moreheadline – Page 18

Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which led to the forced relocation and internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. Among these were thousands of college students who were also discharged from their respective universities. In response, several university officials, church leaders, and active citizens formed the National Japanese Student Relocation Council in an attempt to return these Japanese American students—most of whom were U.S. citizens—back to college campuses, nationwide. "Japanese American WWII incarceration is a huge part of Asian American history that is not taught enough in schools," said economics major…

In 2021 Wesleyan began construction on a reimagined southeast corner of Andrus Field. At the core of this work is an extension and gut renovation of the Public Affairs Center (PAC), and a new Davison Art Center gallery building. This latter project is part of a broader effort to expand the arts at Wesleyan beyond the Center for the Arts and to make them part of an inclusive, accessible, and interdisciplinary network of buildings at the core of campus. On June 4, as part of the Class of 2020's Weekend Celebration, Alan Rubacha, assistant vice president of construction and infrastructure…

It was sitting in the peace of synagogue with his wife where Stephen Angle began to contemplate his personal relationship to Confucianism. Angle, Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies and professor of philosophy, had spent his career studying the ancient philosophy, which emphasizes personal ethics and morality. He’d written multiple academic books on the subject. The roots of his interest went all the way back to high school with a fascinating class on non-Western cultures. Still, there had always been one small remove between the ideas and his own life. “I didn’t understand the Hebrew being chanted. Half of…

After 36 years teaching chemistry at Wesleyan and becoming an internationally-recognized expert on photoelectron spectroscopy, Joseph Knee, Beach Professor of Chemistry, is ready to retire. Knee, along with faculty colleagues Anne Greene, University Professor of English; Ann Campbell Burke, professor of biology, and Ronald Schatz, professor of history; received emeritus status during Wesleyan's 190th Commencement Ceremony on May 22. Joe Knee dedicated his career to developing time-resolved laser spectroscopy techniques that help determine the structure and dynamics of gas-phase molecules, molecular clusters, and ions. These methods provide insight into molecular behavior and influence the strength and structure of intermolecular hydrogen…

Every spring, Wesleyan recognizes three outstanding faculty with Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. This year's recipients, who were acknowledged during the 190th Commencement ceremony on May 22, include Frederick M. Cohan, professor of biology; María Ospina, associate professor of Spanish; and Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history. Made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, these prizes underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the University’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. Recommendations are solicited from alumni of the last 10 graduating classes, as well as current juniors,…

Gabby Farina ’23, an Art History and English major, was interested in how artists’ work dealt with family, identity, body, grossness, and fleshiness. What she found from her classmates inspired her. “Everything was very much tied back to this idea of the human form,” Farina said. Farina is the first Wesleyan student to curate a Senior Thesis Showcase exhibition on her own. The exhibition, “It's Mutual,” was the first such exhibition in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery since COVID-19 led to the cancellation of a planned showcase in May 2020. As part of her tutorial, Farina visited the working…

For 21 years, historian Jennifer Mittelstadt '92 has immersed herself in dusty bound indexes and volumes, micro-film readers, and intransigent online databases hunting for government documents. "Such documents offer neither ease of access nor instant gratification, and few yield pleasures or eureka moments," said Mittelstadt, professor of history at Rutgers University and a scholar of the state and politics in the 20th-century United States. "I've learned that satisfaction comes only from layering them in unexpected ways and moving outside the government archive entirely, forcing the documents to speak in ways their authors did not intend, and drawing into the conversation…

A new residency will bring a trio of noteworthy writers to Wesleyan for the 2022-23 academic year as the University looks to augment its already robust writing programs. Mahogany L. Browne, poet, curator and author of “Black Girl Magic”; Merve Emre, Oxford professor and New Yorker critic; and Yuri Herrera, an acclaimed Mexican novelist and Tulane professor, will be the first to join the newly established Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence program. “The Shapiro-Silverberg program will bring to campus writers whose work is already having an impact on a variety of audiences around the world. The initiative builds on a…

Every year, as Wesleyan students empty their rooms at the end of the Spring semester, they fill dumpsters with usable items – everything from clothing and room décor to small appliances. “There was still more waste generated than we like,” said Hayley Berliner, temporary sustainability director. “We want to divert as much as we can.” Debbra Goh ’24 and Annie Volker ’24, both eco-facilitators for Wesleyan Sustainability, have come up with an idea on how to lessen the waste. The duo will launch WesThrift at 284 High next fall, a free store for clothing and dorm essentials located in the…

Maaza Mengiste, professor of English, has found that sometimes the scariest thing a writer can do is start over. It’s a hard-earned lesson she had to experience herself, but a vital one that she passes on to her students. Mengiste believes that the benefits of a fresh start are immeasurable. It can be a period where ideas coalesce and, perhaps more importantly, experimentation begins. When asking her students to start over, “They would look at me with sheer terror,” she said. But eventually “they would come back with these spectacular pieces of writing. It was hard to convince them sometimes,…

Ori Cantwell '22 has been looking forward to this moment since his freshman year at Wesleyan. On April 14, he joined dozens of his classmates on the steps of Olin Library to celebrate the completion of their senior honors theses—at a ceremony that included a champagne toast and accolades from friends and faculty advisors. During this traditional festivity known as "Thesis Day," the thesis-writers take turns popping bottles of champagne while their friends and faculty advisors congratulate them on their efforts. This year, 254 seniors pursued honors this year. "The champagne toast was a blast," Cantwell said. "And I learned…

Maeve Hoffman ’23 looked for a single positive outcome from every race of 2021-22 women’s indoor track season. It could be something big – like a win, of which there were many – or a technical improvement that brought her closer to her ideal performance. No matter what, she sought to find one good thing. “Running is, for me, a lot about positive momentum. If you find that one good thing and channel it, you know the next (meet) will be better. If you don’t, the weeks are going to fly by and it’s not going to go your way,”…

Bauerle ’24 Uses Library of Congress Fellowship to Explore Japanese American WWII Internment

Class of 2020 Alumni Receive a Perimeter Tour of the Renovated PAC, Art Gallery

Angle’s New Book Offers Modern-Day Confucian Guide to Life

Wesleyan Honors, Celebrates Retiring Faculty Burke, Knee, Greene, Schatz

Cohan, Ospina, Smolkin Honored with 2022 Binswanger Teaching Awards

“A Very Intimate Process:” Farina ’23 and Chaffee ’00 on curating the Senior Thesis Showcase

Mittelstadt ’92 to Explore Historic Right-Wing Grassroots Organizations as 2022 Guggenheim Fellow

Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence Program Launches in 2022-23

New Campus Free Store Planned for Fall Semester

Mengiste, Newly Named Guggenheim Fellow, Encourages Risk Taking

Seniors Celebrate “Thesis Day” at Olin with Champagne Toast (With Video, Photo Gallery)

Hoffman ’23 Earns All-American Honors in Women’s Indoor Track