faculty

It is with great pleasure that the University announces the promotions of 22 faculty members, effective July 1, 2024: The following faculty were conferred tenure by the Board of Trustees: Katie Brewer Ball, Associate Professor of Theater Joan Cho, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies Anthony Ravindra Cummings, Philip ’71 and Lynn Rauch Professor of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Environmental Management Iddrisu Saaka, Associate Professor of Dance Roberto Saba, Associate Professor of American Studies Daniel Smyth, Associate Professor of Letters Tracy Heather Strain, Professor of Film Studies In addition, 15 faculty members are being promoted: Charles Barber, Professor of the Practice in…

When John Bonin first joined Wesleyan’s Department of Economics in 1970, he discovered a down-to-earth leader in President Colin Campbell, and an academic culture that was comparatively unusual. “I learned quickly that faculty at Wesleyan were encouraged to speak out and assert agency unlike what my contemporaries at other institutions were experiencing,” Bonin said. On May 26, Wesleyan’s retiring faculty members—Bonin, Chester D. Hubbard Professor of Economics and Social Science; Bernardo Antonio Gonzalez, professor of Spanish; and Jeffrey Schiff, professor of art—will receive emeritus status at the University’s 192nd Commencement Ceremony. Ahead of the occasion, Bonin, Gonzalez, and Schiff reflected…

By Rose Chen ’26 Fellowships, Research, and Grants Jennifer Tucker, professor of technology, law, and visual culture and founding director of the Center for the Study of Guns and Society, and Stephen Hargarten, professor of Emergency Medicine at Medical College of Wisconsin, received a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for their research into the ways manufacturers have improved firearm and ammunition safety since the 1750s. Tucker published “Gundamentalism” in Modern American History in May of 2023, an essay on the role of guns in American society through history. She also published “Home on the (Firing) Range:…

By Anya Kisicki ’22 Dante, dinosaurs, and geopolitics mingled at the opening of Assistant Professor of Art Tammy Nguyen’s newest art exhibition, A Comedy for Mortals: Purgatorio, at the Lehmann Maupin’s London gallery on March 12. Nguyen, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow in fine arts, masterfully weaves disparate concepts together to create a new world of meaning that plays out on massive canvases, works on paper, and the intricate pages of her artbooks. A Comedy for Mortals is the second installment in an ongoing trilogy of exhibitions by Nguyen. Each iteration of A Comedy for Mortals maps geopolitical themes onto Dante’s…

Khalilah Brown-Dean, award-winning scholar and author dedicated to community building and access, is Wesleyan University’s new executive director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and university professor. “I am a community-engaged scholar and academic leader who creates spaces for collaboration and understanding. I’m passionate about confronting grand societal challenges like threats to democracy,” Brown-Dean said. “This role affords me the opportunity to tackle some of the global conflicts that we all have to contend with, while leveraging the resources of higher education.” The Allbritton Center is the nucleus of civic life at Wesleyan and is where…

In a time when campus dialogue is front page news as violence continues in the Middle East, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 has spoken and written extensively on the topic over the last few days, providing his perspective and insight into the environment at Wesleyan. Roth appeared on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” on Dec. 5 to discuss the campus conversation surrounding the war and student’s perception of safety during times of rising religious interpersonal conflict. “On our campus, we have seen that people have the ability to sit together in the same room and listen to…

Students from high schools across the country are getting the chance to “live like a philosopher” thanks to a Wesleyan course taught by Tushar Irani, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Letters. The course is offered through Wesleyan’s partnership with the National Education Equity Lab—an initiative that seeks to democratize college access and advance education justice by providing college-level courses to students attending Title 1 high schools across the country. (The New York Times wrote about the program previously.) There are six high schools participating in the course—from Albuquerque to El Paso to the Bronx—with a total of over 75 students…

President Michael S. Roth made the following announcement on December 5: Dear Friends, I am sorry to report the death of Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s former first lady, on December 3 at her home in Essex, CT. Midge’s contributions to the University were wide ranging and impactful. She and the late President Emeritus Douglas J. Bennet ’59, Hon. ’94, P’87, ’94, GP’27, ’27 worked steadily to improve relations with the City of Middletown, frequently opening their campus home to local officials and residents for receptions. She took a keen interest in a variety of arts initiatives, served the Board of…

Newly published research on cognitive remediation’s impact on those with mood disorders calls for public health officials to consider assessing and treating cognitive deficits. Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and Behavior Matthew Kurtz said offering those people with mood disorders and cognitive deficits some type of behavioral treatment may help mitigate their difficulties. Kurtz, Zoey Goldberg ’21, and Brina Kuslak ’21 published “A meta-analytic investigation of cognitive remediation for mood disorders: Efficacy and the role of study quality, sample and treatment factors” in the June edition of the Journal of Affective Disorders. By meta-analyzing 22 unique, controlled studies with nearly…

Richard (“Dick”) Van Wyck Buel Jr, Professor of History, Emeritus, passed away on November 22 at the age of 90. Dick received his AB from Amherst College and his AM and PhD from Harvard University. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1962, where he taught American history until his retirement in 2002. During those years he published six books, including In Irons (Yale University Press, 1998), a macroeconomic history of the American Revolution, and for 22 years he served as associate editor of History and Theory. After his retirement, Dick remained involved at Wesleyan in the Wasch Center for Retired Faculty, and he taught a course on American intellectual history for students in Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. “I…

In a piece for Time Magazine, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 and Yale School of Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld argue university leadership has an obligation to speak out to ensure safety for students and employees. "It’s not an infringement on free expression to take a stand as an institutional leader, whether it’s to condemn perpetual military occupation, to denounce scientific falsehoods during a pandemic, to defend the importance of telling the truth about the legacies of Black slavery, or to point out that progressive pieties often make use of ancient anti-Semitic tropes to promote sick silos of solidarity," they…

President Michael S. Roth ' 78 and Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Nicole Stanton announce the promotions of two faculty members, effective July 1, 2024. In its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees conferred tenure to Douglas Martin, associate professor of English, and Roman Utkin, associate professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies. Douglas Arthur Martin, Associate Professor of English Professor Martin is the author of four novels, including their most recent, Wolf (Nightboat Books, 2020), “an anti–true-crime novel about abuse, patricide, and Southern working-class life.” Their first novel, Outline of My Lover (Soft Skull, 2000), was an…

Faculty Tenure and Promotions Announced

For Wesleyan’s Retiring Faculty, a Moment to Look Back

Faculty Achievements in Academic Year 2023-24

Wesleyan Professor’s Art on Display in London Gallery

Khalilah Brown-Dean to Lead the Allbritton Center

Wesleyan in the News: President Roth on ‘Safe Enough’ Campuses

High School Students ‘Live Like A Philosopher’ Through Partnership

Midge Bowen Bennet, Wesleyan’s Former First Lady, Dies

New Research Calls For Public Health Officials to Consider and Treat Mood Disorders

Richard Van Wyck Buel Jr., Professor of History, Emeritus, Dies at 90

Wesleyan in the News: November

Two Faculty Members Conferred Tenure at November Board Meeting