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The Class of 2025's New Student Orientation concluded on Friday, Sept. 3 with a celebratory return to an in-person "Common Moment" which was held on Andrus Field. The annual shared participatory arts event is one of the culminating experiences of students' first week on campus. The movement experience for incoming students, which has been held since 2008 starting with the Class of 2012, featured both faculty and alumni choreographers from Wesleyan’s Dance Department. The event had pivoted to an asynchronous event last summer. The Class of 2024 participated virtually (view performance) from their residence halls on Aug. 28, 2020 due…

Wesleyan University is preparing to launch in Fall 2022 a new Human Rights Advocacy minor, a first for the university. This program, run by co-founders James Cavallaro and Ruhan Nagra of the University Network for Human Rights, seeks to train the next generation of advocates, giving a group of 16 Wesleyan undergraduates the opportunity to work alongside professionals in the field during the academic year. Sixteen students from universities across the country will come to Wesleyan to study in the program as well. The total of 32 students will be evenly divided into a Fall and Spring cohort. The Wesleyan…

Wet weather couldn’t dampen the feelings of excitement, anticipation and, above all, hope that abounded on Wesleyan University’s new student Arrival Day. Over 900 students in the Class of 2025 - the second largest in Wesleyan’s history - as well as transfer students and students who deferred admission, moved in Wednesday morning. Many of this diverse group of young people from across the country and the globe navigated their entire application process through the complications of a global pandemic, demonstrating resilience in addition to intellectual and social acumen. On this rainy morning, harnessing and shaping all of that nascent energy…

After an unusual 18 months of hybrid teaching, working remotely, and navigating university life during a pandemic, Wesleyan's faculty and staff are eager for some normalcy this fall. In this News @ Wesleyan piece, we speak to several employees about what they are most looking forward to during the fall 2021 semester. Morgan Keller became director of international student affairs on Aug. 23 after stints at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California-Santa Cruz, and Clemson University. He learned of Wesleyan through his cousin, Adam Keller '14, who spoke favorably of the university during his time here as a film…

Edward Torres, an assistant professor of the practice in theater, can’t help but be moved when he performs the words of L.D. Barkley, a prisoner who played an important role during the 1971 Attica Prison riot, raising morale for incarcerated men protesting their mistreatment. “We are men! We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such,” Barkley said in 1971 shortly before he was killed by police. For Torres, the most devastating part of performing the new play Echoes of Attica is to know that every word is real. “This is a piece…

This October, Wesleyan will present a multidisciplinary dance project titled “WesWorks” that transforms the ordinary, mundane, and skillful movements of facilities and custodial employees into a performance accompanied by live, original music and stories told in the workers’ voices. Led by Allison Orr, the choreographer and artistic director of Forklift Danceworks, a distinguished fellow in the College of Environment, "WesWorks" will teach students techniques of community art practice through performance. In these Q&As, we speak with Forklift Danceworks employees and Wesleyan alumnae Gretchen LaMotte '18 (click to read), choreographer and programs manager and Penny Snyder '16 (click to read), communications manager…

On Oct. 14, Forklift Danceworks will present WesWorks, a performance that celebrates the skilled movement and the often unheard stories of the people whose work sustains the daily lives of the Wesleyan campus. In this Q&A we speak with Penny Snyder '16, who works as the communications manager for Forklift. At Wesleyan, she majored in English and received High Honors for her general scholarship thesis on art museums, architecture, and public space. She is an incoming graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnston School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Q: Hello Penny! How were you…

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: The Wall Street Journal features Fidelity Investments' Joel Tillinghast '80 regarding the meme-stock craze. "Mr. Tillinghast’s tastes in stocks are eclectic. His main mutual fund holds more than 900 names, and some 34% of his assets are in international stocks. His largest concentration is in retailers and consumer-goods stocks beaten down by expectations that e-commerce would crush bricks-and-mortar stores." (Aug. 4) On CNBC, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott…

Associate Professor of Art History Nadja Aksamija got her first glimpse of Bologna, Italy back in 2004 as she walked from the train station towards the historic city center. It was a hot day and she dragged her suitcase down the sidewalk. Crossing Piazza Maggiore, Aksamija stepped into the shade of Palazzo dei Banchi, experiencing for the first time the city’s breathtaking porticos – extensions from the upper levels of structures that create about 37 miles of covered walkways alongside city streets. “I remember thinking that this was incredible,” Aksamija said. “It felt like a changing landscape.” While the porticos…

For more than a decade, the student group WILD Wes (Working for Intelligent Landscape Design at Wesleyan University) has worked to transform a .75 acre of sloping, sandy land into a thriving permaculture site. Located inside the West College Courtyard, the garden boasts a biodiverse natural ecosystem with plants that are beneficial to humans and wildlife. Birds, bees, butterflies (and humans) enjoy the plethora of seasonal produce: blackberries, blueberries, pears, apples, corn, currants, and more. Seasonal flowers, from beebalm to woodland sunflowers, provide insects with nectar-rich meals, and grassy native groundcovers spread to absorb heavy rain and eliminate the need…

On Oct. 14, Forklift Danceworks will present WesWorks, a performance that celebrates the skilled movement and tells the often unheard stories of the people whose work sustains the daily lives of the Wesleyan campus. In this Q&A we speak with Gretchen LaMotte '18, choreographer and programs manager for Forklift Danceworks. At Wesleyan, LaMotte majored in science in society while working for the Center for the Arts’ Creative Campus Initiative, Zilkha Gallery, and the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance. Q: Hi Gretchen! In October, Forklift will host the performance of "WesWorks," featuring members of Wesleyan’s Physical Plant staff and campus…

At first glance, a viewer sees a single image of pink-tinted cubes, resembling a bacteria culture from high school biology. But upon closer examination, the viewer begins to see a series of other shapes—triangles to hexahedrons to tetahexahedraons (cubes with four-sided pyramids on each face). "If you stare at this image for a while, you can see that it's actually a series of five images in the top row, and five images on the bottom row, and each of these images show us nanoparticles that are made of gold and copper," said Brian Northrop, professor of chemistry. "It's intriguing, captivating,…

Students Embody Dances from Different World Cultures during Annual Common Moment (Video)

Wesleyan to Launch New Human Rights Advocacy Minor

New Students Arrive at Wesleyan Full of Hope (with Video, Photos)

Faculty, Staff Prepare for a New Semester at Wesleyan

New Play Revisits 1971 Attica Prison Riot

Alumni Share Experiences with Forklift Danceworks; Prepare for ‘WesWorks’

Snyder ’16 Reflects on Her Experience with Forklift

Wesleyan in the News

Aksamija Helps Porticos of Bologna be Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site

WILD Wes Continues Summer Work on Permaculture Site

Forklift’s LaMotte ’18 Discusses Upcoming WesWorks Performance

Scientific Images of Nanoparticles, Colliding Stars, Learned Words Win Annual Contest