Wes in the News

Jonas Mischara-Blomberger ´11 and Carl T. West ´11 have each received a Goldwater Scholarship Award for the 2009-2010 academic year. Established by Congress in 1986, The Goldwater is the most prestigious national undergraduate scholarship in mathematics, physics and engineering.

Wesleyan’s Men’s Lacrosse team won its first-ever NESCAC championship, defeating Tufts 14-10 in the title game. The win also gives the team an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Students in the multidisciplinary course “Making the Science Documentary” spent the semester learning film production and the framework of science documentaries. The students decided to focus on the nursing profession as their main subject. One of the films made in the course was premiered at the 2009 Nightengale Awards for Excellence, an annual nursing awards banquet in Connecticut. The course is a collaboration between Jacob Bricca, adjunct assistant professor of film studies and Manju Hingorani, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry.

This link, provided by the Office of the University Registrar, has the location of the Monday, April 20 classes that have been relocated from Hall-Atwater.

Kennedy Odede ‘12 and Jessica Posner ‘09 are recipients of a “Projects for Peace Award” for their proposal to build a girls school in the Kenyan slum of Kiberia. The slum was Odede’s home growing up and a place where girls and young women routinely become victims of violence, mistreatment, and abuse of all sorts. The students, who received $10,000 to build the school, hope that the institution will provide both a refuge and an opportunity for girls who enroll.

Award-winning, best-selling author Anna Quindlen P’07, pioneering entrepreneur and philanthropist Azim Premji P’99, and two dedicated members of the Middletown community, Mark Masselli and Jennifer Alexander ’88, will be the honorary degree recipients at the 177th Wesleyan Commencement on May 24, 2009. Quindlen will also give this year’s Commencement Address.

Norman Danner, mathematics and computer science, Fernando Degiovanni, romance languages and literatures, and Greg Voth, physics, were the lastest faculty members awarded tenure at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting. These appointments do not conclude tenure announcements for the 2008-2009 academic year, and more may be forthcoming.

Applications for admission to Wesleyan rose 22% this year.

In November, 2008, when all the first round early decision applications were in, the Wesleyan admissions’ staff knew the initial numbers were not a fluke. Applications from high school students seeking admission during the first early decision period at Wesleyan were up 34 percent from the previous year, 2007. Still, the admissions staff maintained cautious enthusiasm.

“We were elated, but we also remained a bit guarded because, quite frankly, we didn’t know if the early decision increase would be followed by a decrease in overall applications, especially with the economy taking such a dramatic downturn,” says Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, dean of admission and financial aid. “So we were holding our breath a bit and continuing to contact students and follow up to convert prospects to applications right through the end of December.”

In January, Hargrave Meislahn and the rest of the admissions staff were officially allowed to not only exhale but to even crow a bit. Early decision applications finished up 34 percent from 2007. Overall applications for admission to Wesleyan saw a 22 percent increase from the previous year; this included more than 2,200 filed electronically at the December 31 deadline.

The end result: Wesleyan received 10,057 applications for the roughly 740 spots that will comprise the Class of 2013. (more…)

Time is running out to register for Musical Madness, a musical competition between classes sponsored by the Dean’s Office. The deadline for  is Feb. 12. All musical genres are welcome and prizes will be awarded for “Best in Class” and Best in Show.” Participants will face a distinguished panel of judges that include Rob Rosenthal, professor of sociology, Sarah Lazare, associate dean of student academic resources, and Barry Chernoff, professor of biology and the Robert Schumann Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Performances will take place on Thursday, February 19 in Crowell Concert Hall at 7 p.m. An opening number will be performed by “Lou and the Blues,” with special guest President Michael S. Roth.

The 22nd Annual Diane Weiss `80 Memorial Lecture will feature Nancy MacLean, chair of history, professor of African American Studies, Northwestern University, presenting “Ending Jane Crow: How Women’s Workplace Activism in the 1970s Changed the Country,” on Thursday, February 12, at Russell House 8 p.m. A reception will follow the lecture. The event is free and open to the public and sponsored by the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. For more information, contact Jennifer Tucker, chair and associate professor, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at 860-685-5389.