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Ongoing Need for Help

June 25, 2015January 20, 2010 by Michael S. Roth '78

Many of our friends and colleagues have been profoundly impacted by the ongoing tragedy in Haiti in the wake of the earthquake. Just this morning, a large aftershock sent people fleeing from the damaged places in which they’ve sought shelter. I know that Wesleyan students, faculty and staff have responded generously to calls for help. Some of the organizations that have been recommended to me are:

Texting “HAITI” to “90999” to donate $10 to the Red Cross. The US State Department very quickly put together this number to channel relief contributions directly to first responders who will be on the ground there.
Partners in Health. PIH (http://www.pih.org) is already on the ground in Haiti and mobilizing their relief efforts. PIH has worked in Haiti to provide health care and education to the poorest of Haiti.
Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org).

There are many more fine organizations on the ground in Haiti providing assistance. Please help!

[tags]Haiti, earthquake, Red Cross, Partners in Health, Save the Children[/tags]

Getting In… Checking things Out

June 25, 2015December 3, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

Last night admissions deans from eight schools gathered for an online forum at Wesleyan sponsored by Unigo and the Wall Street Journal. Thousands watched live as Jordan Goldman ’04 and members of the audience asked questions aimed at clarifying how highly selective institutions go about selecting a first-year class. Check out the video of the event (and some good footage of the campus).

The selection process is increasingly intense. Last year our applicant pool was as strong as ever, and it was more than 20% larger. Most university observers expected us to have some decline in apps this year, which is the normal rhythm at schools like ours. But the latest figures show that we have continued to grow — this year by more than 10% over last. The geographical and cultural diversity of the pool continues to improve, and the academic credentials of our applicants are truly impressive. I’m glad I don’t have to read the files!

One of the exciting aspects of last night’s event was the international web audience for it. The university has been using the web to share some of the great events on campus. Last year’s wonderful Navaratri Festival performance has now had more than 100,000 views on Youtube.

This weekend there are plenty of non-virtual chances to check out Wes culture. Friday at 8 pm, dance professor Nicole Stanton performs a piece created collaboratively with students and colleagues at Schönberg Dance Studio. Saturday at Freeman one can see several of our teams (track, swimming, squash, hockey) competing. I am looking forward to seeing Ariela Rotenberg’s ’10 senior thesis project, Our Day Will Come , at the Patricelli ’92 Theater. Maybe I can stay offline for a few days…

[tags]Unigo, Wall Street Journal, admissions process, applicant pool, Jordan Goldman ’04, Navaratri Festival performance, Professor Nicole Stanton, Ariela Rotenberg ’10[/tags]

Acknowledging Service

June 25, 2015November 10, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

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 of Commerce’s annual Support the Troops breakfast. During the week in which Veterans Day falls, the Chamber honors our active duty men and women, as well as those who have served in years past in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard. There is always a great turnout for this event, a chance to say “thank you” for those who have put themselves in harm’s way to serve our country.

Yesterday’s breakfast was especially noteworthy for two reasons. First, in addition to the regular Wes contingent at Chamber breakfasts, we welcomed students who were either veterans or are now part of a joint ROTC program. Wesleyan has been fortunate to have received some very generous gifts for scholarships for veterans, and it was great to have the current recipients join us for this event.

The second reason yesterday’s event was noteworthy is a much sadder one. Our flag on campus flew at half-staff this past weekend in recognition of the fallen soldiers at Fort Hood. The murders at the Texas army base are a grim reminder of the risks our soldiers face every day. Whatever one’s views on American foreign policy and military strategy, I trust we can acknowledge with gratitude the service our troops have performed in contexts of great danger.

[tags]civic engagement, veterans, Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Support the Troops, mourning, Fort Hood, foreign service[/tags]

Arrival Day (Part Three)

June 25, 2015September 6, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

Well, this isn’t really about arrival day, but about the “common moment” evening of orientation. The theme for the first year students followed our “Feet to the Fire” program concerning climate change, and this year students focused on issues about water. Readings, lectures and discussion groups examined the cultural, economic, and spiritual dimensions of water, with some important focus points on purification and distribution.

Friday night at least 500 of the frosh gathered at the base of Foss Hill to learn dances with a water theme from different cultures around the globe. The great Wes drummers and dancers led the event, and the rhythms were stirring. Prof. Barry Chernoff, who has been inspiring our efforts in environmental studies and our planning for the College of the Environment, helped stir up enthusiasm for the event with Pam Tatge, Director of the Center for the Arts. Dance professor Nicole Stanton was joined by grad students, faculty and staff in keeping the crowd moving. There was joyful participation (and great ice cream!). The program concluded with the fire dancing students of Prometheus. My camera phone isn’t adequate to capture the powerful scene, but here are a few snaps:

The frosh are now being joined by the rest of the students, with classes beginning Tuesday. This fall we will see the results of our small class initiative, which has added dozens of new classes to the curriculum. My own small seminar meets on Mondays, so I’ll have a bit more time to prepare, inspired by how Andrus Field and Foss Hill came alive Friday night.

[tags]arrival day, Feet to the Fire, Barry Chernoff, Pam Tatge, Nicole Stanton, class initiative, Prometheus[/tags]

Arrival Day (Part Two)

June 25, 2015September 1, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

I’ve been strolling around, carrying the odd (and light) box, meeting new frosh and their families. Lots of fun to run into alumni parents bringing their sons and daughters to Wesleyan, as well as those who are totally new to the Wes experience. I’ll post a few more photos later in the day.

All but the first photograph courtesy of Olivia Bartlett

[tags]Arrival Day, Olivia Bartlett, Kari Weil[/tags]

Arrival Day (Part One)

June 25, 2015September 1, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

It’s a beautiful late summer morning here at Wesleyan as we begin to welcome the class of 2013 to campus. Nervous parents and eager pre-frosh (or is it the other way around?) are clogging the streets with their cars and vans chock full of boxes, suitcases, musical instruments and sports equipment. Most new international students arrived a few days ago, and we welcomed them with a dinner in Beckham Hall. It was delightful to meet students from Japan, India, Germany and China — all within a few minutes. Today there will be lots of staff helping with the move in, a great Wesleyan tradition. We’ll see if my chronically sore back can take it.

I will post more pics and links at the end of the day or tomorrow.

[tags]Arrival Day, Class of 2013, international students, moving in, Beckham Hall[/tags]

Senator Edward Kennedy Hon. ’84

June 25, 2015August 26, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

Last night the nation lost one of its great public servants. It is difficult to think of another elected official since WWII who supported programs to help the most vulnerable members of our society with the energy, consistency and intelligence of Senator Edward Kennedy. His vision of justice was tied to a commitment to mitigate the cruel effects of inequality and entrenched power without unduly compromising economic growth and individual freedom. His support of education as a vehicle for the creation of opportunity has inspired countless students and teachers.

Senator Kennedy’s family had strong Wesleyan ties. The senator received an honorary degree in 1984, and his son Ted is a graduate. His step-daughter, Caroline Raclin, graduated in 2008, and we had looked forward to a Commencement Address that year from the Lion of the Senate. This was around the time when his illness first became evident, but despite the personal challenges confronting the family, they made sure to find a suitable speaker. Barack Obama’s moving tribute to his senate colleague, and his call for public service, will be long remembered by those who attended.

In this season of lies and distortions aimed to preserve profits and privilege, we have already missed him. In this season of posturing and bloviating without apparent thought of legislating, we have already missed him. We have already missed his uncanny ability to combine forceful advocacy with thoughtful, pragmatic compromise.

May the memory of his passionate and reasoned voice for health care as a right and not a privilege be the basis for extending and improving our health care system. This would be the greatest tribute to a remarkable man.

[tags]memorial, Edward Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Caroline Raclin, Barack Obama, healthcare[/tags]

Live Biology!

June 25, 2015July 22, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

From my windows at South College, the campus looks very quiet. The young students from the Center for Creative Youth and other programs stroll across Andrus Field for meals in Usdan, but on the whole it’s just too calm. So just before leaving for some time away from Wesleyan, I stopped into the Hall-Atwater labs to check out the action there

The pace changes completely when you cross Church Street and visit the science labs. There dozens of undergraduates and graduate students are busily working with faculty on sophisticated research projects in chemistry, molecular biology, physics and neuroscience (to cite just a few of the examples). There are countless examples of interdisciplinary work in fields like neuroscience, biophysics and environmental science. Much of the research going on during the summer month is funded by the Hughes Summer Research Program — http://www.wesleyan.edu/hughes/summerprogram.html — as well as funding from departments and faculty research grants. Many of our students will turn this work into theses projects, and some will be fortunate enough to become co-authors with faculty on articles in the best scientific journals. Graduate students play a crucial role in the ecology of research in the sciences. They bring experience and a depth of learning that allow them to help mentor younger students, and they complete independent projects that launch their own careers after receiving their degrees. Grad students don’t substitute for faculty at Wesleyan, but they are an essential complement to them. One of the reasons our science faculty is extraordinarily productive compared with our peer institutions, is that they have great collaborators at different levels. This benefits everyone, and it helps advance the fields in which our faculty work.

My final stop in my little tour was at Prof. Janice Naegele’s lab. Jan‘s work is in neuroscience and stem cell research, and several of her students are working on problems related to epilepsy. I was so impressed by the students’ presentations of their specific projects. They were able to explain their specific investigations and also give this non-scientist a sense of the context for their advanced work. Fludiona Naka ’11 and Raghu Appasani ‘12 gave concise yet informative descriptions of their lab activities. It also helped me that senior Efrain Ribeiro is a joint philosophy-neuroscience major, and so he could put things in terms even I could understand! All were clearly excited about their independent experiments, and they also had an impressive ability to describe how it fit into the work of the team. Other members of the lab are Debra Hall, Xu Maisano, Jia Yang and Sara Royston.

You can learn more about the exciting work of the biologists at Wesleyan by visiting the cool new website: http://www.wesleyan.edu/bio/

The sciences at Wesleyan exemplify the success of the scholar-teacher model that has long been key to our school. Long live Biology!

[tags]Biology, Hall-Atwater, research, lab research, Hughes Summer Research Program, graduate students, Debra Hall, Xu Maisano, Jia Yang, Sara Royston, Janice Naegele, Fludiona Naka, Raghu Appasani, Efrain Ribeiro[/tags]

Happy Father’s Day from Alma Mater!

June 25, 2015June 21, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

Summer time brings different rhythms to campus, and toward the end of June we are busy closing out the books on 2008-2009 while planning for the future makes progress. The north end of campus is quiet, awaiting the CCY students to animate things in July. I’ll soon write more about the busy researchers across Church Street, for whom summer just offers the opportunity for very focused experimental work in the sciences. On the south side of campus, undergraduates, graduate students and faculty are making the most out of time away from courses to pursue their independent research projects.

This Father’s Day will be mostly a relaxing one for me with my family, after a wild 12th birthday celebration for Sophie. My father, Joe Roth, died more than five years ago now, and of course I think of him often. I wonder how surprised he would be to find me in the president’s office at Wesleyan. I recently wrote something about his graduation advice that was broadcast on NPR (sorry for the duplication of website references!): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104938799

The writer Thomas Matlack ’86 has been thinking a lot about fathers, sons, and the changing roles for men in our culture. His “good men project” makes for fine Father’s Day reading: http://www.goodmenbook.org/about-the-book.html

We talk always of alma mater, but fathers have something to do with the educational nourishment at Wes, too. To all the Dads (and people who have dads) out there, happy Father’s Day!

[tags]Father’s Day, Joe Roth, NPR, Thomas Matlack[/tags]

Turning Again

June 25, 2015May 8, 2009 by Michael S. Roth '78

Today was a very emotional combination of extraordinary events and more routine planning. We are still reeling from Wednesday’s attack, but we are also able to walk freely in the spring sunshine, to resume studying and practicing….even though our feelings of sorrow, anger and bewilderment still make it hard to focus. We are returning to our lives. We are wounded, but we turn again.

I want to emphasize to the Wes community that there is plenty of support available on campus throughout the weekend. Our Class Deans (who have been so generous and thoughtful with their time) will be on call throughout the next few days. The Office of Behavioral Health Services is available 24/7. Call 860 685-2910 when the office is closed. Some of Johanna’s closest friends are planning a memorial celebration of her life for some time in the next week. More information on that will be coming soon. Everyone should know that because of our extension of finals into Friday, May 15, that Wesleyan housing will close on Saturday, May 16 at noon.

I spoke with Johanna’s uncle today, and he conveyed how appreciative the family is for the warm expressions of support from Wesleyan. I want to echo that appreciation again with all my heart.

This afternoon the Huss Courtyard behind Usdan was packed with staff, faculty, students and other Middletown residents as we stood in silence, stood in one another’s company, in honor of Johanna. I asked for peace in the context of our recollection. It was very moving to be together in our grief.

We return to the rhythms of our campus lives with the memory of our loss still very fresh. We turn again, and we remember. May Johanna’s memory be a blessing to us all.

[tags] grief support, Behavioral Health Services[/tags]