Author: Emmy Hughes

Students in the University’s College of the Environment, along with members of the Office of Sustainability, the Resource Center, and additional members of faculty, are involved in a current push to incorporate environmental justice and sustainability more firmly and ubiquitously into academic culture on campus. Advocates for the cause hope to expand upon a recent victory, the addition of the Sustainability and Environmental Justice Course Cluster to WesMaps, by bringing a Professor of Environmental Justice to campus in the near future. They will also continue to be involved in the process of integrating sustainability into academic culture, which will take place on three levels.

First, those involved in this process aim to incorporate sustainability into courses across the academic spectrum, so that students have exposure to sustainable ideas and practices no matter their academic interest. Second is the push for professors to list their courses under the Sustainability and Environmental Justice Course Cluster, and more firmly incorporate sustainability into their curriculum. Lastly is the current effort toward hiring a professor of environmental justice, which is in its beginning stages.

Many of these goals are elements of the 2016 program Sustainability Across the Curriculum, led by Associate Professor of Science in Society and African American Studies Anthony Hatch for the 2019-2020 term. The program encourages professors to submit Requests for Proposals (RPFs) through the Sustainability & Environmental Justice Pedagogical Initiative in order to incorporate sustainability into their courses. Sustainability Coordinator Jen Kleindienst will then help to develop the ideas, and faculty members who are chosen will receive funds depending on how involved their ideas will be.

Kleindienst noted that the informality of the course cluster—which will change every year to accommodate courses that are offered—also allows it to expand, shrink, and shift focus depending on how the University develops in terms of sustainability in future years. Currently, eight courses for the next two semesters are listed in the course cluster.

Kleindienst and the Sustainability Office are also looking to make the level of direct engagement with sustainability more flexible than it has been in the past. Previously, the Sustainability Office has asked faculty to submit proposals and syllabi, and attend a variety of meetings, but found through all the steps, some faculty would become disinclined to continue with the process. Thus, a recent idea has been to offer more informal resources in addition to RFPs, such as an environmental justice workshop for faculty.

“[We’re considering] having some sort of workshop, having some sort of informal ways for faculty who are just newly engaging with this and faculty who have been involved for a little while in the past—having some ways for them to integrate in a more informal way,” Kleindienst noted.

A number of students are involved in this ongoing process and are working toward hiring a Professor of Environmental Justice. Megan Levan ’22, who is a prominent player in the effort to hire a new faculty member, explained that hiring a new professor is something that has been attempted in the past. It has never come to fruition, however, because the College of the Environment cannot hire faculty—it is a program rather than a department—and the faculty member would need to be housed in a different department.

“We’re thinking right now we need to partner with AFAM or some department that has the ability to hire a professor, because COE is just a program right now, and so it cannot do any of the same hiring processes that other departments can,” Levan said. “I’m in contact with [Chair of the African American Studies Department Elizabeth] McAlister and we’re hoping with them we’ll be able to hire someone who would be in that department, but with COE, and have specific environmental justice courses.”

Kleindienst emphasized that a single hire will not be left to shoulder the weight of sustainability studies among faculty.

“It’s helpful to have a faculty member who can give you a deep dive into this topic and is an expert in this area, but much like the Sustainability Across the Curriculum Program, the goal is that over time, most faculty will integrate concepts of sustainability—intersectional sustainability—into their courses, and there will still be the need for faculty members who teach more specific understandings of the core concepts, but that this is something that everyone does,” she said.

Students will soon meet with Dean of the Social Sciences Marc Eisner to discuss the feasibility of hiring a Professor of Environmental Justice. Though the overall timeline is not set, students stress that forces are currently in motion to effect tangible change. In general, the student drive to incorporate sustainability and environmental justice more fully into campus curriculum originates from personal interest in these topics.

“I want to change the perception that sustainability is not just a problem for the wealthy and sustainability can be about creating equitable communities for everyone,” Catherine Xi ’21, who is involved in this process, explained in an email to The Argus. “Incorporating sustainability and environmental justice more fully into the academic curriculum can help us envision a more sustainable world by bringing together different disciplines.”

Phoebe Landsman ’21, who is also involved in the project, noted similar motivations.

“Everyone has a responsibility to care for the planet, and therefore everyone needs to have access to opportunities to learn about environmental concerns and sustainable initiatives,” she wrote in an email to The Argus. “Environmental justice is an extremely important topic that is not talked about enough on this campus.”

Recognizing the significance of sustainability and environmental justice as a field of study, Levan believes that, beyond hiring a single professor, broader incorporation of these topics into the current curriculum is crucial.

“This person is the ultimate goal, but one professor isn’t going to do everything so while we’re working towards that which will probably take some time to get that rolling, we’re also trying to incorporate it into courses we already have,” Levan explained. “I think the cluster’s a good place to start.”

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @spacelover20.

Three University students are pursuing the development of an app, tentatively called Survivors Anonymous, which will provide a platform for survivors of sexual assault to interact with one another anonymously. The app is currently aimed toward students and college campuses and is expected to provide resources and an interactive map for users in addition to chat boxes. The app’s creators—Isis Gaddy ’21, Stella Jiler ’21, and Charlotte Mittenthal ’21—are seeking funding via grants and a GoFundMe page and are currently in talks with a development company.

The creators note that the primary purpose of the app will be to allow survivors to come into contact with one another without having to identify themselves publicly. In the creators’ vision, universities would opt into using the app, and students would be able to log in with their school IDs. Users would then be able to connect to one another by entering the name of someone who perpetrated sexual assault or violence into the app. If another user has entered the same name, both users will be notified. Survivors can then enter into conversation with one another via a chat box.

“Because you don’t need to say [your name] publicly, you don’t need to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Mittenthal explained. “All you do is anonymously write the name of the person, and if someone else has happened to write in that same name, you would get matched with them. And it’s all completely anonymous, it’s all protected.”

The app’s creators stressed that this anonymity would be a key feature of the app. Survivors Anonymous would not have any recording capabilities, nor would it have the capacity to report to universities or authorities. Chats and interactions will also be anonymous and at the discretion of the users. Users would also have the option to opt out of a chat or block another user, at any time.

“Your information would never be shared with any other person unless you choose to do that,” Mittenthal explained. “And from there, what you choose to do is completely up to you.”

The app’s purpose would be three-fold. The first aspect of the app is what the creators consider to be the most prominent: the chat boxes, which allow survivors to connect with one another, providing them with a platform through which to communicate. A second element of the app is a comprehensive database of local and national resources for survivors. Gaddy emphasized that she and her partners intend this page to be interactive and widely ranging.

“There would be resources within the app for both on-campus resources and also resources that are available off-campus if you’re not comfortable with that—i.e., therapists that are available in the area,” Gaddy explained. “Also, things for different socio-economic statuses, because not everyone can afford therapists, so we’d also have resources for people who might not be able to afford therapy.”

The third element of the app would be an interactive map, through which users can pinpoint specific locations where sexual assault or harassment occurred. The map’s purpose would be to aid in identifying regions at which sexual assault has frequently been reported, allowing users to avoid those areas if they choose.

“If there’s a lot of dots in one place, you can avoid that place,” Jiler noted.

The creators explained that they hope to have the map updated year by year, acknowledging that as new students arrive on campus and housing is exchanged, different people will occupy different spaces. They also acknowledged that it is important students are aware of areas to avoid specifically during the “Red Zone,” a term for the first six weeks on campus, when the majority of sexual assaults take place each year. An envisioned solution is allowing users to see previous iterations of the map from earlier years.

“It’s mainly having a database of hearsay,” Gaddy explained. “So much of this information is communicated via voice, via people talking, and it’s a solidification of all that information in a place where it’s accessible to all. Because there are people here who may not be as socially inclined, and may not have the same social capital, and therefore will be significantly less advantaged than those who have a lot of friends in different groups, and are completely more aware of where to go, where not to go, where is safe.”

With regard to the map, Jiler stressed that it is important for users to be aware that pinpoints cannot necessarily be confirmed.

“Everything that you see on the app, all the points on the map, you have to allow it to be as the word of people who identify as survivors,” Jiler said. “We can’t validate every single point…. We don’t have the legal power to do that, and we aren’t going to ask that of everyone, to have everything they say be so official. We are going to invest in the benefit of the doubt.”

The creators stressed that though they could not confirm the data input from the users, the information about how each service the app provides works would be transparent, provided for all users, and accessible throughout the app. When users receive matches, they would be provided with information about the ways in which they can use the chat, and if they do not receive a match, they would be directed toward resources for survivors of sexual assault.

The creators have visions of the app expanding to college campus across the country but note that they plan to begin by applying it to the Wesleyan campus first. There are subsequent necessary next steps to ensure the app’s development, the first being securing funding. In addition to their GoFundMe, the Survivors Anonymous creators are applying for grants to develop the app over the summer. Gaddy, Jiler, and Mittenthal are also currently in communication with a local development company, Varfaj Partners, about the development of the app. Varfaj, they noted, has been incredibly helpful in determining the best ways to structure the app. The creators also said that they plan to continually be a part of the process of development, along with Varfaj. A recent meeting with a lawyer has also affirmed that the app, as long as disclaimers, terms of use, and privacy policies are presented, would be completely legal.

The creators noted that the idea for the app came from a course Mittenthal took in the fall of 2018, called The Start-Up Incubator. Mittenthal was soon joined by Gaddy and Jiler. The three assert that they are all personally invested in the development of the app.

“My motivation for getting involved is it gives survivors a way to come in contact with one another without having to go out, be super vocal about their identity as survivors and seek it out that way, but rather to use what happened to them as a way to connect with someone else, and we would facilitate that for them through the app,” Jiler said.

This app, note its creators, also takes a step further than other resources.

“This app would be doing something for other survivors—made for survivors, by survivors, in order to significantly revolutionize the occurrence of sexual violence on campus,” Gaddy expressed.

If you are interested in hearing more about the app, have suggestions for how to improve it, or wish to donate, feel free to contact Mittenthal at cmittenthal@wesleyan.edu, Jiler at sjiler@wesleyan.edu, or Gaddy at igaddy@wesleyan.edu.

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @spacelover20.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, Ujamaa, the University’s Black Student Union, presented a panel discussion featuring University alumni and students. Panelists shared their experiences of being Black in STEM classes and departments and offered insight into navigating academics, as well as future career opportunities. The invited panelists included Nadine Mills ’98, Amarachi C. Asonye ’16, Jeneille Russell ’18, Henry Martellier ’19 and Mubarak Sanni ’20.

After brief introductions, the panelists collectively reflected upon their undergraduate experience at the University. Panelists emphasized the importance of seeking resources on campus, making connections with other students and staff, and taking initiative to promote active change. Another key point in the discussion was the importance of taking the time to explore a variety of courses.

The panelists addressed how to access the necessary support and resources to succeed and navigate certain challenges of being a person of color. Martellier urged attendees to reach out and form support systems on campus.

“While at times I find it can be difficult to thrive in academic spaces as a person of color, especially given the limited number of POC faculty, I have been fortunate to cultivate relationships with my advisor and other extremely supportive faculty,” Martellier said. “More on this note, I encourage students of color on campus to continue building networks and helping one another through shared challenges.”

Among the advice communicated by panelists, a common thread was the encouragement for students to take active measures toward furthering their success. Continuing to build upon the discussion of the experiences of people of color, the panelists urged students to take initiative in the workplace rather than continually relying on others to instigate change and provide the necessary resources.

“It is so important that you realize that if you want something you have to take initiative,” Mills said. “While I have increasingly noticed a glimmering of supportive coalitions among people of color begin to emerge in academic environments, these kind of supportive coalitions may not always exist in the workplace. However, that absolutely does not mean you cannot take the lead and start one. Entering into a new job, if you do not see what you need, try to form connections with other people and begin building your own coalition.”

Mills, who has served as an educator with the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System and currently works as a Teacher Leadership Fellow, noted that her proactive efforts in taking numerous courses across different academic disciplines was instrumental in discovering her passion for environmental science.

“When I was here, the one certainty I had was that I wanted to be at Wesleyan,” Mills said. “I always seemed to gravitate toward the math and sciences, but as someone who continually strives to adapt to my weaknesses, I made a point to take a myriad of courses ranging from chemistry to philosophy. In doing so, I soon found that I fell in love with the environmental sciences.”

Sanni, a current Neuroscience and Science in Society Program (SISP) double major, also voiced the value of interdisciplinary education in illuminating new academic interests and points of resonance.

“I have always loved the humanities and enjoyed writing,” Sanni expressed. “I discovered that the interdisciplinary nature of SISP would enable me to engage with elements of the humanities and certainly with the sciences. This driving desire to experience many different fields was what fostered my aspirations for majoring in SISP.”

Speaking within the context of the University’s rigorous academics, the panelists made a point to stress the importance of prioritizing one’s mental health.

“For me, first and foremost, prioritizing my mental health is always at the forefront of my concerns,” Sanni said. “Whether or not you are in humanities or in the sciences, course loads and exam preparation can induce a great deal of stress. Make sure you are not sacrificing your health.”

Asonye also commented on maintaining a healthy level of perspective when adjusting to academic life at the University and classroom environment dynamics that might initially feel overwhelming.

“Recognize that people coming into Wesleyan are coming in with varying levels of education, privilege, and opportunity,” Asonye explained. “While it is often tempting to compare your performance with other students, try to remain focused on your own progress and not place limits on your capabilities.”

As a part of Black History Month, the “Black in STEM” panel discussion provided a platform for faculty, students, and alumni to discuss how to further efforts to provide students the necessary resources to succeed and address challenges that students of color face.

“Throughout tonight’s discussion we have touched upon the inherent challenges people of color often face in academics and careers,” Russell said. “Utilizing the resources around you, such as taking full advantage of TA office hours and reaching out to professors, is crucial. Tonight’s event continues to give me hope for the future of POC in STEM as this reflects a demonstrated effort to continue better supporting individuals in these fields.”

 

Serena Chow can be reached at sschow@wesleyan.edu.

Modern artist Jasper Johns has donated 23 of his own prints to the University. Johns, who is 89, donated the prints in honor of the curator of the Davison Art Center (DAC) from 1977 through 1979, Richard Field P’09. Johns is considered one of the most prominent artists of the 20th and 21st centuries and played a seminal role in the development of modern art.

The DAC learned of the gift in December 2018. The acquisition of the prints marks a substantial addition to the University’s robust print collections.

“The Davison Art Center already possessed a number of prints by Jasper Johns, and this gift more than doubles our holdings of his work,” Curator Miya Tokumitsu wrote in an email to The Argus. “Johns is a monumental figure within the story of twentieth- and twenty-first-century modernism and the story of American art. He is also absolutely central to the history of printmaking—Dick Field’s assessment is that he is the pre-eminent screen printer of our time.”

The prints join a collection that also includes artists with whom Johns frequently engaged, including Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.

“Having these works at Wesleyan means that we are especially well positioned to tell these stories to students and the broader community,” Tokumitsu noted.

According to Tokumitsu, Field and Johns met in the 1960s and have maintained an ongoing relationship for the past 50 years. In 1964, Field purchased one of Johns’ prints, entitled “Ale Cans.” The print depicts two cans of ale, side by side. These cans were a frequent subject in Johns’ work, exploring the boundaries between representation and actuality of objects.

“The purchase was purely intuitive,” Field is quoted as saying in the Wesleyan newsletter. “It was a new work that grabbed me, and I didn’t know why.”

In 1969, Field went on to curate an exhibition of Johns’ work in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, during which he met Johns for the first time. Field went on to join the DAC in 1978, curating an exhibition entitled “Jasper Johns: Prints 1970-77,” featuring Johns’ work in prints. Johns came to the show.

In addition to curating these shows in Philadelphia and at the University, Field authored three books on Johns, entitled “Jasper Johns: 1960-1970,” “Jasper Johns Prints: 1970-77,” and “The Prints of Jasper Johns, 1960-1993.”

Tokumitsu expanded on Field’s engagement with Johns’ work on campus.

“When Field was the curator here, he taught a seminar on Johns’s work, and invited Johns to campus,” she wrote.

Johns has operated within frameworks of pop art, minimalism, abstract expressionism, and conceptual art and was most notably active in the 1950s-60s, along with abstract expressionist artist Robert Rauschenberg and composer John Cage. Johns’ donated prints range across the 1960s-80s and include “Target with Faces” (1968), “Untitled (Ruler)” (1968), “Painting With Two Balls” (1971), “Screen Piece” (1972), “Target” (1974), “Flags II” (1973), “Corpse and Mirror” (1976), “The Dutch Wives” (1977), and “Cicada II” (1981).

Some of the prints donated by Johns explore themes also present in his early work within Abstract Expressionist frameworks. “Target with Faces” (1968), for example, references a previous work by Johns, entitled “Target with Four Faces” (1955). This piece depicts a target underneath four sculptural mouths and noses. Like much of Johns’ work, “Target with Four Faces” explored the relationship between symbolic depictions of art and the viewers’ preconceived notions of such symbols.

Additional pieces donated by Johns also explore relationships of line, color, and symbolic depiction. “Corpse and Mirror” (1976) is an interplay of lines of the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, making abstracted and geometric color patterns. “Flags II” (1973) depicts another symbol prevalent in Johns’ work: the American flag, as both a symbol and an abstracted piece of art.

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @spacelover20.

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University, Jeffrey J. Kripal, came to Wesleyan to deliver a lecture on Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs.

His lecture, entitled “Biological Gods: UFOs, Science (Fiction), and Some Emergent Mythologies,” traced the cultural history of UFOs, culminating in accounts of UFO interaction as captured in popular books written throughout the mid-20th century. To Kripal, UFOs, and the aliens which operate them, straddle the line between objective and subjective truth. They are not containable within the frameworks of objective reality and subjective reality; rather they exist within a whole other realm: a third realm.

Kripal began his lecture with a clarification on what he means by the term “UFO phenomena,” which is an expression he used throughout the lecture. Kripal took care to note that the term UFO is only a modern military acronym for the strange objects that have appeared throughout history, and are both an ancient and modern phenomenon.

“By the ‘UFO phenomena,’ I mean the entire process, from remembered or claimed contact, to mythical formation, paranormal power, military concern, and serious scientific interest, even if this scientific is of a secret, classified, or simply private nature, which of course it usually is,” he explained.

Kripal then moved into accounts of UFOs as captured historically. He noted that UFOs are depicted in Jewish history, as written in the Torah, regarding the arrival of a humanoid figure appearing to Ezekiel and seeming to abduct him. UFOs also appear in Renaissance paintings, which capture them as strange, disk-shaped objects in skies. Kripal then went on to describe more recent UFO encounters, including one in which a fighter pilot named David Fravor chased a spinning disk in 2004.

“The pilot was honest enough,” he said. “The thing he chased ‘weirded him out.’ I can vouch for that. After a decade now of studying these events with the tools of studying religion, I am weirded out, too. I am weirded out because it is patently obvious to me that we have absolutely no idea what to make of the UFO phenomena, which persistently and dramatically violates our hard habit of carving up the world into objective events and subjective experiences. To make matters worse, or better, these events go on almost every day around the world, and involved individuals from every walk of life and level of education.”

Kripal emphasized this violation of experiences as objective events and subjective experiences, noting that UFO encounters do not easily fit into either category. Yet these experiences remain universal.

“These are not especially rare events,” he said. “Nor are they restricted to any culture, race, religion, or time period. To use a most provocative word in the humanities, these things in the sky look like universal.”

Subsequently, Kripal noted, the study of these objects ought not to be relegated to a singular place and time, as they require a broad cross-cultural analysis. The nature of the phenomenon is, according to Kripal, neither limited nor abnormal.

“Our intellectual conclusions are mostly a function of our ontological exclusions,” Kripal emphasized.

Kripal then focused in on one particular writer, John E. Mack, who is a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and also a frequent writer on aliens, UFOs, and abductions. Kripal noted that Mack’s philosophy on alien encounters is what he deems to most closely match his own: that UFO encounters operate within a liminal zone between objective and subjective reality.

“Mack’s position was that the ‘abduction phenomena’ is quite real—though real here does not follow the usual ontological tracks of the sciences or the humanities,” Kirpal said. “We’re not talking about simple, stable objects in three-dimensional space, nor are we talking about illusory experiences of subjects. We are talking about something very real, and very important, that appears to be in-between.”

After continuing his investigation into different experiences of UFO sightings across history, notably in American popular culture in the mid-20th century, the remainder of the lecture focused on individuals who themselves experienced interactions with UFOs. These individuals all later went on to consider those interactions in intellectual, religious, or philosophical frameworks.

The first person he considered was Phillip K. Dick, who in 1981 published a science fiction novel called “VALIS,” which stands for “Vast Active Living Intelligence System.” The novel described a super-evolved form of life, which had cross-bonded with Dick to produce a mutant. The ultimate goal, as described in this novel, is to achieve a point of without separation between human beings and divine consciousness.

Kirpal also described the experiences of Barbara Ehrenreich, who wrote about a strange encounter that she experienced in her youth in her 2014 book, “Living with a Wild God.” Ehrenreich, Kirpal stressed, had trouble considering her extraordinary experience of a burning town and an alien consciousness, within the realm of reality. Ehrenreich is an author and social justice advocate who is a part of the intellectual elite, Kirpal explained, which helps demonstrate how widespread, and un-picky, the UFO phenomena is.

After Kirpal finished his talk, he was met with questions from a variety of students and staff in the audience. Professor of Religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein posited a question to the speaker, touching on the plurality versus the singularity of aliens and gods in the lecture.

“I was thinking about the Ehrenreich description in which she says ‘I was flooded by a flock of mauling angels,’” Rubenstein said. “And she goes on to say, ‘They only make themselves known to them based on their schedules.’ But then toward the end of that quotation she goes on to say ‘a being’ and then the title [of her book] is ‘Living with a Wild God.’ So I was really drawn to this massive flocky plural, yet it seems even with her language to kind of collapse…it feels like a lot of this language does collapse into a kind of all-is-one hyper-monotheism.”

“It does kind of go back and forth,” Kirpal responded. “I think there’s more of a polytheism implicit in a lot of this material, rather than monotheism. But there are certainly writers who want to move from one to the other, there’s no question.”

Another audience member referenced Kirpal’s use of the religiously-connoted phrase “Biological Gods.”

“Coming from biology and…religion, maybe it’s just that I have a fairly certain idea of what ‘Gods’ usually means…what that entity or entities means. I’m curious as to why you’re choosing to call these biological gods, in this phenomenon, and referring to it that way,” the audience member asked.

“Because of my sources that routinely do,” Kirpal explained. “They don’t use that expression, but what they refer to are entities that live in the environment, and that are completely invisible, and that have nothing to do with carbon, or any kind of body, but are clearly sentient, and alive, and intelligent, and I’m very interested in them.”

“But wouldn’t that describe any potential alien life-form?” the audience member followed up. “I don’t understand the god connection.”

“Because historically, anybody who would have had one of those experiences would have identified it as a god, or an angel, or a demon before the modern world.”

“And, I should say, that these subjects also invoke religious language as the only adequate language to describe this,” Kirpal added.

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu and on Twitter at @spacelover20.

“Extra Hidden Life, among the Days,” a book of poetry written by Brenda Hillman and published by the Wesleyan University Press, was recently announced as a finalist for two literary awards: the 2018 Golden Poppy Book Award and the 2019 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. The collection, published in 2018, is part of the University Press’ Wesleyan Poetry Series.

Hillman is currently the Olivia Filippi Professor of Poetry at Saint Mary’s College of California, as well as the Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets. In 2010, she was named one of the “Fifty of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World” by the literary organization Poets & Writers. Hillman has published 10 books, all through the Wesleyan University Press.

“Brenda Hillman is a very special poet for Wesleyan University Press, as she started her career here and has been nurtured by a long standing publishing relationship with the press,” wrote Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Wesleyan University Press Suzanna Tamminen in an email to The Argus.

On Jan. 4, “Extra Hidden Life, among the Days,” Hillman’s most recent book, was shortlisted in the poetry category for the 2018 Golden Poppy Northern California Book Awards, and on Jan. 24 it was announced that the book was a finalist for the 2019 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award.

“Extra Hidden Life, among the Days” builds off of themes explored in Hillman’s earlier works and addresses contemporary environmental challenges.    

“For a few decades I worked on books about the classical elements: earth, air, water, fire,” Hillman explained in an email to The Argus. “I was thinking about environmental grief in light of what we are going through as humans, and that caused me to expand my elements to include just about everything. I like to think the book begins with lots of grief—general and personal—includes elegies and political poetry, and ends with two poems about national forests and national parks—those are very exuberant.”  

The 2018 Golden Poppy Book Award is given by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) and honors authors who reside in Northern California and have published a book within the last year. Hillman’s book was shortlisted as one of the finalists for the poetry category, along with four other collections. Prior to that, “Extra Hidden Life, among the Days” had been long-listed for the award on Dec. 1, 2018. Owners and employees of independent California booksellers have from Feb. 1 until Feb. 17 to vote for a winner in each category. The winners of the prize will then be announced on March 24.

Publicist and Web Manager for the Wesleyan University Press Stephanie Elliott Prieto explained why this award was significant both in the literary world and for Hillman’s career.   

“Local awards like this allow authors to get greater exposure in their own communities,” Elliott Prieto said. “It seems especially fitting for a poet like Hillman, who is so engaged with the natural surroundings of her home in Northern California.”

“Extra Hidden Life, among the Days,” was also nominated for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, which is awarded to a poet in the middle of their career. The winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award receives a cash prize of $100,000. The award is given in conjunction with the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, which is given to a poet who is at the start of their career. For the 2019 Prize, Hillman is competing against four other finalists for the award, and the winner will be announced later this month. 

When asked about working with Hillman on “Extra Hidden Life, among the Days,” Elliott Prieto praised both Hillman’s work and her character.

“Working with Brenda Hillman is a pleasure,” Prieto said. “She truly is as loving and kind as you sense from her poetry. It is a pleasure to promote someone whose ideas are so in line with my own, of course.”

Hillman also expressed her admiration for the Wesleyan University Press.

“I have to add that my daughter went to Wesleyan and loved it, so that has bonded me to the place even more,” Hillman said. “You have a great university and a great press, truly one of the jewels of the publishing world.”

 

Claire Isenegger can be reached at cisenegger@wesleyan.edu. 

The University is making several changes to the Hamilton Prize for Creativity in response to the overwhelming number of submissions it has received in the past two years. Established in 2016 in honor of Thomas Kail ’99 and Lin Manuel-Miranda ’02, the esteemed alumni behind the Tony and Grammy award-winning musical “Hamilton,” the Hamilton Prize is a four-year, full-tuition scholarship currently awarded to a single incoming first-year student whose work of fiction, poetry, songwriting, playwriting, creative nonfiction, or other form of written creative expression best exemplifies the originality, artistry, and dynamism showcased in “Hamilton.” Changes will include an expansion of prizes offered as well as several additions to the 2019 prize committee, which will apply to members of the incoming class of 2023.

Since 2016, the University has received over one thousand submissions for consideration. This year, the University will expand the reach of the prize by recognizing outstanding work in three different categories—prose, poetry/song, and screenplay/playwriting—rather than just one.

“In the first two years running the Hamilton Prize, the committee was mightily impressed by the caliber of submissions, and found it difficult to pick just one winner,” President Michael Roth ’78 told the Wesleyan Newsletter. “The creative works by incoming students displayed such a range of talent, and comparing, say, a short story to a song, posed certain challenges. Therefore, this year we’ve decided to recognize superlative creativity in each category.”

While the University will pick only one grand prize recipient, the winners in the other two categories will receive honorable mentions and a $5,000 grant to support their future creative endeavors. All three prize recipients will also be given free admission to the Wesleyan Writers Conference, which will be held on campus this June.

Audrey Pratt ’21 and Sydney Kim ’22 were the first and only recipients of the Hamilton Prize so far. Kim, who was most recently awarded the prize, was selected because of the short story she submitted.

“I wrote it a month before I submitted it, I think, so it was a very recent thing it,” Kim said. “It was the thing I was most excited about at the time. And I actually wasn’t going to apply because I was like, ‘Whoa, long shot,’ you know, but it was one of those things, where you kind of just have to throw your hat in the ring and see what happens. It was an awesome surprise even to be a finalist and know that the selection committee, which has awesome people on it, were going to be reading my stuff. So I was honestly overjoyed even at that, and then winning was kind of crazy. It’s the only word I have for it.”

Pratt, the first student to receive the award, also wrote a short story for her submission. Pratt noted that she specifically applied because she knew Miranda and Matthew Weiner ’87 were on the prize committee in 2017, both of whom were personal idols of hers.

“I want to be a screenwriter, so I’m like, ‘I have to get—particularly their eyes—but all the judges’ eyes on my work,’” Pratt explained. “And I searched for my Google Drive writing folder, and I was like, ‘Wait, I started this my sophomore year of high school, I did not finish it,’ and I was like, ‘I have to finish this. This is probably the best thing I can do.’”

Kim shared her excitement for the new developments, citing the wealth of talent at the University as a clear reason to expand.

“When I first saw [the announcement], I thought it was awesome,” Kim said. “I feel like there are so many talented, creative people at Wesleyan, and definitely in the incoming class, so I think it’s really great that the school has the opportunity to recognize more of them. I really like the fact that they’re expanding them.”

Pratt also noted her appreciation of the expansion of the prize.

“I think that [it’s] a really, really good idea, especially because there’s so much good work that gets put through,” she noted. “Especially because sometimes with merit scholarships, you end up giving the scholarship to people who don’t necessarily need the scholarship, and while that’s fine, this expansion also increases the odds that some money goes to someone who really needs it.”

Winners will be chosen by the University’s all-alumni Prize Selection Committee, led by honorary chairs Miranda and Kail. In addition to new members actor Bradley Whitford ’81, radio and podcast host Angela Yee ’97, and actress Beanie Feldstein ’15, the committee is comprised of Carter Bays ’97 and Craig Thomas ’97, co-creators and executive producers of CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother”; author and Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing Amy Bloom ’75; author and journalist Alexander Chee ’89; singer, writer, and musician Amanda Palmer ’98; author Mary Roach ’81; CMO at Endeavor, Bozoma Saint John ’99; and singer-songwriter Santi “Santigold” White ’97.

This year’s winners will be announced in May.

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu and on Twitter as @spacelover20. 

Erin Hussey can be reached at ehussey@wesleyan.edu and on Twitter as @e_riss.

The University’s art collections, currently stored in the Davison Art Center (DAC), will be moved to Olin Library following construction of new gallery and exhibition spaces. The University’s extensive collections, which includes 25,000 pieces, is considered one of the best collections of any university in the country. In the hopes of better preserving and piquing greater interest in the collection, ongoing renovations to Olin will add a storage space for the collections, an art preparatory space, and a print study center.

According to Director of Physical Plant Alan Rubacha, who is the Project Manager for the move, rumblings about the potential transfer of the collections out of the DAC have been growing for two decades. Concerns about the environmental conditions of the collection’s storage space played into the decision to move the collections, but ultimately, the choice came down to centralization and accessibility, DAC Curator Miya Tokumitsu explained.

“Alsop House is a beautiful building, but…[there are] physical barriers, particularly with people who have mobility and accessibility, physical needs,” Tokumitsu said in an interview with The Argus. “I think just in terms of practicality, and the routes that people take regularly through campus, Alsop House, lovely as it is, doesn’t appear as a building that students would just walk into.”

The DAC is considerably far from the center of campus, and as a consequence, students rarely find themselves accidentally stumbling upon the University’s art collections, according to Tokumitsu. The move to Olin would place the collections in a busier area of campus, ensuring the University’s collections are visited by the maximum numbers of students, members of faculty, and community members.

Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joyce Jacobsen, who has been involved in the project, echoed the idea that the move will lead to more consistent foot traffic at the gallery.

“At the DAC right now, we’ll have an opening event, and a lot of people will come for that, and then it drops off pretty dramatically because it’s really not a central location,” she explained. “The other problem with the current space is they can’t really take any large acquisitions in because both of the storage conditions, being not enough space and because of the conditions of storage not being acceptable to all donors. So it seemed like it solved a lot of problems at the same time.”

More concrete plans for the space in Olin were generated in 2017, after moves to alternate locations like the Zilkha Gallery were ruled out due to limited space or subpar environmental conditions. In the initial phases, the project took some time getting off the ground due to pushback from University members who had ties to the original space.

“There was such, I think, an emotional tie to the Davison Art Center and the Alsop House than it didn’t seem as obvious for some folks that moving it to Olin made a lot of sense,” Rubacha explained. “So the project gained some momentum, and then it actually lost some momentum at some phase, when we took a step back to re-engage the constituents and have some conversations about that.”

Rubacha persisted with a feasibility study, designs, and further research about the needs for the space. The University Board of Trustees approved the plan in November 2018 with a $3.13 million budget, and construction began the following month. However, the process of construction brought a variety of new challenges. According to Rubacha, much of the original groundwork for the building, once revealed, was different than anticipated, and subsequently construction involved some creativity. One of these surprises was an old can of chewing tobacco from 1927 discovered during construction of the Olin basement.

The space in the Olin basement slated for renovation was originally occupied by the microforms room. Last spring, the library staff started going through roughly 100,000 pounds of microfilms, a medium of film that Caleb T. Winchester Librarian Andrew W. White reported has been used very little since digital methods became easily accessible. The University retained approximately a third of the collection—the rare or unique microfilms that were not available online or in another medium—which is now kept on the third floor of Olin outside of the Music Library. The other two-thirds of the collection have been donated to various libraries throughout Connecticut.

The University art collections continue to be stored in the DAC and will be accessible by students and faculty members throughout the semester while construction takes place. Gallery exhibitions will also continue as usual, and no outward changes to the buildings will be discernible. The transportation of fragile material and prints is a complex process, according to Tokumitsu, so the move to Olin will need to be handled with care and attention. The process is scheduled to begin sometime in the 2019-2020 academic year.

With sights set on this project and upcoming construction of the Center for Film Studies, Public Affairs Center (PAC), and eventually the Exley Science Center, plans for future use of the DAC haven’t been formalized.

“It is definitely on my list of things to do—our campus’s things to do—is start to develop a program for that space,” Rubacha said. “We’ve batted around a number of things…. Right now, I think the leading contender is the expansion of the Digital Design Studio, we think, but we’re yet to engage folks in that discussion. It’ll be a campus discussion, we’ll engage a lot of constituents to understand what it should be, what it can be—talk about budget costs, limitations from the structure—and we’ll figure it out. But that’s kind of the next step, and it’s definitely down the road a little bit in terms of planning.”

Building development involves two distinct elements: the construction of a corridor gallery joining Olin and PAC, where art will be on display, and the construction of a study and storage art space. The microforms room in Olin, as it existed until construction began, will be transformed into three separate rooms: the study space, the collection archive, and the art prep space. The print study space will be available for classes to book times to view the prints and others who want to see the prints, and the collection archive will serve as a storage space for the 25,000 prints—plus additional room for the collection to grow—and two computer stations that will allow visitors to search the catalog of prints. All of these spaces will be highly environmentally controlled, with emphasis on temperature and humidity controls. A lift service, ensuring the space is accessible and allowing for the transport of heavy pieces of art, will also be introduced.

The upcoming University renovations, however, extend far beyond the Olin basement. In 2014, an architecture firm, Sasaki Associates, conducted a study on campus and found that the adjacent PAC building is the most highly utilized building on campus but ranked very low in terms of student satisfaction. A project concerning major renovations to PAC has been merged with the gallery and Olin basement, crucially involving the link between the two buildings, to form one larger project with a timeline that stretches into 2024, when renovations to PAC are expected to finish.

“We’re exploring a project now, as part of the Public Affairs Center, to demolish that whole entire link and rebuild a building there to be the gallery,” Rubacha explained. “And how we imagine that is way up in the air…. Today, this probably feels like dead-end basement of the library, but this is the beginning of a huge development. It will just be flooded with light, people, you’ll hear noise, the activity, it’ll be really wonderful.”

An unrelated project is also in the works at the Center for Film Studies, which currently houses the Goldsmith Family Cinema, where the Film Series is held, and the 118-seat Powell Family Cinema. The University plans to build a 16,000-square-foot addition, which will include nine offices, a production studio, and a 50-seat screening space. Rubacha said that the project is currently out to bid, with construction expecting to start in May and be finished by August 2020.

Construction on the Olin basement is expected to be completed on May 1, after which the addition of shelving, display cases, and telephone and data wires will take place, delaying completion of the project to the end of August. White and Tokumitsu both emphasized the care that will be taken in transporting the collection, and Jacobsen estimated that the gallery corridor will be open at the beginning of the following academic year, 2020-2021. Tokumitsu expects that the movement of the art collections and opening of the gallery will, ultimately, be a way to further integrate the arts into the University community.

“I love that we’ll be situated in between the library and also the Public Affairs Center,” she said. “I think we’ll get a lot of foot traffic by the collection, which is great for us, but I think it’s great for students, and also for faculty as well. I think it will make the DAC seem less like a fortress that people have to traverse, and more integrated into campus life. We at the DAC are very excited about the potential.”

With this movement will come a variety of opportunities for gallery showings and displays, allowing for a spontaneity that previously was less of an option because of the DAC’s location on campus.

“The idea is to have pop-up displays, maybe on Friday nights, also so that we can curate smaller displays,” Jacobsen said. “And then the hope is that, since people go through the library a lot, the more central location of having the print collection will make it easier for students—particularly the casual studier—to see them because they’ll just be right there anyway.”

White also emphasized the potential that it brings for Olin becoming a hub of student activity, apart from studying or checking out books.

“It’s a way to connect what’s happening in the library with what’s happening elsewhere on campus,” White said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to the art collection as the print collection, but beyond prints, it also includes drawings, photographs, paintings, artists’ books, and sculptural works. 

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @spacelover20.

Hannah Reale can be reached at hreale@wesleyan.edu.

The NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC) has awarded grants to five University students to fund their research in the realms of earth, planetary, and space sciences. The grants, ranging from $1,000 to $8,000, will cover expenses ranging from depth gauges to housing.

Space Grant Consortiums exist within all 50 states, with each consortium providing grants to students attending local colleges and universities. Primarily, CTSGC aims to promote NASA-related research specific to each institution and their resources. Grants cover research based in astronomy, planetary science, and environmental science. CTSGC also provides grants intending to develop workforce skills that are, or will be, applicable to the needs of the Connecticut economy.

Student recipients include graduate students Christina Cauley, who is advised by Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science Joop Varekamp; Ismael Mireles, who is pursuing his master’s under the guidance of Associate Professor of Astronomy Seth Redfield; and Anthony Santini ’18, who is pursuing his master’s with the University’s BA/MA program. Two undergraduate students also received grants: Hunter Vannier ’20 and Michael Henderson ’19.

Students Henderson, Santini, and Mireles each received a $1,000 Student Travel Grant to attend the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Seattle, Wash. Each student gave a presentation of research relating to astronomy and astrophysics.

At the meeting, Henderson presented his senior thesis research titled “High Precision Photometry of Faint White Dwarf Stars from K2 Data,” Mireles presented his master’s thesis titled “Searching for planets around the brightest stars in K2,” and Santini ’18 presented his BA/MA thesis titled “Determining Fundamental Properties of Galaxies with X-ray Binary Correlations.”

The largest grant awarded to a University student went to Cauley, who received a total of $8,000. Cauley is working on research pertaining to the geochemistry of Paulina Lake, in Newberry, Ore.

“This [is] of one of two crater lakes that are being chemically altered by hydrothermal elements coming up from [significant] depth[s],” Cauley explained in an email to The Argus. “Newberry is a lesser-known volcano, but the largest by mass in CONUS [Contingent United States]. A team from Wesleyan has been working on the lakes for the past [seven] years, but only recently has the lab shifted to focus primarily on Paulina Lake.”

The funding will primarily be used to outfit a device called a “ROVER,” which Cauley and her team use to sample water, sediment, and organic matter at a depth unreachable by humans. Specifically, the money will go to obtaining an improved temperature gauge and a depth sensor, as well as a larger sampling device.

“More directed sampling will help us establish the locations where hydrothermal water is entering the lake, test our hypothesis that ‘Dante’s Peak’ (a sizable underwater structure) is a hydrothermal mound, and determine the chemistry of the hydrothermal fluid at depth,” she explained.

The remainder of the grant will be used to cover costs of fieldwork, such as the food and camping site.

Vannier received a grant totaling $5,000 that will help fund his project, “Using Hubble to Look Back at the Sun’s Historical Trajectory Through the Local Interstellar Medium.” Primarily the grant will allow Vannier to afford summer housing, so he can continue his work at Wesleyan throughout June and July.

Vannier works with spectroscopic data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope to determine whether at some point in the past five million years the solar system encountered a dense enough cloud to shrink the heliosphere. This would subsequently expose inner solar system planets, and possibly Earth, to radiation bombardment.

“The interstellar medium is characterized by large clouds of gas, dust, ionized particles and cosmic rays that exist in the empty space between our solar system and other star systems in the Milky Way,” he wrote in an email to The Argus when asked to explain his research. “‘Local’ specifies clouds that are in relatively close proximity to our solar system. Fueled by the Sun’s outward solar wind, the heliosphere interacts with these clouds of matter and radiation, providing a protective bubble as we travel through the Milky Way.”

Vannier noted that this grant was especially useful, given he’d applied for a CTSGC in a previous year and had not received it. He added that the process of application is fairly straightforward.

“On the CT Space Grant website, there’s a rubric for what they want the application to look like,” Vannier explained. “I wrote an abstract for my research, an overview of the project, how my research relates to NASA’s strategic goals, and finally how receiving the grant would benefit me.”

Cauley offered advice to students looking to apply for the grant, noting that the most important elements of an application are a clear goal and hypothesis, an awareness of the ties of the research to NASA’s goals, and a clear definition of how the grant will be used. Those applying in the future should be sure to complete each portion thoughtfully and thoroughly.

“I felt a wave of thankful relief,” Cauley said, recalling when she found out she had received the grant. “This money is a boon to my thesis, allowing me to move forward with purpose when it comes to sample collecting this next August.”

 

Emmy Hughes can be reached at ebhughes@wesleyan.edu or on Twitter @spacelover20.