Olivia DrakeOn Oct. 1, the Office of Student Affairs hosted a “First-Year Dinner with President Roth.” The event gave first-year students living in Clark Hall and Bennet Hall an opportunity to visit with President Roth, staff and their fellow residents. Students dined in the Daniel Family Commons. President Roth met with students living in the Butterfield Residences, Foss Hill, 200 Church and 156 High earlier this year. Students also met with Dean Mike Whaley, vice president for student affairs; Dean of Students Rick Culliton, and Dean of the Class of 2017 Louise Brown. (Photos by Hannah Norman '16) (more…)
Kate CarlislePresident Michael S. Roth will join 54 other speakers, including former Vice President Al Gore, at the Social Good Summit Sept. 22-24 at the 92nd St. Y in New York. The speakers will address diverse topics on the theme of “How to Change the World,” seeking innovative solutions to global problems. To view and listen to a live stream of the event, go to: new.livestream.com/mashable. You may need to select the "join" link. The summit live stream will also be available in the Usdan University Center video lounge. The summit will form the basis of a new MOOC (massive open…
Lauren RubensteinIn September, Wesleyan President Michael Roth will be a speaker at the Social Good Summit, to be held at the 92 Street Y in New York, Sept. 22-24. Fifty-five of today’s global leaders in new media, technology, nonprofits, international affairs and numerous other areas will explore “the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.” The summit will be live streamed at new.livestream.com/mashable. It will also be shown in the Usdan University Center video lounge, for those on campus. At the conference, Roth will formally introduce a new massive open online course (MOOC) on the Coursera platform…
Miss the start of MOOC-mania earlier this year? Good news—it’s not too late to check it out! Wesleyan’s next round of massive open online courses (MOOCS) is starting on Coursera in the coming weeks. A brand new MOOC, “Social Psychology,” will be offered by Professor of Psychology Scott Plous starting Aug. 12. The course has generated enormous interest, with more than 170,000 students currently enrolled. “The goal of the course is to explore some entertaining and intriguing psychology findings that students can use to improve their lives, relationships, and work. More than 40 organizations have contributed free readings, video clips…
Bill HolderWesleyan President Michael Roth '78 made the following remarks during the Wesleyan Commencement Ceremony: "Members of the board of trustees, members of the faculty and staff, distinguished guests, new recipients of graduate degrees and the mighty class of 2013, I am honored to present some brief remarks on the occasion of this commencement. During your four years here, Wesleyan has been largely isolated from many of the troubles of this world. While you have been students, the United States has been engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on this Memorial Day Weekend, I begin by asking us all…
Bill FisherIn this video, Wesleyan President Michael Roth speaks with Judith Butler, the Maxine Elliot Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley, at the Center for Humanities on Feb. 13. Their conversation ranges from Butler's earliest philosophical influences to her pioneering book, Gender Trouble, and her current work on desire and recognition. Butler taught at Wesleyan in the 1980s. #THISISWHY [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf4px4KyqbY[/youtube]
For alumni seeking to relive their days in the classroom, parents interested to see first-hand what their Wesleyan students are learning, and prospective students—or anyone else—curious about the Wesleyan experience, here’s your chance. Beginning Feb. 4, two Wesleyan professors—President Michael Roth and Associate Professor of Film Studies Scott Higgins—will open their virtual classrooms on Coursera. In September 2012, Wesleyan announced a new partnership with Coursera, a company offering the public access to free MOOCs (massive open online courses) taught by professors from top colleges and universities. Wesleyan is the first liberal arts institution focused on the undergraduate experience to offer…
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Two book reviews by President Michael Roth recently were published in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. For the Post on Dec. 28, Roth reviewed Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks, a "graceful and informative" study of hallucinations caused by "neurological misfirings that can be traced to disease, drugs or various changes in neurochemistry." Drawing upon descriptions of hallucinations experienced with Parkinsonian disorders, epilepsy, migraines, and narcolepsy, "Sacks explores the surprising ways in which our brains call up simulated realities that are almost indistinguishable from normal perceptions," Roth writes. He adds: "As is usually the case with the good doctor Sacks, we are prescribed no overarching theory or even a…
In May 2010, the Board of Trustees adopted "Wesleyan 2020" as a fundamental tool for strategic decision making at Wesleyan. Designed to be flexible, this framework for planning will assist the university in making decisions about the allocation of resources in the next five to 10 years. It reflects the input of faculty, trustees, staff, alumni and students and begins with an introduction that gives a sense of some of the recent achievements that have shaped the Wesleyan of today. Each fall, Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth sends an update on the university's progress in meeting the goals set out…
Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth is featured in Hartford Magazine's "50 Most Influential People" list for 2012. His biography, published in the magazine's cover story, reads: Michael S. Roth, historian, curator, author and president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, remembers the flexibility the school showed him when he wanted to explore “how people make sense of the past.” He designed his own cross-discipline major at Wesleyan, earning a degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1978. He received a Ph.D. in history from Princeton in 1984. Roth curated a celebrated exhibit on Freud at the Library of Congress.…