Olivia DrakeFebruary 8, 20102min
This year, 10,645 seniors from around the world applied to Wesleyan University, an increase of 6 percent from 2009, which was a record year for applications, despite the sour economy. "Last year we reached an all-time high for applications, up by 22 percent, and this year is 6 percent over that," says Greg Pyke, senior associate dean of admission. Of these students, 41 percent are male and 59 percent are female. The applicant pool contains 362 candidates for the Freeman Asian Scholars program, 860 for early decision admission and 9,423 applications in the regular review process. Two-hundred-and-twenty-nine of these students…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 8, 20103min
This summer, Jourdan Khalid Hussein ’11 will be given the skills and experiences necessary to create, analyze, implement, evaluate, and affect policy in a multicultural, multiethnic society. As a Public Policy & International Affairs Junior Summer Institute Fellow, Hussein will spend seven weeks at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. The program’s mission is to increase leadership opportunities for future global policy leaders in both the public and nonprofit sectors by preparing students for graduate study in related fields. "The Junior Summer Institute is a highly focused and rigorous academic program that will help you…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 8, 20102min
In 1966, the apartheid government controlling South Africa began forcing more than 60,000 residents of color from their Cape Town homes in attempt to destroy a multi-racial neighborhood called District Six. On Jan. 8, 2010, Taylor Cain '11 and CaVar Reid '11 toured this area, once a flourishing and lively community of freed slaves and immigrants. The township exploration was just one way Cain and Reid gained an understanding of the South African socio-economic, racial, cultural, historical and environmental landscape while interacting with students from academic institutions in the United States and South Africa. "Knowing the history involved in District…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 8, 20102min
For the fifth year in a row, Wesleyan students, faculty and staff are becoming "recycle maniacs." RecycleMania, a national recycling and waste minimization competition for universities and colleges, began Jan. 17. For 10 weeks, Wesleyan will record the volume of paper, cardboard and glass/metals/plastics collected from most academic, administrative, on-campus student dormitory facilities and the Usdan University Center. Wesleyan also will record the amount of garbage. This year, all plastic items identified as numbers 1 through 7 can be recycled in Wesleyan's “glass/metal/plastic” recycle containers. "In the past we have only been able to recycle No 1 and No. 2,"…

Olivia DrakeFebruary 8, 20103min
Wesleyan's Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) has been selected by The United Illuminating Company (UI) and The Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P) to provide professional development workshops for eesmarts teachers regarding energy and energy-efficient behaviors and technologies. These new contracts provide funding for a fourth year of the program and are renewable for an additional two years. The first three years of the program provided nearly $1M in funding to PIMMS to conduct the program. Funding for the next three years show a slight increase. eesmarts is an energy-efficiency learning initiative that is funded by…