THISISWHY – Page 3

#THISISWHY It may not be the most beautiful, or the most complex, or the most well known, but the simple song of the zebra finch is helping Professor John Kirn learn more about how new information is acquired and old information preserved during adult neurogenesis. (more…)

#THISISWHY The 2015 Wesleyan baseball season was highly anticipated, fraught with hopes of picking up where the accomplished 2014 squad left off. The entire starting lineup of 2015 was back from the 2014 team, which had gone 31-13, winning the first-ever NESCAC Championship in program history and going deep into the NCAA Division III regional with a 4-2 mark. Though three pitchers from the 2014 squad graduated that year, the Cardinals had three tremendous returners on the mound and a fourth pitcher with enormous promise. The result? A program record for regular-season wins (25), a third straight Little Three title and…

#THISISWHY On April 30, more than 150 scholar-athletes, along with their coaches, faculty and staff members, attended the third annual scholar-athlete banquet, held in Beckham Hall. Among the evening's highlights was the presentation of the Roger Maynard Memorial Awards to women's crew coxswain Brianne Wiemann '15 and baseball second baseman Andrew Yin '15. Since 1970, the award has been presented to the male and female senior student-athletes who best exemplify the spirit, humility and accomplishments of Roger Maynard '37, a former Wesleyan trustee and standout cross-country and track letterman. As the varsity-eight cox the last two seasons, Wiemann was integral in helping the Cardinals…

#THISISWHY In this issue of News @ Wes, we speak to Laura McIntyre from the Class of 2017. Q: Laura, please tell us where you're from and what you're majoring in. A: I'm a sophomore here at Wes. I'm majoring in sociology and am thinking about the film minor. I'm from New York City. Q: I understand the "Before I Die" public art project has been installed in locations all over the world. When and how did this project come to be? A: The project was started by an artist named Candy Chang as a personal project after someone close to her…

#THISISWHY Claudia Kahindi ’18 and Olayinka Lawal ’15 have received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to launch KIU, an English education project, in Kahindi’s home area of coastal Kenya this summer. Named for the Swahili word for “thirst,” KIU will serve more than 100 fourth-grade students at Kahindi’s alma mater, Kilimo Public Primary School, in Kenya’s Kilifi County. (more…)

#THISISWHY In this video, meet Brooklee Han '18 of Redding, Conn., a figure skater who has been competing internationally since 2010. She competed in Sochi, Russia in 2014 as a member of the Australian Olympic Team.

#THISISWHY On April 17, more than 30 alumni, parents and community members and 80 student-athletes participated in an Alumni Athletics Mentoring Workshop in Beckham Hall. As part of the program, mentors met with female student-athletes to speak about career options. Student-athlete Melissa Leung '16 has first-hand knowledge of the workshop's value. "At last year's event, I met my mentor, Clare Colton '12," says Leung, who attended the event for the second year in a row. "Clare provided resume and email etiquette advice and connected me with Jim Citrin (P'12 P'14), senior director of Spencer Stuart, who created an internship position for me with…

#THISISWHY On April 17, 30 senior and BA/MA students in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division presented their research to the Wesleyan community. Nearly 100 people attended the annual Celebration of Science Theses poster session, which was held in the Exley Science Center lobby. The event was co-organized by Manju Hingorani, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Barbara Juhasz, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, director of the service learning center; and Seth Redfield, assistant professor of astronomy. (Photos by Dat Vu '15.) (more…)

#THISISWHY On April 15, faculty and staff met to share their service- and project-based learning stories during an Academic (Technology) Roundtable lunch at the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life. A(T)R lunches are designed to promote conversation, cooperation and the sharing of information, ideas and resources among faculty members, librarians, graduate students and staff. Barbara Juhasz, director of service-learning, associate professor of psychology, associate professor of neuroscience and behavior, led the session, providing an overview of service-learning at Wesleyan as well as the variety of ways that service can be used as a pedagogical tool. Other speakers included Rob Rosenthal, director of…

#THISISWHY Duminda Ranasinghe, a Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry, spoke April 16 in Exley in the fourth event of the Graduate Student Speaker Series. (Photos by Hannah Norman '16.)

#THISISWHY In this Q&A we sit down with David McClure Csere, chef for Bon Appétit, recipient of the 2015 Morgenstern-Clarren Social Justice Employee Prize. The award was created in 2009 in memory of Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ‘03 who pursued social justice while a student at Wesleyan. Morgenstern-Clarren’s activism included securing benefits for Wesleyan custodial staff, participating in the United Student and Labor Action Committee, and contributing his leadership to the campus chapter of Amnesty International. Peter’s parents, Dr. Hadley Morgenstern-Clarren and the honorable Pat Morgenstern-Clarren of Shaker Heights, Ohio, are sponsoring this award that honors their son’s activism for the public good. Q: When…

#THISISWHY Lisa Pinette, library assistant V, was recently presented with a Cardinal Achievement Award for her work on the Signage Task Force, creating more than 200 new and color-coded signs installed in Olin Memorial Library and the Science Library. Pinette coordinated a group effort to select sign styles that would allow for future changes as needed, solicited input from library staff, worked with University Communications on the design, and ensured that all signs were ADA compliant. Finally, she hired a company to manufacture and install the signs. “The signs look great and provide wonderful consistency and clarity from floor to floor…

Grant Supports Kirn’s Research on Adult Neurogenesis

Wesleyan Baseball Heads to Nashua, N.H. to Defend NESCAC Title

Scholar-Athletes Honored at Banquet

McIntyre ’17 Brings “Before I Die” Public Art Project to Wes

Students Receive Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Launch English Education Project

Figure Skater Han ’18 Competed in 2014 Olympics

Mentors Share Experience with Female Student-Athletes

Students in Natural Sciences and Mathematics Present Research

Faculty, Staff Share Service- and Project-Based Learning Stories

Grad Student Ranasinghe Speaks on Computational Chemistry

Csere Receives Social Justice Employee Award

Pinette, Brown, Lenten Honored with Cardinal Achievement Award