Spinner P’15 Offers Insight on Food Supply Chain Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Steven Spinner P’15 is chairman/CEO of United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), the largest publicly-traded grocery distributor in the United States, with 59 locations in the U.S. and Canada. UNFI’s customers include natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers, and restaurants—meaning Spinner and his team have a comprehensive perspective on our food supply chain. Spinner recently spoke with us about how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting what we see (and don’t see) on grocery store shelves, and shared his thoughts on how the current situation might impact future consumer behavior. You gave an interview on Bloomberg TV in…

When Wesleyan parents and alumni in China learned how the coronavirus pandemic was affecting the Wesleyan community, dozens worked together to raise funds and send much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to campus. To date, the Wesleyan Chinese Parent Committee, made up of more than 70 families, has already raised $29,000 to support Wesleyan's Emergency Fund for Students, and combined, has donated more than 400 disposable gloves and 800 masks (N95 and surgical). Approximately 500 masks are being used by staff from the Davison Health Center, Physical Plant, WesStation's mailroom, the Information Technology Services Help Desk and Public Safety. "The parent…

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Wesleyan canceled all spring semester events, and courses moved to an online format. Wesleyan's Piping Performance course, however, welcomed the Wesleyan community to "attend" their midterm performances on April 7 through the Zoom platform. "Our organ class is thriving in spite of our transition to online classes," said course instructor Alcee Chriss, artist-in-residence and university organist. "It is a particular challenge to teach organ when none of your students have access to one. Many of the students have opted to give their performances on piano for this semester." Six of the 13 students wrote original…

Wesleyan remains committed to serving the approximately 250 undergraduates who remain on campus and the faculty and staff who are working on campus or remotely during the COVID-19 epidemic. Information on the many resources that continue to be available may be found on Wesleyan's Coronavirus/COVID-19 website and below: Wesleyan Libraries Olin Memorial Library and the Science Library buildings are closed, but a large and growing amount of online resources are accessible. Access content by going to the library homepage and look for a title or topic in OneSearch. Use the "available online" option under "Refine My Search." Wesleyan also offers…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wesleyan President Michael Roth ’78 announced that Wesleyan will delay its 188th Commencement Ceremony, originally scheduled for May 24, 2020. Wesleyan’s reunion gatherings, typically held during the same weekend, will be celebrated in alternate formats. “Although I’d been delaying this decision in hopes that we might still have an opportunity to gather together in late May, I’m writing now to let you know that we will have to find another time and place to celebrate the 2020 graduation. There is so much uncertainty about what the next few months will hold, and we don’t think…

To help medical personnel safeguard themselves during the coronavirus outbreak, two makerspace labs on campus are manufacturing much-needed protective masks using 3D printers. On April 1, Wesleyan donated its first set of 100 face shields to medical personnel at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, and others to Wesleyan staff who must work on campus to support the remaining students. The mask, which offers a barrier from the spray of liquids, can be used with or without additional medical masks that cover the nose and mouth. "Our 3D printers have been running at full speed," said Francis Starr, professor of physics and…

Associate Professor of Government Logan Dancey’s research and teaching interests include the United States Congress, campaigns and elections, and public opinion. We spoke to him about the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. As a scholar of legislative decision-making, can you describe how the workings of the United States Congress look different during a time of crisis? It’s still early, but the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic shows that even this gridlocked and polarized Congress—which doesn’t seem to accomplish much in normal times—is still fairly quick to respond to crises. We’ve seen large bipartisan majorities agree on fairly large-scale…

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Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies Scott Aalgaard studies modern and contemporary Japan, including the experiences of Japanese-Americans during World War II, when approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent were forced into internment camps. We spoke to him about the echoes of that history in the surge in racist incidents against Asian-Americans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Aalgaard, as we think about the increase in racist acts against people of Asian descent in the United States today, can you please offer a brief history of racism faced by Asian-Americans? The first thing that I want to argue…

Frederick Cohan, the Huffington Foundation Professor in the College of the Environment, professor of biology, is a microbial ecologist whose course “Global Change and Infectious Disease” examines how human disturbance of the environment contributes to infectious disease outbreaks. He also researches the origins of diversity among both bacteria and viruses. In early February, as the novel coronavirus was beginning to spread, Cohan wrote an article in The Conversation, co-authored with PhD candidate Kathleen Sagarin and Kelly Mei ’20, titled, “A Clue to Stopping Coronavirus: Knowing How Viruses Adapt From Animals to Humans.” Cohan also was interviewed recently by The Wesleyan…

A lack of fast, reliable diagnostic testing has played a major role in the rapid proliferation of cases of COVID-19. Rahul Dhanda ’95 and his team at Sherlock Biosciences are working furiously to change that, potentially shortening the testing’s time horizon to a matter of minutes. Dhanda is co-founder, CEO, and president of the engineering biology startup based in Cambridge, Mass., which is creating two different diagnostic tests for COVID-19—one rooted in CRISPR technology, the other in synthetic biology. The hope is that the tests can be released during the course of the current pandemic, Dhanda said, each with its…

Professor of Government James McGuire is a political scientist with expertise in the association between democracy and public health. You study the relationship between democracy and population health. Does the literature find that democracy is good for population health? As a political scientist I've long been interested in democracy, and especially in its possible impact on other aspects of well-being. Many other political scientists have studied democracy's impact on economic growth and income inequality. My interest has been in democracy's impact on the risk of early death, and particularly on child mortality in developing countries. For Amartya Sen and Martha…

Spinner P’15 Offers Insight on Food Supply Chain Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Parents, Alumni in China Donate Masks to Wesleyan, Local Community

Pipe Organ Class Hosts Midterm Performances Online

Services, Resources Are Available on Campus During COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 Commencement Ceremony, Class Reunions Postponed

Wesleyan Labs Create, Donate Face Shields to Local Hospital

Dancey on the Government’s Response to the Coronavirus Crisis

Wesleyan’s Campus Remains Quiet During COVID-19 Pandemic

Aalgaard: COVID-Related Incidents Part of a Long “Historical Arc of Anti-Asian Racism”

Cohan: Human Behavior Affects Virus Evolution

Startup Led by Dhanda ’95 Developing COVID-19 Diagnostic Tests

McGuire Studies the Relationship Between Democracy and Public Health