Month: February 2017

Why Foreign-Language Study is a Good Idea for Every Student

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We assume if you have reasons to learn a particular language (to study, work, travel, or live abroad or for resources not fully available in English translation), you already know why it is important. Here are reasons to study any language besides English or whatever you regard as your native language:

  1. Many employers, professional schools, and graduate schools see serious study of a second language (potentially, a double-major) as evidence that you can (a) put yourself more easily in others’ (colleagues’, clients’) shoes and (b) communicate more effectively even in English.
  1. You will never know your own language and culture more deeply than by studying another–by looking at it from the outside. Learning to thrive with the unfamiliar is often linked to creativity in many intellectual and professional contexts.
  1. Language learning teaches you to think more clearly and sharpens your brain’s ability to make sense of the world.
  1. Deep study of another culture through its language brings home how much of value will never be made available in English.
  1. Puzzling out another language and culture will help you understand (and empathize with) the difficulties of non-anglophone immigrants, colleagues, clients, and travelers in the U.S., even if you never leave American shores.
  1. Learning another language well makes it easier to learn anylanguage in the future. Even if you never need this, the experience–especially if you study abroad–will make you far more confident in your ability to face any intellectual or professional challenge.
  1. Foreign-language courses fit easily into study plans: offered on highly varied schedules, they provide a stimulating (and fun!) break from problem-set driven, heavy-reading or arts courses.

Wesleyan offers:

Arabic language and culture: http://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/aaissa/profile.html
American Sign Language: http://www.wesleyan.edu/lctls/courses.html
Classics (Greek and Latin): http://wesleyan.edu/classics/
East Asian Studies (Chinese, Japanese, Korean): http://wesleyan.edu/ceas/
German studies: http://wesleyan.edu/german/
Hebrew language and culture: http://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/dkatz01/profile.html
Romance Languages & Literatures (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish): http://wesleyan.edu/romance/
Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies program: http://wesleyan.edu/russian/
Any other language: http://www.wesleyan.edu/lctls/silp.html

College of Letters Open House Reception–4:30pm today

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The College of Letters cordially invites you to attend an Open House receptions and information sessions, which will be held on Tuesday, February 28th at 4:30 PM in COL Library., 41 Wyllys Ave.  I will speak briefly about the Program and a number of COL students and faculty will be on hand to answer questions.

The College of Letters is an interdisciplinary major in literature, philosophy, and history, with a required area of foreign language concentration, and a semester in residence abroad (usually in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, or Israel.)  To learn more about the COL, study abroad possibilities, and the application process, please visit the COL website at: http://www.wesleyan.edu/col/

Unlike most majors, the COL begins in the fall of the sophomore year, which is why application for it must be made in the spring of your first year.

This year the deadline for applications is Monday, March 27, the first day after Spring vacation.  I look forward to seeing you at the COL Open House.

Kari Weil
Director, College of Letters

Talya Zemach-Bersin (’07): “Educational Utopias and the Making of U.S. Global Power, 1898-1950”

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Educational Utopias and the Making of U.S. Global Power, 1898-1950

A lecture by
Talya Zemach-Bersin (’07)
Thursday, March 2
4:15pm ~ Fisk 208

Reception to follow in the commons of the Center for Global Studies

This talk examines the historical contexts and social scientific theories that inspired Americans in the first half of the twentieth century to turn their attention to youth-focused experiments in social engineering. Drawing from archival research that bridges intellectual and cultural history, the history of social science, and U.S. empire studies, this research refocuses the story of America’s rise to power on childhood education schemes.

Talya Zemach-Bersin received her BA American Studies from Wesleyan University in 2007, and her PhD in American Studies from Yale University in 2015. She is currently working on her first monograph, Education and the Making of American Globalism: 1898-1950, which will be published by Harvard University Press. Her research has been supported by the New York University Cold War Dissertation Fellowship, the Council on International Educational Exchange, and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. She was awarded the Yale University Prize Teaching Fellowship and her dissertation was awarded the Yale University John Addison Porter Prize and the History of Education Society’s Claude A. Eggertsen Dissertation Prize. Zemach-Bersin has published several articles and book chapters on higher education and internationalism. Her writing and research bridges domestic and international histories and focuses on the relationship between U.S. global power and the social sciences.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Global Studies and the American Studies Department.

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Friends of the Wesleyan Library Undergraduate Research Prize

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The Friends of the Wesleyan Library are happy to announce the launch of an undergraduate research prize. The research project, widely conceived, can be from any undergraduate course taken in Spring 2016, Summer 2016, Fall 2016, or Winter 2017 from currently enrolled Wesleyan students. Honors theses are not eligible.

Projects will be evaluated based on the use of Wesleyan’s library collections and resources as well as on the quality of writing and research. We are particularly interested in receiving applications that show evidence of learning about research techniques and the information-gathering process itself.

There will be two cash awards: a 1st place prize worth $500 and a 2nd place prize worth $250.

Instructors and librarians are encouraged to nominate students’ work; students may also self-nominate. Please send nominations to: libfriends@wesleyan.edu.

All materials must be submitted electronically, preferably as PDF files. Applications will include:

The jury will be comprised of members of the Friends of Wesleyan Library board, Wesleyan librarians, and Wesleyan faculty from Arts & Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences, and Natural Sciences & Mathematics.

Deadline: 5pm, March 10, 2017.

Awards will be announced in April 2017.

For inquiries, contact the Friends of Wesleyan Library, at libfriends@wesleyan.edu.

New Way to Celebrate Student Successes with Merit

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Wesleyan has just partnered with Merit, an online service that helps us celebrate and share your accomplishments. From research and academic awards to study abroad, volunteer work and co-curricular activities, your Merit page is a verified professional profile that we build for you, and that you can share with prospective employers, graduate schools and others. We’ll also use the system to notify your hometown newspaper, high schools and families about your accomplishments. More than 300 colleges and universities around the country now use Merit.

You don’t have to do anything to maintain your Merit page. If you wish, you can enhance it with a photo, bio, other activities or work experience.

You’ll get an email each time we update your Merit page. Follow the link in the email to sign into your page and see what you’ve been recognized for. You can also search for your Merit page at wesleyan.meritpages.com.

More information is available here. If you prefer not to participate, you can opt out at any time by emailing studentnews@wesleyan.edu, or responding to the email you receive from Merit. Questions can be directed to Lauren Rubenstein, lrubenstein@wesleyan.edu, in the Office of Communications. We’re excited to promote your success on your Merit page!

Application Information for Academic and NSO Peer Advisors Now Available

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Academic Peer Advisors

The Deans’ Office is looking for talented and motivated students to become Academic Peer Advisors for the 2017-20178 academic year. Academic Peer Advisors are juniors and seniors who work during New Student Orientation (NSO) and throughout the academic year to support Wesleyan’s faculty advising program and enhance student access to academic resources. Academic Peer Advisors will receive training, give individualized peer advice and facilitate workshops for groups of students regarding metacognitive learning strategies, time management, public speaking, study, and exam preparation strategies. The Academic Peer Advisor position description and application can be found at:

http://www.wesleyan.edu/studentaffairs/resources/peeradvisors/peeradvjobdesc.html

NSO Peer Advisors

The Deans’ Office is looking for talented and motivated students to become NSO Peer Advisors for the 2017-2018 academic year. NSO Peer Advisors are sophomores, juniors and seniors who work during New Student Orientation to support Wesleyan’s faculty advising program and enhance student access to academic resources. The comprehensive position description and application can be found at:

http://www.wesleyan.edu/studentaffairs/resources/peeradvisors/NSOPeerAdvisorJobDesc.html

 

Apply for a Writing Mentor

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Have you ever wanted a personal editor? Someone who would meet with you privately to help you with your writing?

Your Writing Mentor will work with you on your particular writing concerns, whether you need help generating ideas, structuring your essay, improving sentence clarity and grammar, or managing your time.  As mentors and mentees meet on a weekly basis, this program is designed for students who enjoy regular collaboration.  If you participate, you will have a sophomore, junior, or senior assigned to meet with you throughout the semester.

We work with students of all writing abilities and in all disciplines.  All services are free.

To apply for a writing mentor for the Spring 2017 semester, please fill out the online application here by Friday, February 10th at 11:59PM; we will let you know by  Wednesday, February 15th, if we’ve been able to pair you with a mentor. Please contact Ford Fellow Gabe Borelli at writingworks@wesleyan.edu or 860-685-2440 if you have any questions or concerns.

We look forward to working with you.