In Brief: Fall 2025
New York Times Magazine staff writer Emily Bazelon joined President Michael S. Roth ’78 for an engaging discussion during the 32nd Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture, “The Fate of Free Speech in the Trump Era.” Presented by the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and held on March 31, the event addressed critical dimensions surrounding the First Amendment in contemporary life, from the lasting fallout from the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to the current administration’s attempts to stymie media outlets, as well as the role of collective citizen action in protecting free speech.
Frank V. Sica Director of Athletics Mike Whalen ’83 was named 2024–25 Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the first time he’s achieved the profession’s highest individual honor. Whalen has been a key driver behind a range of critical initiatives through his 12 years leading the University’s athletics program, including a swelling number of championships, new milestones in athletics fundraising, and important efforts aimed at supporting student-athletes’ mental health.
Following a men’s basketball season destined for the history books, Head Coach Joe Reilly received the 2025 Glenn Robinson National Coach of the Year award. Presented to the best coach in Division III college basketball, the honor coincided with Reilly’s 17th season helming the team, during which the Wesleyan squad finished with a 30–2 record, went undefeated during the regular season—the first team to do so since the current incarnation of the NESCAC took shape in 2000—and earned its first-ever trip to the Final Four.
Associate Professor of Theater Edwin Sanchez received the Arizona Theatre Company’s 2025 National Latine Playwrights Award for his new play Lottery Boy. The play, one of the highlights of ATC’s festival held in October, marks the second time Sanchez has received this award, following his honor for La Bella Familia in 2011. Additionally, his play Unmerciful Good Fortune is currently being adapted into a film.
Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 received the PEN/Benenson Courage Award for his advocacy against the federal government’s encroachment on higher education. On May 15, President Roth and fellow honorees were formally recognized at the annual gala event held by PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to free expression, literature, and human rights. In his remarks, Roth said, “We need to remind ourselves that free expression should also encourage an ability to listen to those with whom one disagrees. Free speech matters when the commitment to diversity creates safe enough spaces for people with very different views to explore those differences.”
In honor of the late Anne F. Greene, University Professor of English, Emerita, Wesleyan recently announced the creation of the Anne Greene Internships in the Literary Arts. Each year, the $1 million endowed fund will help 15 to 20 students access experiences in media, publishing, and journalism—experiences intended to serve as springboards to careers in the literary arts. The initiative furthers the legacy of impact and advocacy for young writers Greene fashioned over her 47-year career at Wesleyan, before passing away on May 12.
For the first time since its inception, Vicious Circles—Wesleyan’s Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team—is a national champion. Led by captains Maggie Brown ’26, Olivia Bordon ’25, and Natalie Sweet ’25, the team was a women’s division frontrunner throughout the season before clinching the title with a victory over Haverford/Bryn Mawr at the D-III College Championships in May.
Two projects by Wesleyan faculty were among the recipients of grants from the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms program, an initiative that supports documentary filmmakers whose works address urgent social issues. Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and Co-Director of WesDocs Tracy Heather Strain and University Professor of Film Studies and Co-Director of WesDocs Randall MacLowry received funding for Survival Floating, a feature-length film that draws on archival materials to explore the complexities surrounding Black peoples’ relationships with water as well as the effects of racial discrimination on swimming. Meanwhile, Professor of History and founding Director of Wesleyan’s Center for the Study of Guns and Society Jennifer Tucker received a grant to produce Good Morning Buffalo, a documentary following a father-daughter legal team taking on social media companies and the arms industry after a 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
Deputy Provost, Dean of the Arts and Humanities, and Professor of Music Roger Mathew Grant was named to the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows. The fellowship supports Grant’s upcoming book Colonial Galant: Eighteenth-Century Music from Chiquitania, Bolivia, a work that analyzes 18th-century music written by Indigenous composers in rural Bolivia. Grant is one of 198 individuals comprising the 2025 class of Guggenheim Fellows, a cohort spanning 53 different disciplines.
With their project, “Between Sinking and Scarcity: A Dual Crisis of Water in Jakarta, Indonesia,” Marcus Leong ’28, Miho Yamashita ’28, and Eowyna Hermawan ’28 won the Map the System Global Final 2025 in July. Competing in a field of 134 student finalists from 50 institutions across 17 countries, the Wesleyan team took the top spot in this event that “challenges students to apply the principles of systems thinking to deeply explore a complex social or environmental issue.”
