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Khaled, a child who recently came to the US from Syria, logs on to every English language tutoring session with Ben Levin ’23 with his face as close to the camera as possible, sporting a huge smile. “What’s up BRO!” Khaled says each time. “Khaled is a sweet, energetic, and enthusiastic eight-year-old who uses his bed as a bouncing-off spot for both his ideas and his body,” said Levin, Khaled’s tutor through Elizabeth Ann Hepford’s TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) class, held in Fall 2021. Levin had worked with children in a camp setting, but hadn’t had…

Looking back over Martin Luther King Jr.’s four visits to Wesleyan between 1962 and 1966, one is struck by how many of his concerns still exist today. He saw hatred on the march throughout the country, and believed that the only way to combat it was through non-violent means. “Moral ends will be achieved by moral means,” King told the Wesleyan crowd during his first visit to Wes, 60 years ago. King, who received an honorary degree from Wesleyan in 1964, spoke about the injustice of racial segregation. He urged people to move away from materialism towards a higher plain…

Using high-resolution data obtained from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, Wesleyan University Professor of Astronomy Seth Redfield can show the conditions the Sun encountered traveling through space over the past 5 million years. Redfield will present his findings Jan. 12, 2022 as part of a press conference associated with the American Astronomical Society’s previously planned annual conference. This work was a close collaboration of Redfield with Hunter Vannier ’20, and a major component of Vannier's senior thesis. Vannier is now a PhD student at Purdue University working on lunar mineralogy. By focusing on eight paths, each of…

Wesleyan University has begun the process of constructing a new home for Neighborhood Preschool (NPS), located at 60 Long Lane near the softball fields. Work on the project, designed by Patriquin Architects of New Haven, began in December and should be complete by the end of 2022. The current facilities, located on Lawn Avenue and High Street, will be demolished to make way for the new science building. “Our new NPS is a significant upgrade on our current facilities and will accommodate 52 youngsters in multiple classrooms and outdoor play yards. The approximately 7,000-square-foot facility was designed in consultation with a committee…

Despite a tumultuous year intertwined with pandemic up-and-downs, the Wesleyan community persevered. After returning to full, in-person learning for the Spring 2021 semester, students resumed their research, community service, social justice and entrepreneurial projects, extracurriculars, and athletic contests. The Class of 2021 celebrated with an in-person, mask-optional graduation ceremony. Members of the faculty won numerous grants and prizes and an alumnus even brought home an Oscar. Wesleyan continues to help people become more engaged citizens while offering a robust liberal education. In this timeline, we look back and explore some of Wesleyan's highlights in 2021: Feb. 9: Students Return to Campus for…

Gertrude Hughes, professor of English, emerita, died on Jan. 5 at the age of 85. Hughes received her BA from Mount Holyoke College, her MAT from Wesleyan University, and her Ph.D from Yale University. She returned to Wesleyan as an assistant professor of English in 1976 and remained until her retirement in 2006. “Gertrude was a remarkable woman, a valued colleague, and a treasured friend,” recalled Bill Stowe, Benjamin Waite Professor of the English Language, Emeritus. “She began her academic career later than most, completing her Yale PhD under the formidable Harold Bloom while raising four children. Her book on…

Wesleyan’s intellectually dynamic faculty, students, alumni, staff, and parents frequently serve as expert sources for national media. Others are noted for recent achievements and accolades. A sampling of recent media hits is below: In The Los Angeles Review of Books, Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 reviews Samantha Rose Hill's intellectual biography of Hannah Arendt. "Hill’s Arendt is a thinker who moves easily from poetry to philosophy, from reflections on politics to an analysis of thinking itself." (Dec. 26, 2021) President Roth also speaks about his book, Safe Enough Spaces: A pragmatist's approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness, in…

When not teaching classes on agriculture, sustainability, and the environment, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies Rosemary Ostfeld ’10, MA ’12 can be found working on her sustainable food and farming startup Healthy PlanEat. Healthy PlanEat, based in Lyme, Conn., allows farmers who grow food in sustainable ways to sell their crops directly to both individuals and wholesale customers using an app and aims to increase access to healthy, local, and sustainably grown food. In November, Healthy PlanEat received a $52,000 grant through the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) run by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to…

A recent Wesleyan study showed that seeking out social media for emotional succor during COVID-19 did not improve emotional well-being among emerging adult college students. The study, conducted by Royette Dubar, assistant professor of psychology; Nicole Watkins, postdoctoral fellow in psychology; and psychology major Grant Hill '20, MA '21 asked more than 600 emerging adults in college (18-to-29-year-olds) across the U.S. to complete two online surveys over a five-month period at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID has had significant implications for how we interact with other people and how we think about our well-being. What we are trying to understand…

September Johnson, Wesleyan’s alcohol and other drug specialist, acknowledges that Wesleyan's move to becoming a tobacco and vape free campus will be a big change for the community. The policy went into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. And Johnson said that there will be plenty of support measures in place to help. “We, as a community, are here to support each other through this change,” Johnson said in a campus all-staff meeting on Nov. 29 where the policy change was announced. No tobacco products will be allowed anywhere on campus. “Tobacco use continues to be a leading cause of preventable…

By Maia Dawson '23 In the Lunar lab on the third floor of the Exley Science Center, Thomas Davoren MA ’22, thumbed through scientist David Walker’s handwritten notes from 1970, and inspected samples retrieved from the moon in 1969. Found in Davoren’s work are clues to the origins of Earth’s glowing satellite. Davoren was among the students awarded a Fall 2021 NASA Connecticut Space Consortium Fellowship. In a paper written for a conference in 2020 in Houston, Davoren detailed his discovery of Chromite-Ulvöspinel-Pyroxene (CUSP) inclusions. These unique, microscopic crystalline structures appeared first to Davoren in basaltic rocks retrieved from the…

(By Maia Dawson '23) From defining their core values to marketing a final product, Wesleyan’s Startup Incubator class unveiled their final projects to Middletown’s city commissioners this week. Throughout the evening of student presentations, a trend emerged – these students were not only ready to enter their respective markets, they had blended their values of ethics, sustainability, and creative growth with business models that aimed to challenge some of the core mechanisms of our economy. Rosemary Ostfeld, visiting assistant professor of environmental studies and instructor of the CSPL 239 course Startup Incubator: The Art and Science of Launching Your Idea…

TESOL Class Helps Tutor Syrian Refugees

MLK Left Influential Impact on Wesleyan Community

Conditions Around the Sun 5 Million Years Ago Now Known, Wesleyan Study Says

Construction Begins on New Neighborhood Preschool at Long Lane

A Look Back at Wesleyan, 2021

Hughes Remembered for Teaching English, Women’s Studies Courses for 30 Years

Wesleyan in the News

USDA Awards Ostfeld ’10, MA ’12 Grant for Healthy PlanEat Startup

Wesleyan Researchers Explore Social Media’s Effects on Emotional Well-Being during the Pandemic

Wesleyan Becomes Tobacco, Vape Free Campus

Graduate Students Awarded NASA Connecticut Space Grants

Student Entrepreneurs Share Startup Business Ventures with the Public