Olivia DrakeThe Center for the Humanities advisory board awarded eight Wesleyan seniors with a Student Fellowship for 2011-12. These fellows will explore the themes “Fact and Artifact” and “Visceral States: Affect and Civic Life." Four Student Fellowships are awarded by the center’s advisory board each semester. During the fall semester, fellows Conan Cheong, Kevin Donohoe, Bridget Read and Alexandra Wang will will explore the theme "Fact and Artifact." They will examine the career of the modern fact and its uncomfortable companion, the artifact. The fellows will question, "Under what conditions can facts be created?" "How do efforts to pin down empirical…
Guy Geyer '13 received the General John A. Wickham Scholarship, awarded by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Educational Foundation. Geyer, a physics major, will receive a $2,000 scholarship. Candidate must be a U.S. citizen and working toward a degree in electrical, computer, chemical, systems or aerospace engineering; computer science; physics; mathematics; science or mathematics education; technology management; or management information systems. An overall GPA of 3.5 on 4.0 scale or better is required. General John A. Wickham, born June 25, 1928, was United States Army Chief of Staff from 1983 to 1987. Geyer also received honorable mention for a Goldwater…
The Society of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society, welcomed 87 members to the Gamma of Connecticut Chapter May 21. Election to the society is based on fulfillment of eligibility requirements, including a grade point average of 90 or above and the satisfactory completion of general education requirements prior to commencement. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776, during the American Revolution. The organization’s Greek initials signify the motto, "Love of learning is the guide of life." The students join the ninth oldest Phi Beta Kappa chapter in the United States—founded in 1845. During the ceremony, Wesleyan…
David LowNomi Teutsch ’11 received a Faiths Act Fellowship from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. This year-long, paid international fellowship brings together exceptional future leaders inspired by faith to serve as interfaith ambassadors for the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with particular focus on malaria. Fellows build partnerships across faith lines in their home countries to show the world how faith can be a positive global force in the 21st century, and they work in local NGOs to mobilize communities to take part in malaria-focused, multi-faith action. Teutsch grew up in a vibrant, diverse neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia. A progressive Jewish…
Cynthia RockwellWhile the rest of her classmates finished exams and headed for Foss Hill, Charlotte Cottier ’12 spent the sunny days of Finals Week inside the General Mansfield Home, getting ready to reveal excerpts from personal letters documenting a husband’s Western frontier travel to his wife at home, a nearly-failed courtship, and a myriad other stories that a nearly 200-year-old house can hold. Cottier, an American studies and sociology major, is a guest curator for the Middlesex County Historical Society, hanging her exhibit “Within These Walls: One House, One Family, Two Centuries,” which opened May 20. “The main theme is the…
Tasmiha Khan '12, founder of the student organization Brighter Dawns, is a recipient of the Dell Social Innovation Competition Semi-Finalist Fellowship. Brighter Dawns applied for the Dell Social Innovation Award in January. Their project is titled “Brighter Dawns: Clean Water for Humanity." "Tasmiha was selected from a very strong applicant pool to join 14 other innovative fellows that represent and work with communities around the world," says Betsy Loucks, director of the DSIC Semi-Finalist Fellowship. "The Semi-Finalist Fellowship is a cohort of students from around the world who have some of the most exciting and innovative ideas for social and environmental change."…
This semester, 18 earth and environmental sciences majors explored dwarf mangrove forests, studied landslide susceptibility in a rainforest, examined if cave rocks record bat inhabitation, and analyzed the chemistry of coastal seagrass – all in Puerto Rico. The students, who are enrolled in the E&ES 398 course Senior Seminar, developed observational, interpretative and research skills through their island studies. The seniors traveled to Puerto Rico in January for fieldwork, and spent the past few months analyzing their findings. They presented their Senior Seminar Presentations on April 19 and 21 as part of the Stearns (more…)
The student-run organization Brighter Dawns raised more than $1,150 during the 5K for Brighter Dawns on April 16. The group is raising funds to build 30 latrines and 10 wells in Khalispur, Bangladesh. They also hope to provide sanitary kits to local households and hire three community health officers to educate the community in sanitary practices. Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and Wesleyan President Michael Roth attended the event. Participants paid $10 to walked or run the 3.1 mile course, which was located on the Wes Fuhrman ’05 Trail near Long Lane. Brighter Dawns also raised funds by selling t-shirts at…
Davy Knittle '11 will participate in the 2011 American Experience Student Freedom Ride, created by PBS. From May 6-16, Knittle and 39 other college students will join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 historic rides from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, La. via bus. They will explore the state of civil engagement today. "I'm getting on the bus to work with and learn from several generations of student activists," Knittle says. "I’m interested in thinking about what student activism can look like, does look like, and has looked like by considering what we can do to provide a model…
Jesse Friedman '11, Anya Olsen '11 and Catherine Steidl '11 received a Baden-Württemberg–Connecticut Exchange Grant for one year’s study in Germany. The Baden-Württemberg Exchange Program offers students an opportunity to earn college credits in one of Germany's top nine universities. Students spend the academic year at the university they choose. The Baden-Württemberg Exchange originated from a legislative partnership formed between the State of Connecticut and the German state of Baden-Württemberg in 1989. The agreement invites all students enrolled in four-year colleges and universities in Connecticut to study at any institution of higher learning in Baden-Württemberg. With nine universities from which to choose…
Members of the student-run group, Brighter Dawns, participated in the Unite for Sight Global Health and Innovation 2011 Conference April 16-17 at Yale University. The conference welcomed leaders, changemakers, and participants from all fields of global health, international development and social entrepreneurship. Tasmiha Khan ’12, founder of Brighter Dawns, spoke about her organization during a session on “Water and Clinic Social Enterprise Pitches – Ideas in Development.” Brighter Dawns is raising funds to improve access to safe sanitation in Bangladesh. More than 2,220 professionals and students from all 50 states attended the conference.