Benjamin TraversRachel Levenson '12, saw a need for an elevated, intellectual based conversation on how to evaluate programs, scale up effective programs, and allocate funds in a way that will have the biggest positive impact. Levenson designed The Forum For International Development to create a space at Wesleyan for that discussion so people could learn from each other as well as from speakers that Wesleyan Students brought in from all over the country. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riwhO7r0YlU[/youtube]
Olivia DrakeEleven Wesleyan seniors will speak on their undergraduate research projects during the Spring 2012 McNair Fellow Presentation Series March 29 through April 26. The presentations describe the research that students conducted with Wesleyan faculty mentors. Many of the projects also are the subject of student theses or final papers presented for the Wesleyan B.A. requirements. The Wesleyan University Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement McNair Program was established in 2007. It assists students from underrepresented groups with preparing for, entering, and progressing successfully through postgraduate education. They are often first generation college students from low-income families, OR African-American, Hispanic, Native…
In honor of International Women's Day, DoSomething.org named Tasmiha Khan '12 one of the "11 Young Women to Look Out For." Through the organization Brighter Dawns, Khan raises awareness about the water-related illnesses in Bangladesh and builds wells, latrines and shower rooms in an effort to combat sanitary ignorance and the inability to access safe sanitation. With a goal of 5 million active members by 2015, DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the U.S. for teens and social change. The story is online here.
Three Wesleyan students were accepted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Honor Society. The students are Lee Gottesdiener '12, Sophia Levan '12 and Alejandra Olvera '12. These outstanding students have been selected based on their academic achievements, their commitment to research and science outreach. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members. Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Rockville, M.D. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of scientific and educational journals: the Journal of Biological…
Two undergraduates each received a $5,000 grant from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium on Jan. 1. Lavontria Aaron '14 to will study minerals on Mars with Martha Gilmore, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences; and Craig Malamut '12 will research local interstellar mediums with Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy.
Cynthia RockwellOver winter break, eight volunteers from Wesleyan, including founder Raghu Appasani ’12, traveled to India with the MINDS Foundation to complete the first phase of their three-phase program in India. The organization, founded by Appasani in 2010, is committed to eliminating the stigma of mental illness in developing nations. Through a grassroots approach, they provide educational, financial, medical, and moral support for patients suffering from mental illness in developing countries. Volunteers Shyam Desai '15, Sam Douglas '12 (a psychology major and director of research & development), Emma Kingsberg '12, Rehan Mehta '14, Lauren Seo '14 (president of the Wesleyan chapter…
Q: Rachel, please explain what acrobatic yoga is, and how you got involved. A: AcroYoga, as it's called, is acrobatic partner yoga that mostly involves a "base" who uses their legs to hold a "flyer" in the air as they both collaborate to move through therapeutic poses as well as acrobatic maneuvers. I got involved when Ryan Rogers and Miles Bukiet '11 led an AcroYoga student forum last year. Q: What is the partner class you teach and how many students are in the class? A: Lizzie Simon '12 and I teach a student forum class called Acrobatic Partner Yoga and…
A show on bullying in a Middletown neighborhood ,produced by Maddie Neufeld '12 and Harry Bartle '12, was recently featured on WNPR and GPRX radio. Neufeld and Bartle are co-producers of the Middletown Youth Radio Project. After submitting a proposal to Generation Public Radio Exchange (GPRX), Middletown Youth Radio Project was selected to produce a piece on bullying in Traverse Square, a federally subsidized complex in Middletown. "We wanted to understand what bullying might look like in a community. DJ DZhane and DJ Elizabethyano took on the project and went around Traverse Square with a microphone and recorder in hand, interviewing…
Lauren RubensteinTasmiha Khan '12 will present the poster "Responses to Group Devaluation among American-Muslims" at the 2012 Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, May 24 - 27 in Chicago, Ill. In this poster, Khan will present results with her ongoing research with Patricia Rodriguez Mosquera, assistant professor of psychology, on how American Muslims feel about negative societal images of their group. Khan has been working in Rodriguez Mosquera's Culture and Emotion Lab since 2009 where she is also involved in another research project on the meaning of honor among South Asian women.
Nearly half of the nation’s students - 44 percent - are students of color, but only one of every six teachers is a teacher of color. To help recruit, support and retain individuals of color as K-12 public school teachers, the Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships for Aspiring Teachers of Color offers scholarships to to ensure that greater numbers of highly qualified teachers of color enter public school classrooms around the country. This year, the Fund awarded fellowships to two Wesleyan seniors: Randyl Wilkerson '12 and Nastassia Williams '12. Wilkerson, an English major, and Williams, an African American Studies major, were chosen…
In Bangladesh, more than 100,000 children die every year of intestinal diseases. About 31 million people are without access to safe drinking water and 99.9 million people lack proper sanitation. About 80 percent of the wells in more than 8,000 villages are contaminated. Tasmiha Khan '12, founder of the Wesleyan chapter of Brighter Dawns, has spent the past four years determined to help sanitary and living conditions in a slum in Khalishpur, Khulna. Through fund-raising, partnering with NGOs and grant applications, the Wesleyan chapter has teamed up with other Brighter Dawns chapters in the country to distribute more than 1,000 sanitary…
Sarah Wolfe '12 is a theater major with a concentration in acting. She aspires to teach middle and high school students about the potential of live theater to make a difference in the lives of others. Learn more about Sarah in the video below: [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwMCheyfwvA&feature=relmfu[/youtube]