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As part of Wesleyan's Admitted Student Events, the Office of Admission hosted its 2021 WesFest in a virtual platform April 7-9. Class of 2025 admitted students and their families were able to log into 121 events and informational sessions on topics such as financial aid, academic resources, student activities, studying abroad, student technology, residential life, and religious life. Of the 13,145 applications received for a spot in the Class of 2025, 2,544 were admitted. View the full Class of 2025 profile online here. During WesFest, more than 890 of the admitted students attended at least one session. In addition to…

As temperatures rise and campus blooms to life, students continue to follow safety measures this spring by practicing social distancing and wearing masks. For more information on Wesleyan's efforts, visit the Keep Wes Safe website. (Photos taken by Willow Saxon '24 on April 8 and 10) (more…)

On April 7, poet John Murillo, assistant professor of English, was named the 2021 winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award for his recent collection Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry (Four Way Books, 2020). Murillo’s collection offers "a reflective look at the legacy of institutional, accepted violence against Blacks and Latinos and the personal and societal wreckage wrought by long histories of subjugation." The Kingsley Tufts Award is awarded to a mid-career poet and comes with a $100,000 prize. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry also was nominated for the 2021 PEN Open Book Award and the 2021 NAACP Images Awards in the Outstanding Literary Work…

Wesleyan's organic farm, an eco-friendly clothing store, and a clean water supplier in New Jersey are the recipients of the 2021 Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship Seed Grants. These student-led social ventures will each receive $5,000 in unrestricted funds as well as training, advising, mentoring, incubator workspace, and other resources from the Patricelli Center. On April 2, a pool of finalists pitched their projects, virtually, to a panel of expert judges. Applicants were assessed on their project design, leadership qualities, and potential for social or environmental impact. Seasoned Seed Grant judge and Patricelli Center Advisory Board member Syed Ali '13…

A film written, directed, and produced by College of Film and the Moving Image faculty Randall MacLowry and Tracy Heather Strain explores the life and times of author L. Frank Baum, the creator of the beloved classic American narrative, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. MacLowry is assistant professor of the practice in film studies and Strain is associate professor of film studies. Together they direct the Wesleyan Documentary Project. Titled American Oz, the documentary depicts how Baum continued to reinvent himself—working as a chicken breeder, actor, marketer of petroleum products, shopkeeper, newspaperman, and traveling salesman—while reinterpreting his observations through films,…

(By Bill Holder '75) In this Q&A we speak with Janine Cory '91, MPH, about COVID-19 myths, vaccinations and vaccine hesitancy, pediatric transmission, health literacy, and more. Cory is the Associate Director of Communications for the CDC COVID-19 Response, Vaccine Task Force. For more information on Wesleyan's efforts dealing with COVID-19, visit the Keep Wes Safe website. Q: How did you first become interested in public health? Was there a particular experience, issue, or Wesleyan course that influenced you? What led you to focus on risk communication? A: I was actually lucky enough to be accepted into a pilot program…

Peter “Kosty” Kostacopoulos, adjunct professor of physical education, emeritus, and former head baseball coach and assistant football coach, passed away on March 25 at the age of 86. Kosty earned his BS from the University of Maine, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball, and made the All-Maine Conference in football and basketball. After coaching at Bowdoin for nine years, he arrived at Wesleyan in 1968. He served as head baseball coach for 28 years and assistant football coach for 19 years. He also served as a head squash coach during this time. Kosty led the Cardinals to 11…

Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history and chair of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, gave a virtual talk titled “Adventures of Victorian Aeronauts” on March 28. The lecture focused on the way balloon travel changed the landscape of Victorian aviation. The talk was hosted by Profs & Pints, an online platform for professors to give lectures that reach a wide virtual audience. Tucker began with a historical panorama of ballooning from its origins in Enlightenment science and Romanticism, to its uses for various purposes in the 19th century. She also explored balloon fashion and follies, accidents and mishaps,…

On March 30, more than 150 students gathered outside Usdan University Center for a community vigil to mourn the victims of the March 16 Atlanta spa shootings and to create a safe space for Asian and Asian-American students to discuss the rise of anti-Asian violence and be heard by the community. The vigil was organized by Emily Chen ’23, Kevin Le ’22, and graduate student Emily Moon, in conjunction with members of the Asian American Student Collective. Students read poems, played music, and shared their reflections during the event. Towards the end, the organizers gave anyone moved to speak the…

Sofia Warren ’13 has always loved to draw, but she didn’t know she could make a career out of it until graduating from Wesleyan and entering the world of animation. Now she works as a cartoonist for The New Yorker and recently launched a virtual advice column called “You’re Doing Great.” “It feels like a really fun fusion for me of art, which I love to do, and listening to people and figuring out how to help them,” Warren said about the column. She originally began posting doodles on her Instagram stories around the time of the election and asking…

On March 28, Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history and chair, Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, was featured on the radio station Echo of Moscow. Smolkin spoke on Soviet atheism on Irina Prokhorova's program "Culture of Everyday Life." The podcast is available in Russian online here. Smolkin is the author of A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism, which was recently translated into Russian. Atheism prevailed in Soviet ideology, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. However, religion never fully disappeared from the life of Russia and the Soviet republics. In the broadcast, Smolkin and fellow panelists…

Richard Grossman, professor of economics, recently co-authored an article titled “Before the Cult of Equity: the British Stock Market, 1829-1929” in European Review of Economic History, published on March 24, 2021. According to the paper's abstract, the co-authors "analyze the development and performance of the British equity market during the era when it reigned supreme as the largest in the world. By using an extensive monthly dataset of thousands of companies, we identify the major peaks and troughs in the market and find a relationship with the timing of economic cycles. We also show that the equity risk premium was…

Admitted Students Explore Wesleyan during Virtual WesFest

Students Enjoy Spring Weather

Murillo Honored with $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Award for Poetry

Students Awarded $5,000 Seed Grants for Socially-Good Ventures

American Oz by MacLowry, Strain to Premiere April 19

CDC’s Cory ’91 Speaks on COVID-19 and Public Health

Kostacopoulos Remembered for Being Wesleyan’s Winningest Coach

Tucker Lectures on Victorian Aeronauts and the History of Ballooning

Students Gather to Honor Atlanta Victims, Combat Anti-Asian Violence

Warren ’13 Talks Virtual Advice, Cartoons, Creativity

Smolkin Speaks about the History of Soviet Atheism on Moscow Radio Station

Grossman Co-Authors Article on British Stock Market