This course, co-taught with Director of Physical Plant Operations Mike Conte, will allow students to work directly with Facilities employees to design and execute modifications and repairs to existing Wesleyan spaces. The specific projects will change from semester to semester, but could include designing and building informal learning spaces, and planning and carrying out repairs and modifications to mechanical and plumbing systems. Students will learn design and engineering by carrying out projects to improve Wesleyan’s facilities. Students must be willing to work with tools and machinery with supervision. The grading in this quarter-credit repeatable course will be based primarily on active participation, and the class meetings will be held on location and at times built around participants’ schedules. The first organizational meeting will be held in the Cady building at 170 Long Lane on Friday, January 27 at 2:50 pm; interested students who cannot attend the first meeting should e-mail the instructors. More information available in the WesMaps listing.
New FYS course: “Live Like a Philosopher”
“Live Like a Philosopher” is a project-based learning course where students will be asked to put into practice several philosophical theories about the good life from the ancient world. Activities include the cultivation of specific habits, changing one’s behavior with others in a certain way, and going about one’s everyday routines a little differently. In place of essays and exams, students will complete a course journal for themselves with daily diary entries. They may also be asked to create digital stories or video diaries chronicling their experiences living like a philosopher, and at least some class time will be spent outside the classroom engaged in work related to the course content. 15 seats are available to first-years: details here.
Section 2 of PSYC 105
Professor Lisa Dierker is teaching a small, media-based section of PSYC 105 that exposes students to psychology concepts through photography, sound, video production, editing, and graphic design. It is a nice opportunity for first-year students to take this gateway course to the Pschology major and earn an SBS credit in a small, project-based environment. PSYC 105 Section 2 is POI.
PSYC Majors Meeting – Study Abroad & Community Service Opportunities, and the Psychology Major 11/7
PSYC Majors Meeting – Study Abroad & Community Service Opportunities, and the Psychology Major (all welcome) 11/7
Monday, November 7
Judd Hall 116
12:20 PM – 1:10 PM
Representatives from the Study Abroad Office and the Office of Community Partnerships as well as the department chair will be on hand to provide information about opportunities through a semester study abroad or through participation in the community at home. The chair will be available before and after the meeting to sign forms (e.g., study abroad, transfer credits).
Office of Study Abroad – Emily Gorlewski, Associate Director of Study Abroad
Center for Community Partnerships – Catherine Lechowicz, Director
Psychology Department – Matt Kurtz, Chair
Pizza will be served.
Psychology Majors Manual: http://www.wesleyan.edu/psyc/about/major_guides.html
Latinx Affirmation Month
November is historically dedicated to celebrating, embracing, and appreciating Latinx culture. This year, Ajua is on the intersection of individual experiences with Latindad.
Civic Engagement Certificate Info Session 10/28
On Friday, October 28, Professor Juhasz is hosting an information session about the Civic Engagement Certificate.
Come to learn about the Certificate’s requirements, the many ways to fulfill them, and ask any questions. The Certificate is a great way to integrate questions related to civic life with your academic plans.
Pizza will be provided!
Friday (10/28), 12-1 pm, Allbritton 103
Anthropology and #Blacklivesmatter 11/1
You are invited to the Anthropology department’s panel discussion on Anthropology and #BlackLivesMatter on Tuesday, 11/1! It will be a fantastic event, featuring Black feminist anthropologists Dawn-Elissa Fischer, Bianca Williams, and Wesleyan’s very own Gina Athena Ulysse in a wide-ranging conversation about research, #blacklivesmatter, activism, and decolonizing anthropology.
Tuesday, November 1
4:30-6:00pm, reception to follow
Beckham Hall
facebook event page
Bianca C. Williams (Ethnic Studies and Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder) researches theories of race and gender within African diasporic communities, particularly the emotional aspects of being “Black” and a “woman” in the U.S. and Jamaica. She is at work finishing an ethnography, The Pursuit of Happiness: Black Women and the Politics of Emotional Transnationalism (under contract with Duke University Press) and an edited volume titled, “’Do You Feel Me?’: Exploring Black American Gender and Sexuality through Feeling and Emotion,” co-authored with Jennifer A. Woodruff. Essays in Transforming Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology explore questions of race and gender in ethnographic research and pedagogical practices. She has also edited two collections of essays on #BlackLivesMatter, one for Cultural Anthropology and one for Savage Minds. She is a member of Black Lives Matter 5280 and the AAA Working Group on Racialized Police Brutality and Extrajudicial Violence.
Dawn-Elissa Fischer (Africana Studies, San Francisco State University), also known as the “DEF Professor,” is completing two manuscripts: Blackness, Race and Gender Politics in Japanese Hiphop and Methods to Floss, Theories to Flow: Hiphop Research, Aesthetics and Activism. Her work has been published in Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century, the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Transforming Anthropology, FIRE!!! The Multimedia Journal of Black Studies and The Western Journal of Black Studies. Dr. Fischer has co-produced a short film, Nihon Style, with Bianca White, which documents an annual Hiphop festival and its related organizations in Japan. Dr. Fischer has participated with numerous international social justice creative arts endeavors, including, but not limited to Hiphop as a transnational social movement. She co-directs the BAHHRS (the Bay Area Hip Hop Research and Scholarship) project with Dave “Davey D” Cook and she is a founding staff member of Dr. Marcyliena Morgan’s Hiphop Archive as well as a co-founder of the National Hip Hop Political Convention.
Gina Athena Ulysse (Anthropology, Wesleyan University). In 2015, Prof. U received Wesleyan’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the Haitian Studies Association award for Excellence in Scholarship. A public anthropologist and performance artist, Ulysse’s research integrates her interests in Black diasporic conditions, ethnography, pedadogy, performance and representation. More specifically, her interdisciplinary work explores the continuous impact of history on agency and possibilities of social justice in the present. Her publications include Why Haiti Needs New Narratives: A Post Quake Chronicle (2015) and Downtown Ladies: Informal Commercial Importing, A Haitian Anthropologist and Self-Making in Jamaica (2007), and Because When God is too Busy:Haiti, me & THE WORLD (2016) as well as numerous articles and book chapters. Her performance projects include VooDooDoll, What if Haiti Were a Woman? and Contemplating Absences and Distances. Ulysse guest edited “Caribbean Rasanblaj” (2015) a double issue of e-misférica journal and “Pawol Fanm sou Douz Janvye” (2011) in Meridians journal. An intermittent blogger, she often muses on AfricaIsACountry, Huffington Post, Ms Blog and Tikkun Daily.
Apply to be an Admissions Tour Guide
The Tour Guide position in an opportunity for students to support the recruitment efforts of the Office of Admission. The office seeks diligent workers who are mature, dependable, energetic, and eager to share their Wesleyan experience. The position is open to students in the class of 2018, 2019 and 2020 who are in good academic standing. Tour guide responsibilities include leading campus tours and attending meetings/trainings periodically throughout the year. This position starts in January 2017. Compensation will be based on campus work study pay rates, although you do not need to be eligible for work study to apply.
The application is due on Tuesday, November 8th at 11:59p.m. EST. Anyone who is offered an interview will be contacted no later than December 2. For additional information or questions, please contact Jordan Nyberg at jnyberg@wesleyan.edu.
Apply for the 2020 Class Council
The mission of the 2020 Class Council is to develop academic and co-curricular programming for the benefit of all members of the Class of 2020. If you would like to apply to join the Class Council, please submit this form by 12:00 noon on Thursday, October 20, to propose a program and provide a rationale for how your program would benefit the class.
Winter Session 2017 Financial Aid Application Deadline 10/20
The application for Winter Session 2017 Financial Aid is now available in student portfolios in the Winter Session bucket. You must complete the application before October 20 in order to be eligible for aid. Students who are currently receiving Wesleyan grant funds and are a U.S. citizen or Permanent Resident of the U.S. may apply for aid, and may gauge their award eligibility using the chart available on the application. Applying for financial aid does not obligate you to take a course; if you’re considering Winter Session but are not sure, please apply for aid anyway.
Financial Aid process:
- Apply for Wesleyan grant aid by October 20, using the form in your EPortfolio.
- You will receive an award letter Thursday, October 27.
- Enroll in your course beginning Friday, October 28; bring your paper enrollment form, award letter, and payment for the difference between tuition and your award to the Continuing Studies office.
- If you plan to use student loans to pay for your course, please consult with your financial aid advisor to make sure you have enough loan availability to cover both Winter Session and the spring term – you do not need to submit any additional forms to borrow student loans for Winter Session.
- Applications for grant aid will not be accepted after Thursday, October 20. Need-based grant funds are limited and will not meet full need, as Winter Session is an optional term.
More information about Winter Session, including the course list, is available at http://www.wesleyan.edu/wintersession. Winter Session takes place January 9-24. Course registration, housing requests, and dining requests will open on Thursday, October 28. Housing and Dining requests will only be accepted until Tuesday, December 6 at noon.
Please direct all questions to winter@wesleyan.edu.
The Historic Decision on Net Neutrality, and What it Means for the Future 11/10
Net neutrality is a central issue of freedom of speech and access on the Internet. If you’ve ever streamed movies, TV, or sports games on your computer, then net neutrality is something important to you!
In February 2015, the FCC voted to uphold Net Neutrality and forbade Internet providers from charging some users to access “fast lanes” while forcing others into “slow lanes.” This was the single-most important issue surrounding the Internet, and the most important decision made by the FCC about the Internet, of the past decade.
Learn more about what net neutrality means in this Q&A with Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the world wide web), and by attending this panel with some fascinating guest speakers:
- JESSICA ROSENWORCEL ’93, FCC Commissioner
- BRAD BURNHAM, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures
- CHRISTIAAN HOGENDORN, Associate Professor of Economics Technology
- Moderator: NORM DANNER, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Right Now! Election 2016 Panel Discussion Series
The Role(s) of Religion
October 27, 7 pm, PAC 001
- ANTHEA BUTLER, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at University of Pennsylvania and author of Women in the Church of God in Christ, Making a Sanctified World
- JESSICA MARTINEZ, Pew Research Center
- SARAH POSNER, Journalist, author of God’s Profits
- Moderator: LIZA MCALISTER, Professor of Religion
Behind the Curtain: Campaign Financing, Gerrymandering, and Barriers to Voting
November 3, 7 pm, PAC 001
- DAVE DALEY, CT Mirror, Author of Ratf*cked
- NICK NYHART, Every Voice Center
- SHEILA KRUMHOLZ, Center For Responsive Politics
- Moderator: LOGAN DANCEY, Assistant Professor of Government
The Future of Foreign Policy
December 5, 7 pm, PAC 001
- DANIEL J. JONES, Penn Quarter Group and Lead Author on the Senate “CIA Torture Report”
- JOHN CAVANAGH, Institute for Policy Studies
- TED WITTENSTEIN, Director of International Relations & Leadership Programs, Yale Office of International Affairs
- Moderator: DOUG FOYLE, Associate Professor of Government