Bill FisherOctober 23, 20131min
In this video, Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Center for the Humanities, professor of letter, professor of history, talks with Hayden White, professor of comparative literature at Stanford University, about history, theory and the humanities. White is the former director of the Center for the Humanities at Wesleyan. Watch this video and many more on the Video @ Wesleyan website. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViG30Fkz2cI&feature=share&list=UUxYjyka74gKQqR_tJz8jB-A[/youtube] #THISISWHY

Kate CarlisleOctober 2, 20133min
It may be difficult for today’s sophomores (roughly 54 percent female and 46 percent male) to imagine a Wesleyan without women. Harder still to wrap their minds around the idea that coeducation is relatively young at the 182-year-old university. (A pre-modern coed experiment lasted from 1872 to 1912.) Yet this year, Wes celebrates 40 years of women at Wesleyan, from the early female varsity athletes (some of whom competed on men’s squads until enough women could be found to join) to the influx of women who integrated the largely male professoriat (and now make up about 46 percent of the…

Lauren RubensteinOctober 2, 20134min
In this edition of The Wesleyan Connection, we speak to Psyche Loui, a new assistant professor of psychology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior. Q: Professor Loui, welcome to Wesleyan! Please tell us about your life up to now. Where did you grow up and go to school? A: I’m from Hong Kong, originally. When I was 13, I moved to Vancouver, Canada, so I’m Canadian. But I just got a Green Card, which is exciting. I went to Duke as an undergrad, where I was a psychology and music double major and earned a neuroscience certificate. Then I went…

Olivia DrakeOctober 2, 20135min
In this issue of The Wesleyan Connection, we speak with Aviv Fraiman from the Class of 2015. Q: Aviv, what are you majoring in and why? A: I’m majoring in neuroscience and behavior because I find the brain absolutely fascinating. When I think of the brain, I’m reminded of a puzzle, except instead of the pieces being cardboard shapes, they’re an interwoven tangle of yarn. All the different pathways – it’s really chaotic, but there’s such beauty in its design. Neuroscience is a field where there’s an endless amount to learn and that really excites me. Q: You're currently President…

Olivia DrakeOctober 2, 20133min
By examining highly-detailed satellite images, researchers can spot small channels formed on the sides of craters on Mars. These channels may be evidence of flowing water on Mars. Since scientists don't exactly know what the surface of Mars is composed of, Wesleyan student Peter Martin ’14 created a modeling program that can simulate the kinds of salty water, or brine, solutions that would possibly form on Mars. For his efforts, Martin was awarded the Thomas R. McGetchin Memorial Scholarship Award. The $1,500 prize is given annually by the Universities Space Research Association in honor of the former Lunar and Planetary Institute Director, and…

Bill FisherOctober 2, 20131min
In this video, learn about Ellen Paik '16, who comes to Wesleyan from Seoul, South Korea. A member of the varsity crew team and the Wesleyan Student Assembly, Paik said Wesleyan lets her explore the full range of her many passions. Watch this video and many more on the Video @ Wesleyan website. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://youtu.be/ohcuQtQswqk[/youtube] #THISISWHY

Olivia DrakeOctober 2, 20131min
Lily Myers ’15, a member of WeSlam, performed a poem about her family that has received more than 1.7 million views on YouTube. The poem, titled "Shrinking Women," won Best Love Poem at the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in April, and expresses the pressure women feel to take up less and less space, to be quiet, to be small and to eat sparingly. Fellow slam poet Evan Okun ’13 said, “Her piece exemplifies Wesleyan's progressive thinking, innovative writing, and emotional honesty when it comes to Slam Poetry.” Myers also appeared in Upworthy.com and The Huffington Post. She is currently studying abroad…

Kate CarlisleSeptember 16, 20135min
Thanks to a matching grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and substantial gifts from generous supporters, Wesleyan’s Center for the Humanities has secured $6 million in endowment as it celebrates 54 years of scholarship. The $2 million Mellon grant was announced in October 2011 (see story here); Wesleyan succeeded in raising the $4 million required for the match in two years, less than half the time required by Mellon when the grant challenge began in 2011. Fifteen Wesleyan alumni, parents and friends supplied leadership gifts to win the matching funds. “At a time when one hears so much rhetoric…

Bill FisherSeptember 16, 20131min
This fall, Wesleyan will host fundraising events in San Francisco, Boston, and on campus during Homecoming/Family Weekend. These events—fundraisers for financial aid—feature thinkers, artists, and policy and culture makers you want to experience. View the video below: [youtube width="640" height="420"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pCOIkjS_xk[/youtube] THIS IS WHY: Share photos, news, events, giving. http://thisiswhy.wesleyan.edu/events

Olivia DrakeSeptember 16, 20131min
Jan Eliasberg '74 is a rarity in Hollywood—a woman who directs action dramas. In this video, she reflects on being at Wesleyan in the 1970s, and talks about founding Second Stage at the '92 Theater. Watch this video and many more on the Video @ Wesleyan website. [youtube width="640" height="420"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRuSFdFxkrY[/youtube] THIS IS WHY: http://thisiswhy.wesleyan.edu  

Natalie Robichaud ’14September 12, 20131min
The president of the Federal Republic of Germany has conferred upon Adolf Grünbaum ’44 the Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse, or the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class and the faculty of the University of Cologne gave him the title of Ehrendoktorwürde, or the Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy. After graduating from Wesleyan with a bachelor of arts with high distinction in both philosophy and mathematics, Grünbaum went on to build the Philosophy, History and the Philosophy of Science departments at the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught until 2003. Oxford University Press recently published the first of three volumes of Grünbaum’s Collected…

Bill FisherAugust 28, 20131min
In this video, travel writer, editor, and radio host Pauline Frommer '88 talks about growing up in the travel industry, and reveals how her Wesleyan education changed her mind about her career. Frommer majored in intellectual history at Wesleyan. "I thought I was going to be a theater major, and then I started taking a lot of history and philosophy classes and they blew my mind." Watch this video and many more on the Video @ Wesleyan website. [youtube width="640" height="420"]http://youtu.be/5i0KNtIZFcA[/youtube]