Hockey National U22 Squad

Wesleyan Welcomes 109 International Students to the Class of 2018

Display in Usdan Illustrates Students’ Geographic Diversity

McNair Summer Fellows Perform Research, Prepare for Grad School

Wesleyan Welcomes 64 Graduate Students

Bloom’s Novel Lucky Us on Success, Luck, Big Dreams, Scandals

A Wide Angle View of Wesleyan’s Summer Campus

Former Artist-in-Residence Redpath Remembered for Teaching Folklore

Registration for Family Weekend Open Through Sept. 12

New York Times‘ Steven Greenhouse ’73 Teaching Journalism as Koeppel Fellow

Whedon ’87 Is Subject of New Biography

Graduate Students, Faculty Attend American Chemical Society Meeting