faculty

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…

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…

Wesleyan University will be participating in a research project to explore the potential—and pitfalls--of generative artificial intelligence as a teaching and research tool. Wesleyan joins 19 other universities, including Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Connecticut, Stony Brook University, Temple University, Bryant University, Duke University, Concordia University, and Yale University on the two-year research project led by Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit organization that helps the academic community evaluate and use digital technologies. “Together the partners in the Making AI Generative for Higher Education will assess the immediate and emerging AI applications most likely to impact teaching,…

Wesleyan students from four research labs in the Neuroscience and Behavior program (NS&B) attended the 36th annual Northeast Undergraduate and Graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) conference at Quinnipiac University on April 23. Students presented their research during the poster sessions and attended neuroscience-related workshops. They got the opportunity to meet faculty and students from other neuroscience programs throughout the region, and to discuss and get feedback on their work. Professor Charles Sanislow, Chair of the Neuroscience and Behavior Program, said, “These kinds of opportunities offer students the experience of sharing their research efforts with the professional community, and highlight…

At the first Faculty and Staff Lunch Talk following the COVID-19 pandemic, held April 4, Professor of Psychology Scott Plous stood before the assembled group of faculty and staff to discuss the merits of action teaching. He began his presentation with a quote from the inaugural address of Wesleyan University’s first president, Willbur Fisk: “education should be directed with reference to two objects—the good of the individual educated, and the good of the world.” “Action teaching,” a term first coined by Plous in his 2000 publication for Teaching of Psychology, integrates real world problem solving, philanthropy, and advocacy with traditional…

Community-based, data-driven stories are Koeppel Fellow Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’ bread-and-butter. Instead of walking into a pitch meeting with a defined story arc, as is often required in the modern media landscape, Thomas prefers to come in with a general topic to take to community members and find the story from there. “Community-based reporting is sort of just standing on the sidelines and observing what's happening. Listening to people at community meetings or the park or wherever, staying attuned to the Facebook groups that are the communities in the areas you're serving, and then determining what the story is,” Thomas said.…

Former Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibarguen ’66, Hon. ’11, P ’97 announced he is stepping down as the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—a philanthropic organization that has invested in media, arts, and culture. President Joseph R. Biden nominated Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm ’88 to be the new commander of I Marine Expeditionary Force, one of the three main Marine forces, according to Marine Corps Times. An aviator by training, Cederholm has served as deputy commandant for aviation since July 2022, according to his official bio. Neuroscientist Michael Greenberg ’76 was one of three winners of the Lundbeck…

Professor of American Studies J. Kēhaulani Kauanui has been recognized with the American Indian History Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the Western History Association meeting, at the annual meeting held October 12-15, 2022, in San Antonio. For the last twenty years, the award has been given to the one individual every year who has served in the trenches on all fronts to advance Indigenous History. Past scholars who have been awarded include Philip J. Deloria, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Frederick Hoxie, Jean M. O'Brien, Colin Calloway, Roger Nichols, Clifford Trafzer, and Jeffrey Ostler. Kauanui is one of the six cofounders of the…

For most people, microbes are something to be observed under a microscope, but for Raquel Bryant, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, they provide insight into the way that the world around us works. “Collective action is actually possible,” Bryant said, “This is something I learned from microbes.” Strength in numbers is something that Bryant, who studies deep time interactions between life, the ocean, and the climate, sees as an essential principle of both activism and science. Learn more about Bryant in Madeleine Dickman '23's profile, posted at the Inclusion in STEM blog.

Wesleyan University and edX, a leading global online learning platform from 2U, Inc. announced Wesleyan as the newest member of the global edX partner network, joining hundreds of top institutions committed to expanding access to the world’s best education. The university plans to launch a variety of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on edX.org in 2023. “Wesleyan has long been a champion of educational innovation. We believe in expanding access to education by sharing versions of our classes with the wider world,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth '78. “Our partnership with edX gives us the ability to grow our…

Martha “Marty” Gilmore, the George I. Seney Professor of Geology and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been awarded the 2022 Claudia J. Alexander Prize from the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for her study of Venus’ geology. Gilmore is a Science Team Member on the DAVINCI and VERITAS missions to Venus, and the principal investigator of a Venus Flagship Mission Concept Study for the Planetary Decadal Survey. Gilmore’s work has “helped usher in a new decade of exploration of Venus with the selection of two new NASA Venus missions,” according to the AAS.…

This fall, Wesleyan welcomes 43 new faculty to campus of which 24 are ongoing members of the campus community. Fourteen are tenure-track, eight are professors of the practice, two are adjunct, and 19 are visiting (read about the new visiting faculty in this story). In addition, two new members of the Wesleyan faculty are graduates of Wesleyan. Wesleyan's new scholar-teachers bring diverse skills, passions, and research interests to the university including Indian sectarian violence, costume design, animal behavior and neurophysiology, Japanese pedagogy, post-structural semiotics, structural inequalities in education, digital media analysis, and more. Bios of the new, ongoing faculty are…

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

Two Faculty Members Conferred Tenure at November Board Meeting

Wesleyan to Participate in Generative AI Research Project

Wesleyan Students Present at NEURON Conference

The Impact of Action Teaching

Koeppel Fellow Jacqueline Rabe Thomas on the importance of community-based reporting

Wesleyan in the News: March 2023

Kauanui Given Lifetime Achievement Award

Strength in Numbers and the Power of Microbes: Meet Raquel Bryant

Wesleyan and edX Announce Partnership

Martha Gilmore Wins Claudia J. Alexander Award

New, Ongoing Faculty are Experts on Japanese Pedagogy, Costume Design, Immersive Media