Wesleyan in the News: May 2026
Pulitzer Prizes
This year, a few members of the Wesleyan community received recognition from the Pulitzer Prizes.
Graduate Liberal Studies student Ginny Monk, The Connecticut Mirror’s children’s issues and housing reporter, was part of a team awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting for their series on the state’s unique towing laws, which allowed predatory companies to overcharge residents.
A poetry collection published by Wesleyan University Press was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Juliana Spahr’s collection, Ars Poetica, focuses on Spahr’s relationship with poetry, politics, and the public around her.
Bench Ansfield ’08 and his Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and The Remaking of the American City, which focuses on the large-scale arson committed by New York City landlords from 1968 through the 1980s, was also recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History.
Other headlines
President Michael S. Roth ’78 discussed the need for open dialogue to protect academic freedom while delivering the 2026 Yale Rosenberg Lecture at the University of Houston Law Center on April 23. “The great discoveries in science, the revolution in how we understand civil rights, how we think about history … without that freedom, you don’t know what you might have thought,” he said.
Assistant Professor of Theater Maria-Christina Oliveras was featured by Forbes as she stars in the new Tony-nominated Broadway comedy The Balusters, which follows a neighborhood community association and its hijinks after a controversial proposal by a newcomer. Oliveras plays Luz Baccay, a housekeeper who serves the association during their meetings. “It’s truly been such a joy every time out,” Oliveras said. “The only moments that have felt challenging are five-show weekends—figuring out how to preserve energy between shows and how to fuel—but the electricity of live performance and the sacred space of the theater always get me in the zone.”
Rachel Besharat Mann, associate professor of the practice in education studies, wrote about engaging young students in thoughtful civil dialogue for Psychology Today. “From an academic standpoint, civil discourse strengthens the core mission of education: to help students build knowledge, interrogate ideas, and engage with diverse perspectives,” Besharat Mann wrote.
For their piece on dark money in this year’s Los Angeles local elections, the Los Angeles Times spoke to Co-Director of the Wesleyan Media Project Michael Franz. According to Franz, these dark money groups typically put substantial resources into media that highlight a candidate’s political stances or legislative history while keeping their own donors anonymous. “Even though they look exactly like attack ads, they loosely package them as civic education,” he said.
Playbill, BroadwayWorld, and The Hartford Courant reported on the University’s naming of the Lin-Manuel Miranda Theater, which honors the contributions and work of award-winning composer, lyricist, and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, Hon.’15.
Chief Investment Officer, Pensions&Investments, and FundFire wrote about the upcoming retirement of Chief Investment Officer Anne Martin. Jonathan Farrar, deputy chief investment officer, will become the Chief Investment Officer on July 1.
Professor of Government Sonali Chakravarti wrote a piece for The Conversation on the role of artificial intelligence in court cases and how it obscures human decision-making throughout the judicial process. “A room of people deliberating may seem less efficient than AI, but it is a necessary component of the justice system’s moral legitimacy,” Chakravarti wrote. “A jury decision symbolizes willingness to bear accountability for imposing a punishment.”
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb ’94, Hon.’21 appeared on NPR to weigh in how the resignation of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary will affect the Trump administration’s agenda. “I think that the biggest challenge that the agency faces is the loss of senior personnel,” Gottlieb said. “Overall, they lost thousands of staff members, thousands of medical reviewers… ultimately, that eroded a lot of institutional rigor and experience of the agency and that’s what’s been hobbling the agency.”
For the second time, LA Business Journal named David Carlisle ’76 to their LA500 list, which celebrates the most influential leaders and impactful executives in Los Angeles. Carlisle serves as president and chief executive of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. He will receive an honorary degree from Wesleyan at this year’s Commencement ceremony on May 24.
Jazz guitarist and composer Mary Halvorsen ’02 was profiled by the Irish Times as she prepares to debut at the National Concert Hall as the leader of a new quartet, Canis Major. “All of my music involves improvisation, so that’s probably the thing that ties it in most with jazz,” Halvorsen said. “...I like being able to work in the in-between areas. I like making music that doesn’t have to be just one thing.”
