Lauren RubensteinOctober 23, 20133min
This January, Winter at Wesleyan will offer students an opportunity to get a jump-start on the new year by taking a short, intensive course for credit or participating in programs at the Career Center. The Winter Session courses may be of particular interest to students seeking a lighter course load in a future term, or those working to graduate in three years. The faculty has approved four immersion-style courses, to begin Jan. 8: "Introduction to Computer Programming" (taught by Associate Professor of Computer Science James Lipton); "Sex, Drugs and Shopping: Decadence and Desire in Post-War American Fiction" (by Associate Professor…

Lauren RubensteinOctober 23, 20132min
For first-year students, leaving home and starting a new life at Wesleyan can be exhilarating—but it’s also a major adjustment. Students who find themselves in need of a little extra support now have the option to be matched with faculty or staff mentors to help ease the transition, thanks to a new program from the Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Diversity and Institutional Partnerships. The Connections Mentoring Program, which started as a small pilot in the 2011-12 school year, recently was expanded to any first-year student who wants mentoring. There are currently 49 mentors and 70 mentees,…

Olivia DrakeOctober 23, 20135min
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we speak with Edgar Pliaskis from the Class of 2014. Q: Where are you from and what attracted you to Wesleyan? A: I was born in Vilnius, Lithuania and moved to the U.S. about 10 years ago. For me, Wesleyan was always a small school and away from a big city—a beautiful environment to earn a degree and make lifelong friends. Q: What are you majoring in and why? A: I am double majoring in economics and Italian. I picked Italian because I was always interested in languages—Italian is a very beautiful language…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 26, 20132min
The Wesleyan community celebrated the eat-local movement on Eat Local Challenge Day Sept. 24. Wesleyan's Dining Services and several local vendors provided meals made entirely from local ingredients harvested within 150 miles of the university. The menu included New England clam chowder, fried haddock and fresh cut french fries, whole spit roast pig with cranberry chutney, New England clam bake with steamer clams, corn and potatoes, vegan seitan hash, salad made from Long Lane Farm produce, wood fired pizza, blueberry and strawberry crisp, ice cream, apple cider, coffee and soda. Vendors included Pierce Brothers Coffee Roasters from Greenfield, Mass.; Sid…

Natalie Robichaud ’14September 16, 20133min
The 2nd Wesleyan Hackathon Challenge took place from noon on Friday, Sept. 6 until noon on Sunday, Sept. 8. Each participating team was provided a 1 GB Linode VPS on which to host their application, which must live and operate without using additional computing resources. While brainstorming and server maintenance were allowed before and after the allotted time slot, all code writing and editing had to take place within 48 hours. A team of Wesleyan Computer Science alumni judged the submissions and named winners based on creativity (Does the app solve a problem in a novel way? Does it do…

Olivia DrakeApril 22, 20133min
Join students enrolled in West African Drumming and West African Dance courses for an invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa. Choreographer Iddi Saaka and Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah will perform with their students in a West African Drumming and Dance performance at 3 p.m. May 10 in the Center for the Arts courtyard. The rain site is Crowell Concert Hall. Free! Pictured below are photos of their practice on April 17: #THISISWHY