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How to Choose a (Our) University

June 10, 2015April 10, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

The happy emails and web links have gone out (replacing those thick envelopes of yesteryear), and all those fortunate enough to have choices about what college to attend will make a big decision: picking the college that is just right for them. They are trying to envision where they will be most likely to thrive. Where will I learn the most, be happiest, and form friendships that will last a lifetime? How to choose? As I do each spring, I thought it might be useful to re-post my thoughts on choosing a college, with a few revisions.

Of course, for many the decision will be made on an economic basis. Which school has given the most generous financial aid package? Wesleyan is one of a small number of schools that meets the full financial need of all admitted students according to a formula developed over several years. There are some schools with larger endowments that can afford to be even more generous than Wes, but there are hundreds (thousands?) of others that are unable even to consider meeting financial need over four years of study. Our school is expensive because it costs a lot to maintain the quality of our programs. But Wesleyan has made a commitment to keep loan levels low and to raise tuition only in sync with inflation in the future. We also offer a three year program that allows families to save about 20% of their total expenses, while still earning the same number of credits.

After answering the question of which schools one can afford, how else does one decide where best to spend one’s college years? Of course, size matters. Some students are looking for a large university in an urban setting where the city itself plays an important role in one’s education. New York and Boston, for example, have become increasingly popular college destinations, but not, I suspect, for the classroom experience. But if one seeks small classes and strong, personal relationships with faculty, then liberal arts schools, which pride themselves on providing rich cultural and social experiences on a residential campus, are especially compelling. You can be on a campus with a human scale and still have plenty of things to do. Wesleyan is somewhat larger than most liberal arts colleges but much smaller than the urban or land grant universities. We feel that this gives our students the opportunity to choose a broad curriculum and a variety of cultural activities on campus, while still being small enough to encourage regular, sustained relationships among faculty and students.

All the selective small liberal arts schools boast of having a faculty of scholar-teachers, of a commitment to research and interdisciplinarity, and of encouraging community and service. So what sets us apart from one another after taking into account size, location, and financial aid packages? What are students trying to see when they visit Amherst and Wesleyan, or Tufts and Pomona?

Knowing that these schools all provide a high-quality, broad and flexible curriculum with strong teaching, and that the students all have displayed great academic capacity, prospective students are trying to discern the personalities of each school. They are trying to imagine themselves on the campus, among the people they see, to get a feel for the chemistry of the place — to gauge whether they will be happy there. That’s why hundreds of visitors come to Wesleyan each week and why there will be the great surge for WesFest. They go to classes and athletic contests, musical performances and parties. And they ask themselves: Would I be happy at Wesleyan?

I hope our visitors get a sense of the personality of the school that I so admire and enjoy. I hope they feel the exuberance and ambition of our students, the intelligence and care of our faculty, the playful yet demanding qualities of our community. I hope our visitors can sense our commitment to creating a diversity in which difference is embraced and not just tolerated, and to public service that is part of one’s education and approach to life.

Whatever college or university students choose, I hope they get three things out their education: discovering what they love to do; getting better at it; learning to share it with others. I explain a little bit more about that in this talk:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LzN8sGkRXg#t=23[/youtube[/youtube]

We all know that Wesleyan is hard to get into. But even in the group of highly selective schools, Wes is not for everybody. We aspire to be a community committed to boldness as well as to rigor, to idealism as well as to effectiveness. Whether in the sciences, arts, humanities or social sciences, our faculty and students are dedicated to explorations that invite originality as well as collaboration. The scholar-teacher model is at the heart of our curriculum. Our faculty are committed to teaching and to shaping the fields in which they work. The commitment of our faculty says a lot about who we are, as does the camaraderie around the completion of senior projects that we are seeing right now on campus. We know how to work hard, but we also know how to enjoy the work we choose to do. That’s been magically appealing to me for more than 30 years. I bet the magic will enchant many of our visitors, too.

Solidarity With Kenyan Students at Garrissa

April 9, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

The attack on the students at Garrissa University College was an assault on the freedom of education, the freedom of religion and human rights. The failure of security, the targeting of Christians, the senseless carnage, and the fear that seeps into bodies and minds, will undermine freedom and security in Kenya for a long time. Many have pointed out that the gruesome, brutal event, which left 147 dead, has not gotten nearly the attention of other recent terrorist attacks.

Tonight (Thursday, April 9), Wesleyan students have planned a vigil in front of Olin Library as an expression of solidarity with the students at Garrissa. Let’s stand together.

Tragedy, Spring, Hope

April 9, 2015April 3, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

Today is Good Friday, one of the most important holidays for Christians across the globe, the start of Easter weekend. This evening marks the beginning of Passover, a time for Jews of commemoration and hope for freedom. And so the reports from Africa fall particularly hard. Religious and non-religious people alike are reeling from the news out of Kenya. Garrissa University College was the site of a horrific attack, with 147 students being murdered by Shabab, a notorious terrorist organization. There are reports of indiscriminate killings, but also of “religious tests” meant to reveal whether a person was a Christian or Muslim. If Christian, killed on the spot.

All terrorist attacks undermine the very fabric of a community — that’s their point. They seek not military advantage, but to shake confidence in our ability to live together in peace and security. Attacks on schools and universities are particularly heinous, because these are centers of hope for the future. People organize to learn because they believe through education they can create a better world. Terror at schools is meant to destroy that hope. It will not.

Education is a slow, incremental process, yet it can also be transformative. By working at learning every day, suddenly you find yourself on an entirely different trajectory. May our friends and colleagues at Garrissa find their way back to education as they deal with the deep trauma and grief of these recent days. In Kenya, there will be some measure of defiance when students, teachers and staff resume their educational project. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

——

At Wesleyan, “working at learning every day” seems to be an understatement this time of year. Everyone is so busy, and there are so many exciting things happening on campus! It seems like every day there is an art opening, or a performance or a lecture that promises to be a great experience. Meanwhile, the athletes are digging out of the frozen earth and insisting on spring sports. Bravo! Check out the amazing accomplishments of the track teams, or the mighty efforts of lacrosse as it makes its way through a very tough NESCAC field. Tennis this year has had particular success, and Coach Fried and his teams are to be commended. Last I heard, the women’s team is ranked very high in national polls. Baseball and softball are chasing away the winter blues. Support the Cardinals!

And do check out theater and music opportunities. At the Patricelli ’92, the theater department, and Greek organizations…lots of venues are getting in on the act. You can see everything from avant-garde explorations to popular musicals. Of course, students take the lead.

And what’s that little noise you hear? What’s the persistent background hum on campus? Why, it’s the thesis writers putting their finishing touches on experiments, novels, historical treatises and mighty translation projects. Be kind to them, they are expanding the frontiers of knowledge!

These are some of the everyday activities at the Wesleyan campus — activities that are only possible because of a community that values peace and respect, as well as creativity, rigor and pragmatic innovation. As many of us celebrate holidays, or just celebrate the season, let us be thankful for this community, and for the work and affection that suffuses it with positive energy.

Updated to reflect actual, horrific death count.

If Foss Hill Could Talk…

June 10, 2015April 2, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

This week we are holding a special event to raise money to support students. Foss Hill Day reminds alumni, current students, faculty and staff of a place that is central to all of us. For some, Foss is where they heard one of the greatest concerts of their lives, for others, it’s the place where they walked in solitary circles trying to figure out what to do with their lives, while for several it’s the place where they fell in love, proposed marriage, made a leap.

When I was sick last week, I kept asking Kari, “is there still snow on Foss?” It’s my touchstone for the campus climate — and I don’t just mean the weather.

On Thursday, April 2, we will ask for gifts of whatever size in honor of our common ground, Foss Hill. Tom Kelly ’73 (who heard the Dead on the hill and hears them still) has generously offered a challenge gift. The grand total goes to support students through the Wesleyan Fund!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7MYkmVDa4[/youtube]

Go to the hill! Make a gift!! THIS IS WHY.

Wes Announces All MOOCs All the Time!

June 10, 2015April 1, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

No more classes, no more books, no more teachers’….. Wesleyan, which has been a pioneer in offering online classes (our Social Psychology class on Coursera is among the most popular on the internet) has decided to take the next VERY BOLD step!

As of next year all our classes will be offered online! Don’t worry about going to classes, don’t worry about labs…You can do your work at your own pace when you want to do it. If you want to see other people, just go to one of the myriad social events we are planning. These will, of course, have robust educational content, and they will build innovative capacity in our students by going beyond the classroom entirely. And think of it, we’ll be able to bring in the very best bands now that we don’t have to pay for classroom instruction. Spring Fling all year long!!

To find out more about our radical new plan (so Wesleyan!), go to the website.

Welcome Class of 2019!

June 10, 2015March 29, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

On Friday young folks across the country were logging onto the Wesleyan servers to get the results of their admission decisions. Students living in dozens of different countries and across most of the states had found Wes and submitted their credentials, essays, and supplementary material. This was the first year the university did not require the SAT or ACT, and about a quarter of the applicant pool didn’t submit scores. This meant that the admission staff had to work harder than ever to develop a holistic appraisal of whether a prospective student is the right fit for Wesleyan. It was a very competitive process once again, but THE CLASS OF 2019 IS BEGINNING TO TAKE SHAPE!

Over the next month or so, lots of those who were accepted will be revisiting the campus to learn more about us, and gauge their own reactions to the special culture that has evolved here over many decades. Sometime during this period (really, it has to happen!), the snow will be gone from Foss Hill, the flowers will be blooming and student projects will begin appearing from the CFA to the Exley Science Center. I trust our visitors get a good feel for our home — for the dedication of our teacher/scholars, for the thoughtful solicitude of our professional staff, and for the intensity, care and exuberance of our amazing students.

WesFest is scheduled for April 15-17, and that’s always a good time for prospective students to learn more about what we have to offer. Meanwhile, congratulations to the pre-frosh. I very much look forward to meeting you!!

Here Come the Spring Exhibitions!

June 10, 2015March 24, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

Now that spring break has passed, it often feels like a mad rush to the end of the semester. My own progress has been stymied by a nasty flu, but I am hoping to be up and about tomorrow to see the first senior thesis art exhibition of 2015: Wednesday, March 25 at 4 p.m. at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. The senior artists Luca Ameri, Raphael A. Leitz, Dat Vu, and Derrick Qi Wang will be at the reception, and you can check out the work through Sunday, March 29.

The Davison Art Center is holding an exhibition opening on Thursday, March 26, featuring works by Barbara Kruger, Kiki Smith, Sebastiao Salgado, and Eve Arnold. These are amazing artists, and we are so fortunate to have their pieces in our collection. On Thursday at 5:30 there will be a public conversation with the donors who made this possible, artist Jolie Stahl and photo editor, Robert Dannin. The exhibition will be up through May 24.

Spring Break Thesis Writers -Final Update

June 10, 2015March 15, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

It’s that time of year again…lots of Wesleyans are on the road for spring break but many seniors are busy all across campus getting their honors theses into shape to meet those April deadlines. Tina Jung, for example, is working on issues of history and memory for her thesis. Her work is based, in part, on oral interviews. Katherine Malczewski is focused on Ida, A [Performative] Novel and the Construction of (Id)entity. Katherine delves into Getrude Stein’s definitions of identity versus entity through an analysis of the novel, the writer’s personal letters, and lectures.

Colin O’Connor is working on philosophical and literary constraints on anarchist literary production in contemporary Germany. Siri Carr is working in her COL thesis on concepts of “the little” in children’s literature. Sarah Esocoff‘s COL thesis is doing a painting thesis called “Strangers,” while Dexter Blumenthal is writing on food practices in contemporary Paris.

Paul McCallion’s thesis in Science in Society is called “Doctors Without Answers: Limits, Challenges, and Dilemmas of Humanitarian (Bio)medicine, and Doctors Without Borders” while Adin Vaewsorn’s work is entitled “Towards a Holistic Understanding of Obesity and Anti-Obesity Interventions Among African-American Women.” Both are going beyond biomedical models to look at larger social and economic forces.

In English, Ronnie Alvarado is writing a scholarly thesis on the influence of liberal and neoliberal theories of childhood and education on children’s fantasy literature during two golden ages of the genre — working title: “Fantasies of Education.”

Dandara Catete is doing a sculpture thesis exhibition entitled “Amorfo” consisting of several sculptures, each of which partially joins two full-scale mattresses to suggest the ambiguities of merging yet maintaining distinct identities in a romantic relationship.

David Stouck’s thesis, provisionally entitled “Cultural Osmosis in the Modern Chinese Music Industry, is based on his writing and recording of a series of Chinese rap/hip-hop songs. The College of East Asian Studies folks tell me he’s getting help with the research from several Wes students.

I’ve just touched the tip of the thesis iceberg…getting information from deans and colleagues. If you’d like me to include others, just email or comment on this blog post.

UPDATE:

These recently came in from Neuroscience and Behavior:

Matan Koplin–Green is working on how EEG’s might be used to help train those seeking to reduce anxiety. Neha Shafique is aiming at a “Quantitative Description of Heterogeneous Lipid Membrane Dynamics.” Ellen Lesser is working on “Diet and Motivation: effects of prenatal and lifetime exposure to junk food,” while Simone Hyman compares stigma and schizophrenia in Gujarat, India and Middletown, CT. Sam Rispaud also works on schizophrenia, asking how neurocognitive function relates to changes in functional outcome.

UPDATE: And these from Astronomy:

Sam Factor took his first astronomy class in the fall of his senior year, and graduated last spring with majors in physics and computer science. This year he graduates with an MA in astronomy and an impressive thesis that includes an analysis of planet-forming potential in an environment similar to where the Sun is thought to have formed. Sam’s experience at the intersection of physics, computer science, and astronomy has made him a very effective researcher and, after only one year as an astronomer, his thesis marks a significant contribution to the field of planet formation research.

Jesse Lieman-Sifry has been working since his junior year on understanding the last gasps of gas giant planet formation. Jesse has done beautiful work on not one but two separate projects with the newly-operational ALMA telescope in Chile, the most powerful and versatile radio telescope ever built, and has been a guest observer at the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii.

Dilovan Serindag is using observations from the Kepler Space Telescope to characterize the atmospheres of planets around other stars. He developed and coded his own modeling algorithm to measure the phase changes as these planets orbit around their stars. These planets orbit in just a matter of days, and the analysis that Dilovan is doing can tell us the temperature of the planet and how reflective its atmosphere is.

FINAL UPDATE AS SPRING BREAK ENDS

Rachel Leicher is combining in vivo genetic approaches using budding yeast cells with in vitro DNA binding studies to gain a fuller picture of the functions of H’1, a basic structural component of our chromosomes. Veronica Birdsall is studying protein-DNA interactions to address questions of recognition and specificity in the case of an architectural DNA-binding protein, Integration Host Factor. Derek Frank is using spectrocopy studies to probe the structure of DOH-N2O, a weakly bound van der Waals complex. Rotational spectroscopy is shown as a powerful technique to investigate the structure of gas phase complexes and the chemistry of weakly bound systems. Erin Cohn is exploring degradation of lignin, a paper industry waste product, and the most abundant aromatic compound found in nature. The products of its degradation by enzymes could be utilized in the generation of biofuels.

Emma Kemler is working on a project examining how to define and measure citizenship within the context of higher education in Argentina and in Middletown. Alison Goldberg is writing a psychology thesis on anti-Semitism and the relationship between physical and personality stereotypes of Jewish individuals. Kate Weiner’s “Reciprocity: Community-Making at East New York Farms!” uses creative non-fiction and a variety of disciplines to explore how community is cultivated in the context of urban agriculture. Christian Hosam‘s African American Studies thesis is entitled “Linked Fate in Asian America: Promise, Pitfalls, and Practice.” Christian looks at the concept of linked fate, identifying the ways that the extant literature actually reinforces stereotypes of the “apolitical” Asian American because it assumes that linked fate is necessarily correlated with increased levels of political engagement. Kehan Zhou, writing in CSS and Economics, analyzes alternative currency movements, in particular crypto-currencies, and in particular Bitcoin, concentrating on the supply of and demand for cryptocurrencies, how cryptocurrencies work, and the operation of the markets for crypto-currencies including pricing fluctuations, security issues, and possibilities for arbitrage.

Grace Herman-Holland‘s directing thesis examines the relationship between performers and audiences during kabuki’s golden age, identifying elements of a highly engaged spectatorship with the potential to inform contemporary theatrical practices. The Wesleyan cover band Love Hotel furnished music for her production of “Skyfall,” which was performed in the ’92 Theater the weekend of February 26-28.
There are plenty more theses out there, and lots of recitals coming up as part of the work. The first senior thesis art exhibition opens at the Zilkha Gallery on Wednesday, March 25!

Taking Wesleyan to the Bay Area

June 10, 2015March 10, 2015 by Michael S. Roth '78

On March 9, I attended a wonderful Wesleyan event in San Francisco. More than 100 alumni and parents came out to hear about liberal education today, and to discuss the importance of financial aid support. I was joined by Jonathan Schwartz ’87 (shown below, far right), a scholarship kid who went on to do great things in the technology industry and who now runs CareZone, a company he co-founded to help families organize and attend to their health care data.

There were folks at the reception from across the generations, and we had a good conversation about reducing student debt and expanding the curriculum.

In the morning I visited our online partner Coursera to hear about some of their new specializations. I think Wesleyan can expand the quality and quantity of our MOOCs over the next several months.

I had spent the afternoon meeting with alumni and with colleagues at Stanford. I very much enjoyed the d-school’s open spaces and giddily innovative atmosphere. Some kinship with Wes at our best?

The next day, I headed to Menlo Park for a conversation with writer Michael Chabon P ’17 and Bozoma Saint John ’99, head of consumer marketing at iTunes and Beats Music.