Lauren RubensteinTwo Wesleyan students have been awarded grants through the Davis Projects for Peace Program to bring their grassroots project proposals to fruition. Class of 2014's Mfundi Makama’s $10,000 grant will support The Buddies Program, which he recently created as a way to empower young women in Swaziland through educational achievement. Greg Shaheen ’13 will use the funds to establish a community-based eco-center focused on environmental education and action for teenagers in Lebanon. The projects will take place this summer. Student applicants at more than 90 Davis United World College Scholar Program partner schools—including Wesleyan—design grassroots projects that promote peace, build…
Bill Holder(Story contributed by Charles Salas, director of strategic initiatives) “A golden example of what exchange should be between academic communities in the United States and China.” That’s how Gao Xiang, vice secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and editor-in-chief of the Social Sciences in China Press, described the Chinese-American Scholarly Exchange Forum that took place May 9-11 at Wesleyan’s Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies. The forum brought 15 distinguished scholars from China to Wesleyan to meet with American counterparts to discuss the topic of “Comparative Enlightenments.” The forum was framed by Wang Weiguang, president of…
Olivia DrakeMabuhay, an annual Asian-Asian American show, provides an opportunity for different student groups and individuals to showcase their talents at Wesleyan and raise awareness regarding diversity on campus. The annual event took place in Crowell Concert Hall on April 17. (Photos by Dat Vu '15) (more…)
The Romance Languages and Literatures Department welcomed 10 new students to its French Honor Society, Phi Delta Phi on May 1. Students included Jesse Brent, Cara Colker-Eybel, Christina Ermilio, Elita Irving, Adam Isaacson, Miriam Kwieniewska, Yi Hui Lin, Fayette Phillips, Kyra Sutton and Savannah Whiting. (more…)
Q: Hannah, what are you majoring in and what are some of your research interests? A: I'm a Latin American studies major, with a concentration in Spanish. I'm really interested in exploring different avenues regarding community development, poverty alleviation, and social policies in Latin America. For my major's research requirement, I wrote a paper analyzing Ecuador's human and social development progress from 1990 to 2010. Q: What is your personal interest in Latin America? A: I grew up in Texas, where I was surrounded by Hispanic influences and debates on immigration. But I first fell in love with the culture,…
Shakti, the South Asian Student Association, hosted the second annual Holi (Festival of Colors) April 27 on Foss Hill. Students freckled each other in colored powder at the event to celebrate spring. (Photos by Olivia Drake. Video by Bill Fisher) (more…)
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we ask “5 Questions” of Urip Maeny, artist in residence in dance. She she has taught at Wesleyan since 1972, and will retire this year. Q: Please tell us when and how you first began studying Javanese dance. A: I began studying Javanese dance informally when I was still in elementary school in my hometown of Pekalongan in Central Java, Indonesia in the early 1960s. In 1961, I studied at the gamelan conservatory (high school level) in Surakarta. The school allowed me to focus my study on dance—especially Javanese dance, but also Balinese…
Join students enrolled in West African Drumming and West African Dance courses for an invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa. Choreographer Iddi Saaka and Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah will perform with their students in a West African Drumming and Dance performance at 3 p.m. May 10 in the Center for the Arts courtyard. The rain site is Crowell Concert Hall. Free! Pictured below are photos of their practice on April 17: #THISISWHY
Rosa Hayes '13 presented her paper on yield spread during The Carroll Round, an annual international economics conference at Georgetown University, in April. The Carroll Round provides a unique forum for research and discussion among the world’s top undergraduates. The goal of the Carroll Round is to foster the exchange of ideas among the leading undergraduate international economics and political economy students by encouraging and supporting the pursuit of scholarly innovation in the field. Hayes' advisor is Masami Imai, chair and associate professor of East Asian studies, associate professor of economics and director of the Freeman Center for East Asian…
Kate Shervais '13 presented her thesis research on "Examining Microroughness Evolution in Natural and Experimental Pseudotachylyte-bearing Fault Surfaces," at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in April. More than 11,000 scientists from 95 countries attended the conference, which was held in Vienna, Austria. Only 28 percent of the participants were students. Shervais completed her study with Phil Resor, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences. Resor, who received a National Science Foundation grant to study earthquakes in an Italian fault zone, also attended the conference. The NSF grant supported their travel to the conference. "I had a wonderful time and…
James McGuire, professor and chair of government, professor of Latin American studies, tutor in the College of Social Studies, recently had a book chapter and an article published. The chapter, titled, "Social Policies in Latin America: Causes, Characteristics, and Consequences," appeared in Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics, edited by Peter Kingstone and Deborah J. Yashar and published March 8 by Routledge. The chapter classifies the main social policies enacted in Latin America from 1920 through 2010, explores the effects of those policies on the well-being of the poor, and outlines some of the forces and circumstances that led to…