Roth on Wesleyan

There’s a chill in the air, the leaves have almost all fallen to the ground, and so naturally thoughts turn to SUMMERTIME!
In the summer of 2010 Wesleyan will offer students the opportunity to take classes that contribute to majors and broaden one’s experience. In addition to the individual courses across the three divisions, we are [...]

Yesterday I wrote on the Huffington Post about the ways that liberal arts institutions can combine intimate face to face learning with plugging into broad networks of information and creativity (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-roth/liberal-arts-education-fr_b_360803.html) . We can see a great example of this “plugging in” as two important writers visit campus today.
Tonight (November 18th) there is an embarrassment [...]

Yesterday I saw one of the the most exciting athletic contests I’ve ever witnessed. Our soccer team was in the second round of the NCAA tournament, having dispatched Saint Joseph’s on Saturday. We had come from behind against WNEC and the score was tied at 1 a piece at the end of a very even [...]

Today and tomorrow some of the world’s leading philosophers and theorists of history will gather in Middletown to discuss key issues concerning the meaning and direction of the past and how we make sense of it. The seminar is sponsored by History and Theory, the world’s leading journal in the philosophy of history, which is [...]

At Wesleyan we often talk about our great tradition of honoring service in the community. Civic engagement has long been a hallmark of the educational experience here, and it provides the basis for lifelong participation in the public sphere to make a positive contribution to one’s neighborhood, city, and country.
Yesterday, I attended the Middlesex Chamber [...]

Just a quick note to say how wonderful it is to see the campus beginning to fill up with the smiling faces of Wesleyan parents and alumni. This morning I met with the Athletic Advisory Council, a group of dedicated alumni who have helped us to raise the profile of our sports programs at the [...]

Last week I took advantage of Fall break to make a trip out to the West Coast to visit with alumni and parents. This year I attended a series of receptions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Honolulu with alumni from the 1950s to the 1980s, with special attention devoted to those who will be [...]

I was talking to someone recently about one of my favorites subjects: the future of the residential liberal arts college. In an age where online communication is increasingly the norm, an age in which face-to-face contact is seen as inefficient or “uncomfortable,” why should families make the great investment of spending four years in an [...]

I write this from the Minneapolis airport, as I prepare to head home to Connecticut after a few days of visits in the Midwest. We had around 60 alumni, parents and a few guidance counselors today at lunch, all gathered to meet one another and to hear about what’s happening at Wes. We originally thought [...]

Coming back to Wesleyan after years in California, one of the most surprising aspects of the campus culture for me has been the wealth of athletic activities available — both formal and informal. Not only is the Freeman Athletic Center the class act of NESCAC, but all over the campus one can find students engaged [...]