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Olivia DrakeDecember 12, 20191min
Sarah Schechter '17 is exhibiting her first solo show, "Kasual Bagel," at the Shrine Gallery in New York City. Her paintings will be on display through Jan. 5. Shrine is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and is located at 179 East Broadway. Schechter, who majored in history at Wesleyan, lives and works in Harlem, and is completing an art education certification program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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Olivia DrakeDecember 12, 20193min
Wesleyan's community-based radio station, WESU 88.1 FM, celebrated its 80th anniversary on Dec. 8 with a Free Form Jubilee. The event, held in the Daniel Family Commons, featured special musical performances and talks by local dignitaries. Established in 1939, WESU began as one of the first student-owned and -operated radio stations in the country. That fall, Wesleyan freshman Arch Doty Jr. began broadcasting his homemade 1-watt AM transmitter from his Clark Hall dorm room. Eighty years later, WESU is among the largest student groups on Wesleyan’s campus, uniting nearly 150 student and community volunteer broadcasters. The event featured Noah Baerman,…

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Olivia DrakeDecember 12, 20192min
As part of the Introduction to Environmental Studies class, six students embedded themselves into the work lives of Wesleyan's Physical Plant employees to learn the inner workings of campus. Leila Henry '23, Serena Aimen '22, Tanvi Punja '22, Molly Scotti '22, Nina Criswell '22, and Mikaela Marcotullio '23 shadowed the Physical Plant workers for three-hour shifts every week throughout the fall semester. The experience concluded with performances on Dec. 5 that represented the culmination of that work. The class was taught by Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, and the performances were curated with the help of Allison…

Editorial StaffDecember 12, 20191min
Sherman Hawkins, professor of English, emeritus, died on Dec. 3 at the age of 90. Sherman received BA degrees from both Harvard University and the University of Oxford and his PhD from Princeton University. He served in the US military at the conclusion of the Korean War. Arriving at Wesleyan in 1971 after teaching at Princeton, Bryn Mawr, and University of Rochester, he taught English here for 20 years until he retired in 1991. For decades, his essay on college as a green world experience was given to every freshman entering Wesleyan. “Sherman was an unforgettable colleague and presence at…

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Olivia DrakeDecember 11, 20191min
Wildfires can transform forest ecosystems to varying degrees, depending on fire severity. While low-severity wildfires change plant community composition by killing short-statured trees and understory plants, high-severity fires result in top kill of above-ground vegetation. This variation in wildfire effects can have major impacts on post-fire vegetation composition and water stress. Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies, received a $300,000 grant from NASA on Dec. 5 to examine how forests can permanently change in response to high-severity wildfire in southeastern Arizona. (more…)

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Avery Kaplan '20December 9, 20192min
Along with other musicians around the world this week, Goth Girlfriend (Gaby Giangola '17) posted her "2019 Spotify Wrapped" overview to Instagram. Accompanied by the caption "gotta start somewhere, eh?," the photo summarizes the number of streams and listeners who tuned in to Goth Girlfriend's music on the streaming service this year. The caption encapsulates Goth Girlfriend's tireless ambition. The up-and-coming artist's music is self-described as banshee rap or alternative rock; her sound is raw and meticulous at the same time. The five tracks on her recent EP, Sex Sprain, mix guitar chords and hip-hop beats with punk vocals, and…

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Olivia DrakeDecember 9, 20192min
On Dec. 4, 15 students from the Class of 2020 were elected to Wesleyan's scholastic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. To be elected, a student must first have been nominated by the department of his or her major. The student also must have demonstrated curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations and must have achieved a GPA of 93 or above. Wesleyan's Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society was organized in 1845 and is the ninth oldest chapter in the country. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest surviving Greek letter society in America, founded in December 1776…

Lauren RubensteinDecember 9, 20192min
Wesleyan faculty frequently publish articles based on their scholarship in The Conversation US, a nonprofit news organization with the tagline “Academic rigor, journalistic flair.” On the release date of the new film The Aeronauts, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Tucker writes about how the first hot-air balloon trips in the 19th century transformed our views of the world and opened up a new "laboratory for discovery" for scientists interested in studying the atmosphere and meteorology. From their balloons, the first aeronauts transformed our view of the world Near the beginning of the new film “The Aeronauts,” a giant gas-filled balloon called the…

Olivia DrakeDecember 3, 20193min
Catherine Rachel Ostrow-D'Haeseleer, adjunct instructor of French, died on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the age of 65. Ostrow-D'Haeseleer was born in Kananga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In the fall of 1983, she was asked to take over a French course for a professor who had to take an unexpected leave. With only a high school education, she immediately demonstrated the professionalism, commitment, and excellence as a teacher that characterized her entire career. After stints as both a part-time and full-time visiting faculty member, Ostrow-D'Haeseleer was hired as an adjunct lecturer in 1991 and taught at Wesleyan…