Music and environmental studies major Lily Zhang ‘23 is the winner of the 2023 Elizabeth Verveer Tishler Keyboard Competition here at Wesleyan. When she’s not playing the piano, Lily enjoys scuba diving and freediving and is an enthusiastic amateur blackwater photographer. The opening reception for her COE photo exhibit, A Blackwater Dive, will take place at the College of the Environment, 284 High Street, on Friday, April 21, from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.
The environmental studies (ENVS) linked major requires a senior capstone project (thesis, essay, performance, etc) on an environmental topic. English and environmental studies major Talia Zitner’s senior capstone project is The Garden Festival, an event that aims to make sustainability more accessible and exciting to the Wesleyan community, through a number of sustainable vendors, featured student organizations, and musical performances curated by The Shed Collective. The event will take place on Friday, April 21 from 3 to 10 pm in the backyard of Russell House. Learn more about Talia, and the event, below!
Ocean Filibuster, a performance developed by Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl, co-artistic director of the Obie-winning company PearlDamour, explores the complex relationship between humans and the ocean and centers around the debate between two fictional rivals, Mr. Majority and the Ocean, as they launch into a battle which will determine whether or not the Ocean will be abolished. The project draws together the work of scientists and creatives to generate a dynamic story which illuminates the urgency of our current environmental crisis. The Wesleyan performance of Ocean Filibuster will take place May 4-6 at the CFA.
Lucy Ward ’23 used natural dyes to create imprints of floor plans that she drew from memories of spaces, for her Planar Bodies exhibit. The exhibit can be viewed from April 18-25 at the Zilkha Gallery, with an opening reception Wednesday, April 19, from 4 to 6 pm!
Trees, a senior capstone exhibit by art studio and environmental studies major Michael Eustace ’23 will take place from April 25-30 at the Zilkha Gallery here on campus. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, April 26 from 4 to 6 pm.
Ezkoktin Tlalli (Veins of Earth), an exhibit by art studio and environmental studies major Nélida Samara Zepeda Mendoza ’23 will take place from April 25-30 at the Zilkha Gallery here on campus. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, April 26 from 4 to 6 pm. Learn more about Samara’s work!
Ritual, a senior capstone exhibit by art studio and environmental studies major Lex Bryan ’23 will take place from April 18-23 at the Zilkha Gallery here on campus. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, April 19 from 4 to 6 pm.
Jane Hollander ‘23, a senior English major and Environmental Studies minor, and Assistant Professor of the Practice Rosemary Ostfeld ‘02 secured a donation of 35 yards of compost for Long Lane Farm from Connecticut compost and mulch company WeCare Denali as part of Ostfeld’s Community Gardening (ENVS125F) class.
Marcela Oteiza, associate professor of environmental studies and dance and chair of theater, has been involved with the Justice Dance Performance Project (JDPP) since 2011. Her latest collaboration with the group, In the Presence of Trees, is a four-part site-specific outdoor dance-theater performance series following the changing of the seasons while celebrating the wisdom and value of trees, especially in the urban forest.
The series, which began in summer 2022 with a performance in Bushnell Park, in Hartford, CT, will come full circle on May 7, when the troupe returns to Bushnell Park to perform In the Presence of Trees: Spring, the fourth and final event of the series. Like previous series performances, the event will be free and open to the public.
WesThrift, Wesleyan’s student-run free thrift store, has quickly become a key space on campus. Wesleyan Sustainability Office eco-facilitators Annie Volker ’24 and Debbra Goh ’24 opened the store in fall 2022. Located in the basement of the COE at 284 High Street, WesThrift is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 12-1:30 pm, except during breaks, and operates entirely on donations from students, staff, and community members.
On Wednesday, March 29, the College of the Environment hosted “An Evening With Bryant Terry,” inviting members of the community to a cooking demo, dinner, Q&A, and book signing with Terry, a vegan chef, activist, author, and community-builder. The sold-out event was executed by Bon Appétit staff, headed by Michael Strumpf.
Check out the creatures crocheted, knitted, and sewn by Wesleyan community members and view objects from the Joe Webb Peoples, George Brown Goode, and Archaeology & Anthropology collections in the Crafting Sea Critters: A Look at Oceanic Ecosystems exhibit, now showing through May 8 in Usdan, in the display case close to the box office.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Kate Miller is excited to use her class to connect students to actions to influence environmental change.In fall of 2021, she launched an “Option for Action Project” in her Introduction to Environmental Studies class (ENVS197). Through this project, students create tangible action plans for addressing environmental problems that affect them. This year they are sharing their proposed solutions with the whole Wesleyan community through a social media campaign which will run now through the end of the semester.
This semester, we’ve had good fortune to welcome three new communications interns here at COE: Lia Franklin ’24, Amanda Morris ’24, and Ken Wu ’23. In just a few short months, Lia, Amanda, and Ken have covered myriad people, projects, events, and programs here at the COE. Learn more about all, below!
Each academic year, the COE invites a small group of Wesleyan faculty and undergrads plus a noted outside scholar to join together in a yearlong discussion on a critical environmental issue. The Think Tank features a new theme, and new fellows, each year. This year’s COE Think Tank features (from top left) LaToya Eaves, Menakka and Essel Bailey ’66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the COE; Justin Hosbey, Menakka and Essel Bailey ’66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the COE; faculty fellows Anu Sharma, associate professor of anthropology; Raquel Bryant, assistant professor of environmental sciences; and Marguerite Nguyen, associate professor of English, who will explore the theme of “Radical Environments: Living Justice, Imagining Futures.”
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Most recently, the COE awarded 31 summer fellowships and 3 fall fellowships to Wes students. Learn a little bit more about each, below!
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Joel Rader ’23 is a film and environmental studies major who spent summer 2022 investigating how resilience has been “seeded” within the social-ecological system of the island of Culebra, Puerto, Rico, in the wake of the devastation wrought by hurricanes Irma and Maria. To view Joel’s amazing fellowship project website, click here!
Tell us about your summer research project!
My project explored the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, as a Social-Ecological System (SES), including the integral contributions to SES resilience made by small business owners, activists, scientists, and environmentalists. The project focuses in particular on the significant work that the nonprofit organization Sociedad Ambiente Marino (SAM) does toward resilience efforts in Culebra. SAM’s efforts are not just important for the Culebra SES itself, but could be a replicable model for other island communities throughout the Caribbean that are among the most exposed to climate change impacts today. Among SAM’s important current projects is the restoration of endangered coral species that are important to this region of the Caribbean.
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. English major Ava Danieu ’23 spent the summer as a research assistant for Professor Claire Grace, who is exploring the status of air in 1960s artistic practice.
Tell us about your summer research project!
These past few months, I’ve been a research assistant for Claire Grace, associate professor of art history, who is exploring the status of air in 1960s artistic practice. I contribute to the project by providing contextual information that includes historical news coverage of air pollution in Los Angeles, the United States military’s use of air delivered chemicals in the Vietnam War, and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Beyond reviewing archival sources to find media coverage, I compile reading lists concerning historical accounts of the Clean Air Act and information on specific firework companies active in the Los Angeles region in the 1960s.
Katie Toner ’20 is a conservation easement steward at Heritage Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust based in southeastern Pennsylvania. Katie received her BA from Wesleyan in environmental studies and earth and environmental sciences.
Kelly Lam ’19 is the communications program coordinator at The Environmental Grantmakers Association, an environmental funder affinity group. Kelly received her BA from Wesleyan in environmental studies and earth and environmental sciences.
Ron Meehan ’21 is the policy and advocacy manager for the Food Bank of Alaska. He graduated from Wesleyan with a BA in environmental studies and government.
Each academic year, the COE gathers a small group of Wesleyan faculty members, a scholar of prominence from outside Wesleyan, and undergraduate students into a year-long academic think tank on a critical environmental issue. The aim of the COE Think Tank is not only to generate a deeper understanding of the thematic issue, but also to produce scholarly works that will influence national/international thinking and action on the issue. The Think Tank theme for 2021-22 is visualizing environmental change.
Our 2021-22 COE Think Tank faculty fellows are: Suzanne O’Connell, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science; Jennifer Raynor, assistant professor of economics; Courtney Fullilove, associate professor of history; Helen Poulos, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies; Antonio Machado-Allison, university professor in the College of the Environment; and Alton C. Byers, senior research scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTARR) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and this year’s Menakka and Essel Bailey ‘66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the College of the Environment. Olivia Baglieri ’22, Dylan Judd ’22, and Skye Hawthorne ’22 will also be joining the Think Tank as student fellows this academic year.
Read below for all the good green news that’s fit to print!