Scott Higgins

Winter Travels for Wesleyan

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Early in the new year I traveled to Seattle where I participated in a celebration of the life of my mentor Hayden White, a long-time faculty member at Wesleyan who shaped philosophy of history in the U.S. for the last 50 years. While in the Northwest, I hosted  a reception with alumni, students, and families to share news from campus and to discuss Safe Enough Spaces. As always, I loved meeting with the engaged and vibrant members of our far-flung Wesleyan community.

Speaking of far-flung, I went from Seattle to Mumbai, where I moderated a forum on Liberal Arts, Film and Storytelling with Mad Men co-creator Matthew Weiner ’87, P’18, ’23 and Charles W. Fries Professor of Film Studies Scott Higgins. In India we crossed paths with a group of Wesleyan scientists here on grant support to develop partnerships with Indian labs.

Manisha Vaghani P’18

Director and writer Navdeep Singh, Scott Higgins and Matthew Weiner, ’87, P’18, ’23

We met with several parents of Wesleyan students and alumni here in Mumbai, and we even had a chance to talk with some current students home for winter break. Manisha and Raja Parthasarathy P’22 welcomed us for a convivial dinner and discussion.

 

I leave Mumbai tomorrow for New Delhi and a reception with alumni, families, and other friends of Wesleyan. Then, it’s back home for a bit before heading to Washington, D.C. and Michigan for more discussions of liberal arts education in these challenging times.

 

 

 

 

A “Break” for Getting Work Done

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Every year around this time I hear comments from parents and students about the length of winter break. Like most of our peer institutions, Wesleyan begins classes for the second semester around the time of Martin Luther King Day. This year, we start up on the Thursday following the holiday weekend. By that time, many students will be eager to be back on campus, and their parents will be more than ready to help them pack.

But for those on campus, there is anything but a “January break.” As I mentioned in a previous post, Wes athletes are already in stiff competition. On Monday, for example, swimmers were battling Hamilton in the water while the rest of us were side-stepping the melting snow outside. Over the next weeks, staff in Middletown are meeting to plan the rest of the year: developing ideas for new programs, for enhancements to the campus, and for greater efficiencies. It’s a time to make repairs and to dream big. This morning, I met with the whole crew for a second semester “kick-off,” and tomorrow I head out to maintain our fundraising momentum to support our highest priorities: financial aid and academic program endowment. It’s a privilege to ask for support knowing the dedication of the staff and faculty to providing the very best liberal arts education.

I see faculty members in the library, studios, labs and departmental offices busily trying to finish some of their research and their class preparation. Many of our professors have been at professional meetings sharing their scholarship, visiting archives, or just writing one more paper. Others are going over their syllabi to ensure that their students next semester will have access to the best work concerning whatever topic is at hand. Scott Higgins and I are scrambling to finish our Coursera classes, which launch on February 4. We are the first out of the gate in this new venture for Wesleyan. You can check out all the Wes offerings here.

So, there isn’t much of a “break” for faculty and staff at this time of year, and yet we are thinking now about new January programs that would be compelling for students. We’ll be consulting with student groups, faculty and others to figure out how to make future Januaries at Wesleyan even more lively!

 

update:

CONGRATULATIONS TO Benh Zeitlin ’04 AND THE TEAM FOR THE FOUR OSCAR NOMINATIONS FOR BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD!!

Still Plenty of Cold Weather, Why Not Think of Summer?

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Even in this mild winter, on Valentine’s Day with spring break still weeks away, I start thinking of summer. I know that the drop/add period just recently ended at Wesleyan, but it’s not too early to start thinking of the cool classes one can take at Wes and still have two credits completed before July 4th. The summer session here is a time to explore new subject areas or get some requirements completed in small classes with some of our great professors. The two Thematic Institutes this year are really exciting. These are two linked courses that tie different perspectives together on an important topic. Scott Higgins and Steve Collins are teaming up for an Institute on thematic storytelling. Scott will emphasize how Hollywood conventions enabled intense creativity by focusing on four classic directors: Frank Borzage, John Ford, Vincente Minnelli and Howard Hawks. Steve’s linked class will teach students how to write screenplays from the ground up, answering the question: “How do we write in pictures?”

The other Thematic Institute this summer is entitled Pathologies of the Mind. Matthew Kurtz’s class will be investigating the neuroscience of psychopathologies such as schizophrenia, bipolar illness, depression, attention-deficit disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. His class emphasizing the biology of these disorders will be complemented by Jill Morawski’s course on cultural-historical perspectives on psychological disorders of thinking, mood, and life experiences. Together, these classes give students interested in psychology an extraordinarily multi-faceted approach.

Whether you’re interested in these institutes or computer science, government or creative writing, the Wesleyan Summer session has much to offer. Even just thinking about it makes me feel a little warmer…

Wesleyan in Los Angeles

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I’m on my way back from California, where the Film Studies faculty and I attended the great annual party at the Creative Artist Agency. Rick Nicita ’67 is one of the directors of this talent agency, and each year he throws a cocktail party at which a couple of hundred Wes alums can compare notes on their screenplays, TV pilots, cinematography, and the crazy business world that is Hollywood. I didn’t know about the event until I was appointed to the presidency, and now I’m told regularly how Wesleyan “runs the entertainment world.” That’s a slight exaggeration, but it is true that from heads of major studios to composers and Oscar winning writers, producers and directors, our little university has had a BIG impact on what we watch on the screen.

How did it happen that a small liberal arts school has managed to do this? The story has to start with Jeanine Basinger, who has built the program from scratch and turned it into one of the premier films studies departments in the country. Jeanine’s devotion to her students is legendary, and while she has taught effectively and built the program, she has also published a group of important books contributing to the history of American cinema. The department’s ethos of creative teamwork has led to the development of a network of caring and effective alumni. They help each other out, and they have confidence in the broad-based liberal arts education of Wes grads. The result is that the “Wesleyan Mafia” is the gold standard in Hollywood.

I was particularly delighted to see the great wave of affection that greeted Prof. Rich Slotkin, who is stepping down this term after more than 40 years of teaching Film and American Studies at Wes. The young film scholars Lisa Dombrowski and Scott Higgins rounded out the Middletown contingent, and recent alumni joined with more senior classes to greet us and ask for news of Wesleyan today. The talent, energy and loyalty of the alumni were truly impressive.

I shouldn’t, though, give the impression that our LA alumni are only found in the entertainment industry. Some have leadership positions in research and education, museums and the symphony, science, medicine and the business world. Of course, there are many who started in one sector and wound up in a totally different one. They are Wesleyan alumni after all!

People often ask me how “practical” it is to study the liberal arts. I’ll write more about that another time, but I got a powerful sense in the last few days of how a great group of our students have gone out to develop productive and creative careers that draw on their broad-based Wesleyan education. Los Angeles may be a long way from Middletown, but the liberal arts seeds planted in central Connecticut are indeed blooming in southern California.

[tags] Los Angeles, Film Studies, Creative Artist Agency, Rick Nicita, Jeanine Basinger, Wesleyan Mafia, Richard Slotkin, Lisa Dombrowski, Scott Higgins, alumni [/tags]