Labor Day and the Start of the Semester

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This year our first day of the semester is also Labor Day, which has certainly caused grumbling among some of us who have to show up for class on Monday rather than enjoying the last long weekend of summer. And of course it’s not just a matter of showing up Monday. Syllabi need final preparation, lectures must be written, and advisees are looking for guidance.

But on this Labor Day we should remember those who won’t have to report this week at all because there aren’t enough jobs. With official unemployment stubbornly remaining between 9% and 10%, there are many around us who are suffering from the poverty and despair of not being able to find work. Bob Herbert’s column in the New York Times on September 4 underscores the plight of a group of custodians recently laid off from their jobs at a luxury office building in Los Angeles. Closer to home, the Middletown food bank Amazing Grace reports a red alert because of the low level of supplies on their shelves. Right here at Wesleyan, we have made a small number of position reductions over the last 18 months. Each job is personal not just institutional, and each position elimination was painful.

As students plan their courses for the fall, and as faculty plan their curricula, how should we connect the reality of labor and unemployment to the broad liberal learning we so value? It can be done very specifically, as with Claire Potter’s Frosh History Seminar on Poverty in the United States, and it can be done more generally by thinking through how a liberal arts education is related to how one will support oneself. As I have said many times now in various venues, I believe a liberal education has never been more relevant to work in the world than it is today. This has little to do with the specific choice of concentration by an undergraduate. I was recently talking to a Wes parent who told me that in interviewing over a thousand people for jobs over the years he has never asked what somebody majored in during college. Instead, he has been looking for the ability to think creatively and critically, to imagine possibilities and to solve problems. This is the kind of ability cultivated by liberal learning.

A liberal education teaches that rigor and innovation, far from being in tension with one another, can often go hand in hand. Patience and diligence — practice and method — are qualities developed across a liberal arts curriculum. The American pragmatists celebrated inquiry as a mode of experience, and teachers and students today continue to believe that we must reflexively look back on our own inquiries to assess the learning process and whether the results are relevant to life beyond the specific questions being pursued. Self-criticism need not be navel-gazing. The practical is not the enemy of the true.

For years I have been saying that an undergraduate education should help students to discover what they love to do, and to get better at it. I’ve recently realized that it is important to emphasize a third goal: to develop the capacity to share what one loves to do (and has gotten a little better at) with others. This third goal, let’s call it “engagement,” connects what one has learned with what one can do with the communities to which one belongs.

The education that our students begin on Labor Day doesn’t promise a specific kind of job, but it does promise to expand one’s possibilities for meaningful work after graduation. Learning to learn also means learning to work, to engage with others in getting things done, creating opportunities and solving problems. Engaging with others also means being aware when we can be helpful to those in need, those who may not have the same opportunities we are enjoying while at the university.

My hope for Labor Day and the beginning of the semester is that through study and engagement we will eventually learn to create more jobs so that the perils and anxieties that mark this year’s holiday won’t become permanent parts of our economy and culture.

[tags]unemployment, Labor Day, Bob Herbert, New York Times, Amazing Grace Food Pantry, Claire Potter, Poverty in the United States, liberal arts education[/tags]

Making Wesleyan Their Own

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This morning Kari and I will greet first-year students and help them move into residence halls around the campus. The class of 2014 was culled from over 10,600 applications (a 29% increase over just two years ago), and it promises to be a talented, caring, creative and hard-working group. We’ve already been meeting some of the international students who are part of the frosh class. Most Internationals arrived Sunday, and at our dinner the following night we talked with folks from India, Turkey, Japan, China, France and Thailand (to name only a few of the countries from which our new students hail).

Fall athletes are also back, and from the look of some of the folks I’ve been running into on campus, many spent at least some of the summer getting in shape for an intense season. I’ve met with the families of the football team, along with the new coaching staff, and they seemed poised for an exciting fall. Over the summer I learned that volleyball and swimming garnered national team academic honors. I take great pride in the scholarly accomplishments of so many of our athletes.

Faculty are also back on campus, and they will soon be meeting with advisees to talk about schedules, choices of major and generally how to get the most out of one’s time at Wes. Professors have been working during the summer on research, much of which will inform their thinking as they begin the semester. The virtuous circle of intellectual work that connects teaching and scholarship will be in evidence throughout the term, as the classroom becomes a place of inspiration for student and teacher alike.

Today I will be greeting many parents who will be filled with mixed emotions as they drop off their students. I look forward to checking in with them again with shared pride as their sons and daughters make Wesleyan their own.

[tags]class of 2014, international students, athletes, volleyball, swimming[/tags]

Looking to the Year Ahead

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It’s late August, and students around the country are packing suitcases, organizing books and music, and figuring out how to say goodbye to friends and family as they get set to head off to their respective college campuses. Here at Wesleyan some of our student residential life staff members are already back and attending training sessions to put in place plans for the year ahead. Soon the international students will arrive, followed by fall athletes and then the Class of 2014. The campus comes back to life in stages, it seems, and with each new group I get those back-to-school butterflies and sense of excitement. I also realize that I’d better finish tinkering with my syllabus and get those lectures together for The Modern and the Postmodern!

I recently met with the Cabinet to discuss our goals for the coming year, and I was so impressed by the energy and ambition of the group. We heard two presentations, the first from Sonia Manjon, whose new title is Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Chief Diversity Officer. Sonia described a program called Making Excellence Inclusive that has been developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. We discussed how important it is to go beyond rhetoric to build sustainable programs that treat the  diversity  of our communities as an educational asset. Difference, she stressed, is not a problem to be fixed but a resource on which we can draw. I look forward to working with Sonia, faculty, students, staff and alumni to continue building a vibrant, dynamic learning community from our multiplicity of perspectives and experiences.

Interim Provost Rob Rosenthal made a presentation on the “engaged university” in which he described the multiple layers of positive interactions we can create on campus and the relationships we can build between our university and the other communities in which we participate. As a faculty member, Rob has been a pioneer in campus-community partnerships, and along with several colleagues has worked tirelessly to embed civic engagement within the curriculum. We were all energized by thinking of ways we can develop our engaged university, whether that be through “action teaching,” new courses, partnerships, or other programs.

It’s late August, and we’re getting ready for a great year!

[tags]The Modern and the Postmodern, Sonia Manjon, Vice President for Institutional Partnerships and Chief Diversity Officer, Making Excellence Inclusive, American Association of Colleges and Universities, Rob Rosenthal[/tags]

Campus Renovations

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After an extended time away from Middletown, I always enjoy coming back to see the changes to various parts of campus. This summer there are many, from the sad dismantling and recycling of MoCon to the freshly painted dome of the historic Van Vleck observatory that shines anew atop Foss Hill.

We continue to make steady progress on renovating our science facilities. New fire alarms and sprinklers were put into Hall-Atwater and Shanklin; new ceilings and energy efficient lighting are being installed in the Hall-Atwater corridors; three Chemistry teaching labs are almost unrecognizable after being newly outfitted; and various improvements to other labs will support their high levels of research.

We are finishing a major project at the CFA Crowell Concert Hall. A handicap ramp has been added to the main entrance, and a new elevator being installed inside a former stairwell is going to provide easy accessibility to all levels of the Concert Hall.

Housing renovations accommodate more than 40 new beds for undergraduates.  Most notably, 156 High Street has a brand new suite of 10 beds on the main floor including handicap accessible restrooms and card access for everyone at the main entrance. 109 Cross Street and the former Community Service Office at 162 Church Street have been transformed into senior housing. The Womanist House is relocating to 44 Brainard Avenue, the German Haus is moving to a newly renovated 65 Lawn Avenue, and 260 Pine Street has been converted into a 6-bedroom house for seniors.

Energy conservation projects continue to be implemented across campus.  Residence halls have been furnished with a new energy metering and monitoring system. The new system will allow the expansion of the student run Do-It-In-the-Dark program which has been so successful in reducing energy consumption in student houses. Monitors located in residence halls will display real time data on energy consumption.

Several programs moved this summer to spaces better suited to their needs. The College of the Environment has moved to 284 High Street (formerly GLSP). The Graduate Liberal Studies Program is now at 74 Wyllys Avenue (formerly the Investment Office), right next door to the Admission Office. The Investment Office has relocated to the 4th floor of North College alongside the Treasurer and Finance and Administration offices, and some staff from Finance and Administration are moving to 287 High Street (formerly the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies building).

The Physical Plant staff has been working hard and productively all summer long. You’ll see the happy results when you come back to campus.

 

[tags]renovations, science facilities, CFA Crowell Concert Hall, College of the Environment, GLSP, The Investment Office, Finance and Administration[/tags]

A Ruby Read for Late Summer

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As August begins I find myself trying to fit more contemporary reading into my research and writing schedule. It’s always a pleasure to catch up on recent books by Wesleyan authors, and I have Sebastian Junger ’84, Dominique Browning ’77 and Ayelet Waldman ’86 on my list. One of the novels I really enjoyed this summer was written by a guy who was on my frosh hall at Wes, Joseph Wallace ’79. When we were just beginning our college careers we talked incessantly about writing and music, and more than a little bit about baseball.  Joe joined Alpha Delta Phi around the same time I did, and he has been writing (often about baseball) ever since. This year Touchstone published Diamond Ruby, a wonderfully entertaining historical novel set in New York during Prohibition. Ruby Thomas, the main character in the book, is a cracker-jack pitcher who has to struggle to survive after the great influenza epidemic. She takes care of her young nieces and herself by continually surprising spectators with her pitching prowess, from a Coney Island sideshow attraction to pitching against the Babe in Yankee Stadium. Ruby’s character is inspired by Jackie Mitchell, a young woman who actually did strike Ruth out before she was banned from baseball for being a woman. Ruby’s intelligence, courage and determination go far beyond her performance on the diamond, and it makes for a great story.

I’m always eager to read our Wesleyan authors, and I’m filled with pride as I mark their accomplishments. This morning, for example, I was delighted to see Maureen Dowd interview Sam Wasson ’03 in the New York Times about today’s (awful) romantic comedies. Sam’s recent book on Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a big hit. But I don’t want to give the impression that I only read books by Wesleyan authors. I’ve reviewed a new book about the Dreyfus Affair for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Milan Kundera’s new collection of essays, Encounter, for the Los Angeles Times (to appear later this summer).  I’m also a big fan of Jennifer Egan’s writing, and her new novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, has been a troubling, joyful and invigorating read.

This summer, though, it has been especially sweet to think back to 1975 and my hallmate’s writing plans as I read Diamond Ruby. As the baseball season heats up and summer winds down, Joseph Wallace’s new novel is perfect company.

[tags]Sebastian Junger ’84, Dominique Browning ’77, Ayelet Waldman ’86, Joseph Wallace ’79, Diamond Ruby, Maureen Dowd, Sam Wasson ’03, The New York Times, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad[/tags]

Great News, Shining Hope

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Many in the Wesleyan family may have seen the news this week that Jessica Posner ’09 won the VH1 Do Something! award. This brings $100,000 to the work of the organization Jessica and Kennedy Odede ’12 founded to improve the living conditions for women and children in Kibera, Kenya. The team has initiated the Johanna Justin-Jinich Memorial Health Clinic in Kibera, and so this support is especially welcome.

This has been an eventful summer for the team of Wesleyan folks. In addition to the VH1 award, Kennedy received an Outstanding Commitment Grant from the Clinton Foundation to help with the new clinic. On the ground in Kibera, the new Community Center has been completed, and 25 more girls have been admitted to the school. I’m told there is a team of Wesleyan students in Kenya working on these projects for a year, including Jessica, Ari Tolman and Leah Lucid, both class of 2010, and Inslee Coddington (’10) who will be joining them in the fall.

The Shining Hope for Communities website has lots more information and pictures. Check out the blog! Most importantly on the site you can find ways to support the work that the team is doing, including sponsoring one of the students!

[tags]Jessica Posner ’09, Do Something Award, Johanna Justin-Jinich Memorial Health Clinic, Kennedy Odede ’12, Outstanding Commitment Grant, Clinton Foundation, Shining Hope for Communities[/tags]

Summer Balance, Educational Balance

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This summer Kari and I are spending a good deal of time away from campus on a “working vacation.” It’s a vacation because we get to play a bit of tennis, swim with Mathilde in a lake, attend lots of theater and concerts. It’s a working vacation because we spend most of each day hovered over papers and computers. We both have book projects to finish (Kari’s on Animal Studies, mine on [what else?] making sense of the past), and we also have classes and lectures to prepare. It’s been a great summer thus far (lots of writing that hasn’t yet been thrown in the waste basket), and we have been visited by, or in conversation with, several of our Wesleyan colleagues. They, too, appreciate the change of pace that summer brings, but they, too, are working on research projects, classes, scholarly presentations. The list is really impressive.

I’ve been putting together a collection of my essays on memory disorders, psychoanalysis, photography, and education. I wrote some of the pieces several years ago, and it makes me reflect on the strange pace of change in the humanities and social sciences. I’ve been focused on considering which research concerns from many years ago are still alive, and which ones were merely of the moment. Sometimes what seemed like a “cutting edge” turned out to be just a dead end, while in other cases new paths of research have been extraordinarily productive.  I believe in the importance of traditional scholarship, and I know that the research of our faculty enlivens their teaching. I also can see how much “traditional scholarship” has changed over the three decades I’ve been teaching. Whether we focus on social history or critical theory, cultural anthropology or film studies, deconstruction or the ethical turn, we can see that the shape of professional study is continually being reconfigured.  This is a good thing, and the Wesleyan faculty who participate in this reconfiguration of scholarship give their students a dynamic sense of the vitality of intellectual life.

One of the great challenges in higher education is how to manage the balance of traditional and cutting edge scholarship as forces that shape the curriculum. We want our undergraduates to develop a solid base of inquiry that will continue to inform their lives after graduation, and we also want them to experience active research on issues that matter to contemporary scholarship and cultural life. At Wesleyan we are committed to revisit this balance on a regular basis so that our students engage with deep traditions of learning while also working through key issues of current concern. Our alumni — whatever their chosen endeavors — tell me that they continually find that their education is informing their work and their lives. That’s another balance, of course, that we all strive to achieve.

[tags]”traditional scholarship”, “cutting edge” scholarship, professor research, Wesleyan curricula[/tags]

Wesleyan in Washington

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Before heading off for some summer vacation, I spent the early part of this week in Washington, D.C.. The American Association of Colleges and Universities was hosting a gathering of presidents to discuss the impact of liberal learning on participation in the political sphere. This is a group devoted to the liberal arts experience, and led by President Carol Schneider AAC&U has presented very compelling information showing the public and private importance of the broad-based, participatory education offered at institutions like ours. Since I have been writing about these issues on the Huffington Post and elsewhere, I was glad to touch base with colleagues eager to make the case for liberal learning.

Since my stay in steamy DC was brief, I only had an opportunity to touch base with a few members of the Wes family doing interesting things in our nation’s capitol. We have alumni working in various sectors of government, but during this trip I met with a new Wesleyan parent, Mark Tercek, who is running The Nature Conservancy. TNC is one of the great international environmental organizations, and we talked about ways that this group might work together with our new College of the Environment. Mark was excited to hear about our plans for this interdisciplinary program, and I am confident we will find ways to make common cause. I also met with Dan deVise ’89, an education writer for the Washington Post. Dan and his wife Sophie ’88 met at Wes, and they have been pursuing journalism pretty much since graduation. I also had the chance meet with Col. Dunbar Gram and other members of the board of the James M. Johnson Trust. This foundation has generously supported Wesleyan’s financial aid program for many years, and I was delighted to report on our efforts to maintain need blind admissions in the face of all the economic pressures that challenge us.

I had interesting conversations about economic pressure, politics and education with our star Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro. Rosa has been an energetic ally for educators for many years, and she continues to fight the good fight. I was so happy to see that she has a couple of Wes interns in her office this summer. Before returning home, Carol Scully and I had a productive meeting with a program officer from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some say that the humanities are declining or are under siege, but I was pleased to share information on some of the real innovations going on at the Wes campus, especially at the Center for the Humanities.

During our time away Kari and I hope to finish a few writing projects, hear some great music and spend as much time outdoors as possible. That way we’ll be ready to greet the class of 2014 at the end of the summer!

[tags]American Association of Colleges and Universities, liberal arts education, Huffington Post, Mark Tercek, The Nature Conservancy, Dan deVise ’89, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Col. Dunbar Gram[/tags]

Please Participate in the Annual Fund!

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Even with the modest economic recovery, it has been a very challenging time to raise money. I have been reluctant to do any fundraising through this blog, but as these are the last days of our fiscal year, I will ask you to make a gift to our annual fund if you have not already done so. I know how tiresome it is to be asked for support again and again, and I have been so impressed with the generosity of the Wesleyan community. But nonetheless I now ask for your support because I believe that scholarships are a key component of our educational mission – and we need your help. Please give to financial aid through the Wesleyan Fund. Participation counts, as does every dollar we receive (check out the Trustee match!). Here’s the link to make a donation: http://give.wesleyan.edu

[tags]annual fund[/tags]

Helping our Community Partners

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Kari and I went to two fundraisers last week for great organizations in Middletown. That’s one of the “perks” of being Wesleyan’s president: one gets invited to serve on various committees, and one gets to know a variety of organizations doing good work in the region. This year I was an “honorary chair” for the celebration and fundraiser commemorating the 35th anniversary of Oddfellows Playhouse. Oddfellows was founded by a group of Wesleyan students in the 1970s to serve young people in Middletown by providing them with the opportunity to create first-rate theater. They have an educational, social and community mission, and they have remained true to the founders’ vision over a long period of time. The Gala and auction raised significant amounts of money that will have a direct impact on the lives of young people in this area.

The day after the Oddfellows event we were headed to a fundraising dinner for The Connection, a social services and community development organization. Wesleyan philosopher Steve Angle is on their board of directors, and he explained to me that the organization has always had a philosopher there since the 1970s when Phil Hallie served this role. The Connection addresses substance abuse, crime, and community disrepair across the state, and the fundraising event seemed like a great success. Lots of money was raised (and The Shiny Lapel Trio played some great dance music!).

Wesleyan is an important part of Middletown and Middlesex County, and for many years the university has been active in promoting community development. I am one of the Chairs of the upcoming United Way Campaign, which marks the organization’s 75th anniversary. Wes faculty and staff have been consistently generous supporters of United Way, and we will do our best to raise a record amount to mark the 75th! Thanks in advance for everyone who contributes to this effort!

Even our daughter Sophie has gotten into the act. She was just called for her bat mitzvah, and she suggested that people consider a donation to Wesleyan’s Green Street Arts Center in lieu of a gift. Green Street raised some money, and we have another reason to be proud of our not-so-little girl.

[tags]Oddfellows Playhouse, Green Street Arts Center, United Way Campaign, The Connection[/tags]