Please join us for a conversation with a few alumni currently working in Civic Engagement. They will discuss their current roles, the path they took to get there, and how Wesleyan inspired and prepared them for professional lives which are focused on serving community.

Presenters:
Dana Peterson '98, Chief Economist, The Conference Board, Incorporated
Melody Oliphant '13, Political Manager, Way to Win
Bryan Chong '21, Organizer, Greater New Haven Labor History Association

Since its founding in 2009, the Essel '66 and Menakka Bailey College of the Environment (COE) has engaged students and faculty on critical environmental issues in an interdisciplinary way. Many Bailey COE graduates have gone out into the world and worked on environmnetal matters in areas ranging from law to business to political activism. Today, our panel will discuss how their Wesleyan educations empowered them to create lasting positive change, and how all of us can contribute to these efforts.

What do Wesleyan's social history from the 1970s, coeducation, fashion, museum repatriation, and Chinese embroidery have in common? They are all thesis topics this year, centering on objects in Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives, the Archaeology & Anthropology Collections, and the East Asian Art & Archival Collections. Throughout the years Wesleyan's students have used materials from the unique collections such as historical objects, rare books, and university archives to undertake numberous undergraduate honors theses. Exploring these collections allows students to do distinctive, hands-on research, all while demonstrating the relevance of historical collections to contemporary questions and issues. Join us to hear from five graduating seniors about their work with the collections and their final projects, as well as the collections managers who worked with them.

The epic scale of Indian cinema—three-hour-long films! Temples and elections devoted to stars! Billboards bigger than buildings! The last of cultural dominion against Hollywood!—lends itself easily to accounts that run the gamut from gentle mockery to enthusiastic acclaim of its audience's religious fervor. Following the global success and the Oscar award for the best original song in RRR (S.S. Rajamouli, 2022), the attention on and interest in Indian cinema has never been greater. Drawing on the class and the accompanying exhibit of Indian film ephemera and student work on the exhibit at the Rick Nicita Gallery in the College of Film and Moving Image, this seminar will talk about why (and if) we must take the Indian popular cinema seriously, and what are its pleasures?

Presenter: Anuja Jain, Assistant Professor of Film Studies

Gag Reflex, Wesleyan's oldest improv group, is held dear by many alumni and current students alike. Among these alumni is Anthony Veneziale '98, who is now a leader in the field of musical improvisation and a Tony Award winner for his work in Freestyle Love Supreme. Anthony has been performing and teaching improv for more than 20 years. Join us for a performance from Anthony and several additional members of the Wesleyan Gag Reflex community for a performance and talkback that will explore how improv informs the way we collaborate, communicate and create.

Wesleyan’s Class of 1973 included 50 Black and LatinX students, which was more than double those at peer schools at the time. As these students navigated the social turbulence around the country, they also had to chart a new path on campus for themselves and keep the door open for those that followed. Dean Stephen Butler served as their mentor and championed their academic and social pursuits which resulted in many of these students of color going on to medical school. This discussion will feature remarks from Dean Butler as well as testimonials from members of the class.

This WESeminar can also be viewed live on Zoom.

Watch on Zoom

"The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative … to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” (1619 Project)

Originally published in August 2019 under the leadership of Jake Silverstein '98, Editor-in-Chief at The New York Times Magazine, The 1619 Project is still growing and evolving today. Please join us for a conversation between Silverstein and Professor of Film Studies and Co-Director of the Wesleyan Documentary Project Tracy Strain about The 1619 Project, it’s significance, the motivation behind it at its inception, and how it is now expanding into a multimedia platform.

In this session, Haley Sacks '13, also known as Mrs. Dow Jones, will give you the tools you need to have the life you want.

Like most people in their 20s, Haley Sacks did not understand money. She had the desire to enter the financial world, but it seemed the only methods of learning its ins-and-outs involved indecipherable jargon and boring videos. Sacks took note of the content gap in the personal finance sector and, fueled by her frustration, decided to combine her newfound interest in finances and her background in entertainment to do the impossible: make finance cool. Four years later, it seems Sacks has conquered the impossible. Using a combination of pop culture, humor, memes, videos, and more, Haley has gotten through to millennials and Gen Z about finance. Sacks now engages over 700,000 followers across her social media platforms, and that number is continuing to grow daily. Sacks was named in Fortune's 40 Under 40 in 2020, and in 2021, she was named one of InStyle's Badass 50. This year, Hailey was named the AdWeek Creative Visionary Award Winner for Personal Finance Advice.

Please join us for a conversation on the booming BioTech industry. Kate Haviland '98, CEO of Blueprint Medicines; Marc Casper '90, P'23, chairman, president, and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific; and Joshua Boger '73, Hon.'18, P'06, '09, founder and former president and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., will discuss their current roles, industry trends, its place in society, and how their Wesleyan liberal arts education prepared them for work in the BioTech field.