moreheadline

For each of the last six years, thousands of members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and supporting allies have descended on Main Street for a day of celebration and community-building at Middletown PrideFEST. Led by Wesleyan’s Office for Equity & Inclusion, University community members and several students from Wesleyan’s Upward Bound program walked in this year’s parade. Wesleyan is a co-founding partner of Middletown Pride, having participated each of the seven years it has run, alongside Russell Library, and the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. Middlesex Health has also joined the partnership. This year, more Upward Bound students joined Wesleyan’s march…

The midday sun beamed through barred windows into a high-ceilinged auditorium at Cheshire Correctional Institution as Andrew “Duke” Dickson ’24 donned a red gown and took to a centerstage pulpit. He was moments from receiving the college degrees he’d earned through Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education in front of an audience that included his mother, son, professors, other incarcerated individuals, and, seated stage right, President Biden’s education secretary. But first, Dickson reflected on the trials, transformation, and good fortune that led to him and the 18 other incarcerated individuals receiving degrees to this day. “It is not that we are…

By Sarah Parke The votes for the 2024 alumni-elected trustee election are in, and the University will add three new members to its Board of Trustees as three current members complete their terms. Joining Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees for a three-year term, effective July 1, are Livia Wong McCarthy ’81, Jayvan (“Jay”) Mitchell ’11, and Aaron Veerasuntharam ’14. Each year, Wesleyan alumni, including graduates from the senior class, elect three of their peers to serve on the Board. McCarthy, Mitchell, and Veerasuntharam will join a 36-member board that is responsible for ensuring the University fulfills its mission, sustains its values,…

By Maxx McNall The spring season brings many things—blooming flowers, temperatures fit for a Frisbee toss with a friend on Andrus Field, and, more recently, final exams. For five of Wesleyan’s athletic programs, it’s brought something else. Championships. And lots of them. Two programs—Women’s Tennis and Men’s Crew—have gone undefeated and are amid deep postseason runs. Three won NESCAC championships and five took home the Little Three Championship. 2024 was truly title time for Wesleyan’s spring programs. Women’s Tennis The University’s Women’s Tennis is undefeated for the second time in three seasons and on the way to its fifth consecutive…

As the 2023-2024 academic year wound down to a close, there were a bevy of on-campus student and faculty events that were quintessential Wesleyan. Here is a selection of photos from some of them. Psychology Department Poster Session Students and faculty gathered in Beckham Hall on April 25 for the annual Psychology Poster Session. The event, which was in-person for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured 28 posters, with 54 presenters across 10 advisors. “We have a lot of students who are working in labs with faculty, and sometimes students present work that they…

Like many universities, when classes end students are given a handful of days to prepare for their final examinations each semester. At Wesleyan, they’re also given the chance to take some time to enjoy their months of effort with a day of live music, little treats, delicious food, carnival games, and fair rides at the annual Spring Fling on May 9. This year, the Office of Student Involvement and Concert Committee brought a bundle of artists to campus to perform for Wesleyan’s hard-working student body. The day was headlined by shows from rapper Ferg, formerly known as A$AP Ferg, and…

Each year at Commencement, Wesleyan University recognizes three outstanding faculty members with the awarding of the Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. The University is delighted to announce that this year’s recipients are Abigail S. Hornstein, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics; Michelle Aaron Murolo, professor of the practice in molecular biology and biochemistry; and Rashida Z. Shaw McMahon, associate professor of English. Underscoring Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, these annual prizes are made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon ’85. Recipients are chosen each spring by a committee composed of faculty and members…

Thinking of a bank run—when a mass sector of a bank’s depositors withdraw money in a short period of time—an image springs to mind. Seemingly unending lines of worried civilians encircling a bank teller in the 1930’s clamoring to recoup their entrusted funds as financial panic grips the nation. But modern bank runs look different, happen much faster and are largely unpredictable, according to Jennie Ebihara ’24, who analyzed new problems created by digital bank runs in her senior thesis paper. Ebihara maintains that current models theorizing the growth and speed of bank runs do not really address the problems…

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:…

To be clear: if you’re a parent worried about what your child is reading, Darin Iraj ’24 doesn’t have a problem with you taking their book away. “Every parent should have the ability to decide for their own child,” says Iraj, an education studies and government double major. “If you don’t want your kid to read a book, you’re losing out, but that’s fine.” However, that’s not what the recent waves of book bans in American public schools are about. As Iraj presents in his thesis "School's Not the Place for The Books: A Case Study of the Politics Behind…

At Wesleyan, there’s celebration in difference. And during his WesFest welcome address, President Michael S. Roth ’78 encouraged students to listen to other perspectives to learn as much as possible so they can benefit from those differences. “You're not going to learn much from other people—faculty or other students—who share all your views or your experiences,” Roth said. “When we talk about the value of diversity, we don't just mean demographics—that's part of it, of course, life experience, that's part of it—we want you to encounter people whose views are different from your own.” At WesFest, admitted, and some committed,…

When Gad Nkurunziza ’27 excelled in sixth grade in the Burera district of Rwanda, his school’s headmaster gave him a chicken for his academic achievements. That single chicken introduced Nkurunziza’s family to poultry farming and transformed their lives, he said. Soon, Nkurunziza will bestow the same gift onto other families in his village, with the hopes it will help bring prosperity to his home community. “We as youths are able to not only impact our own lives, but also impact others,” Nkurunziza said. “I believe that society can change for the better. This [can] be done if we put creativity…

Wesleyan Staff, Upward Bound Students Join Middletown PrideFEST

At Center for Prison Education Commencement, Enduring Change Through Higher Education

Alumni Elect McCarthy, Mitchell, and Veerasuntharam to Board of Trustees

Cardinals Soar in Spring Conference Competitions

Gallery: Semester Event Wrap-Up

Gallery: Students Enjoy Spring Fling 2024 Festivities

2024 Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching Announced

Wesleyan Senior Creates Economic Model to Analyze Digital Bank Runs

Faculty Achievements in Academic Year 2023-24

Wesleyan Senior Studies Texas Book Challenges

At WesFest, Admitted Students Share Opinions on Diversity of Thought, Open Curriculum

Student’s Agricultural Project in Rwanda Wins Davis Projects for Peace Grant