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When Wesleyan’s crew teams journeyed to New Jersey at the end of last season, each found something a little different, meteorologically speaking. At Cooper River on Memorial Day weekend, the women’s squad rowed in near-ideal conditions and water still as glass. By the time the men’s team plunged oars into Mercer Lake a week later, an abundance of wind had replaced race-postponing heat. Weather notwithstanding, both Wesleyan contingents finished the season in the same fashion: by racing a few thousand meters and landing in the record books. The men’s first varsity eight and second varsity eight teams each secured runner-up…

After a four-year hiatus due to construction and COVID-19 restrictions, Wesleyan’s Summer Film Series returned this past July with a trio of films showcasing international settings as part of the “Big Screen Vacations” theme. The Summer Film Series was launched by the film department in 2007 with the goals of offering free-of-charge programming to local audiences, welcoming new people to campus, and making use of the state-of-the-art Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies during summer breaks. Today, audience members are an eclectic mix of Middletown community members, Wesleyan faculty, and students doing summer work or…

On the surface, the annual poster session held in Exley Science Center looked like an average scientific poster presentation. A couple hundred students lined up side-by-side, standing anxiously next to their tripod-hoisted poster boards waiting for passersby to ask them about their colorful charts and graphs. For the attendees, it could be their chance to learn about something new. For each presenter, the poster was the culmination of their curiosities, a spotlight on all their hours spent tucked under the lab lights or sifting through ocean sediment samples. “I love coming together as a community on this day,” Seth Redfield,…

Assistant Professor of Art Tammy Nguyen will follow her recently won Guggenheim Fellowship with her first museum solo exhibition, taking place at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston from Aug 24, 2023 to Jan 28, 2024. Nguyen was recognized with the Guggenheim for her work intersecting the disciplines of painting, drawing, printmaking, and bookmaking. She’s bringing the same wide-ranging approach to her newest show, inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s book-length essay Nature, written in 1836 in Concord, Mass. “I am thinking a lot about some of the essential ideas in Nature, like how does man create and extend his…

A chance encounter with a scarlet tanager, a migratory songbird that travels from North to South America on a yearly basis, prompted Associate Professor of Spanish María Ospina to consider the larger topics of what animals think and feel and, ultimately, how human beings define their own concept of home. Ospina has recently released a novel written in Spanish entitled “Solo un poco aquí,” published by Random House in Latin America, where she explores how animals move across the landscapes that humans transform. Ospina’s novel has been reviewed in Spain’s most important newspaper, El País, by the renown Mexican author Emiliano…

Excerpt from #236, Emily Dickinson’s poem-letter to Susan Huntington Dickinson, early October 1883 Dear Sue — A Promise is firmer than a Hope, although it does not hold so much— Hope never knew Horizon When Dickinson wrote these lines in 1883 to her friend and future sister-in-law, Susan, she likely never envisioned that they would be published and pored over by scholars and fans nearly 150 years later, including readers in China. This letter is part of a collection of poems and letters titled Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson's Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson. Soon, Chinese readers will have…

New research from Assistant Professor of Government Alyx Mark and Tiger Bjornlund ’24 shows that courts with publicly financed elections are viewed as more legitimate and less susceptible to donor influence than those that are selected through privately financed campaigns. The paper, titled “Public Campaign Financing’s Effects on Judicial Legitimacy : Evidence From a Survey Experiment,” was published May 30 in the journal Research and Politics. “There is so much focus on the U.S. Supreme Court, but there are entire other levels of courts that receive less attention that have an impact on our day to day lives,” Mark said. In Spring…

Strawberry soda and red velvet cake. They are two foods rich in flavor and in history tied to the celebration of Juneteenth—their red color represents the blood spilled by the last enslaved people freed more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. They are also the theme of Wesleyan’s table at Middletown’s third-annual Liberation Day Festival and first Juneteenth Parade on June 19 celebrating the hallmark occasion. One year after establishing Juneteenth as a campus-wide holiday, Wesleyan is excited to have been a sponsor of the event and have representatives walking in the parade—which will start on North Main St.…

A day of celebration, demonstration, and love. Middletown Pride hit the heart of the city on June 3, as locals and not-so-locals joined together in support of love, equity, and inclusion. Wesleyan was one of four partner organizations of the Middletown Pride event, alongside the City of Middletown, Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Russell Library. Andrew White, Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian at Olin Library, said that he has been attending Pride events since the 1980s and has been involved in Middletown Pride since the first event. He said it marks Middletown and Connecticut as communities striving to “be…

Wesleyan’s Alumni Association gathered in Memorial Chapel for its annual meeting on May 27, electing new officers and honoring some of the University’s most influential graduates. The event began with remarks from Alumni Chair David Hill ’86, who welcomed alumni back to their alma mater for Reunion Weekend and took a moment to acknowledge David Knapp ’49, the eldest registered alumnus in attendance. Three incoming Alumni Association officers were approved by the assembly for the 2023 slate: Ellen Glazerman ’84 P’26; Melvin Acevedo ’99; and Key Session ’17. “As we ask these volunteers to step into their leadership roles, I…

Wesleyan’s past, present, and future came together on campus for a weekend of parties, seminars, and performances during the University’s annual Reunion and Commencement weekend, taking place May 25 through 28. Over 2,300 alumni from the Classes of the ’3s and ’8s mingled with families and seniors about to complete their Wesleyan experience, sharing stories of their undergraduate exploits and recalling treasured Wesleyan memories. “I’m here to see my friends and revisit campus. It’s nice to be back here,” said Alana Rodriguez ’13 as she lined up for the annual Parade of Classes. Her classmate, Genelle Faulkner ’13 saw it…

With an eye towards a bright future, the graduates of Wesleyan University’s Class of 2023 took their first steps out into the world on Sunday. At its 191st Commencement, held on Sunday, May 28, Wesleyan University conferred 756 Bachelor of Arts degrees, 11 Doctor of Philosophy degrees, 39 Masters of Arts, one Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts, 13 Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies, and four Bachelors of Liberal Studies. The University also recognized four inspiring leaders with honorary degrees—Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, who delivered the Commencement address; Jennifer Finney Boylan ’80, award-winning author, professor, and transgender activist; Larry McHugh,…

After Record-Setting Performances, Men’s and Women’s Crew Row into a New Season

Wesleyan Summer Film Series Returns

Students Present Research Contributions at Annual Poster Session

Guggenheim-Winning Professor To Hold Solo Art Show in Boston

New Novel Explores Animal Life

Going to China with Emily Dickinson and Wesleyan University Press

Publicly Financed Judicial Elections Viewed as More Legitimate, New Paper Says

Wesleyan Sponsors First Juneteenth Parade in Middletown

Wesleyan Partners, Walks with Middletown Pride

Alumni Honored for Distinguished Achievements, Outstanding Service at Annual Meeting

Alumni Gather for Reunion and Commencement Weekend 2023

Wesleyan University Celebrates 191st Commencement May 28