First-year students enrolled in ENVS125F/Community Gardening, taught by Rosemary Ostfeld ’02, assistant visiting professor of environmental studies, in spring 2021, became University of Connecticut Certified Master Gardeners this fall, thanks to a partnership by the College of the Environment, Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, and the UConn Extension Master Gardener Program.
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Brionna Colson-Fearon ’22 is a biology and psychology double major who conducted a qualitative study looking at food apartheid in Baltimore, Maryland, and the role urban farming plays in increasing access to healthy food in the city. The research is a part of her ongoing interests in obesity and public health outcomes of African American communities in urban contexts. Colson-Fearon received the 2022 Clendeninn Prize for her outstanding work and contributions as a biology major at Wesleyan.
Alton C. Byers, Ph.D. is a mountain geographer, conservationist, and mountaineer specializing in applied research, high-altitude ecosystems, climate change, glacier hazards, and integrated conservation and development programs. He is a senior research affiliate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the 2021-22 Menakka and Essel Bailey ’66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the College of the Environment.
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Liz Woolford ’22 is a theater and government double major whose summer research project focused on developing her theater capstone project: The Party at the Edge of the World, an investigation into the intersection of performance and environmental activism. The project will culminate in a site-specific/immersive piece to be performed Friday, November 19 through Sunday, November 21, 2021, here at the COE at 284 High Street. Reservations are required for this FREE event.
The COE shares faculty from across departments and programs at Wesleyan, including government, history, art, dance, computer science, English, philosophy, environmental science, biology, African American studies, physics, classical studies, chemistry, Science in Society, theater, religion, economics, archaeology, and more. Katherine Brunson is a zooarchaeologist and assistant professor of archaeology at Wesleyan who studies the origins of China’s domesticated animals and the environmental impacts of animal domestication in China. She is currently investigating the genetic relationships between domestic cattle and the extinct East Asian wild aurochs. She also codirects the online Oracle Bones in East Asia project on Open Context.
Every year, the COE awards fellowships to fund summer research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years.
Abi Pipkin ’22 is a government and environmental studies major interested in the question of land management in the United States. This summer she explored the Great Smoky Mountains region of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina to learn more about how the privatization of land affects human stewardship of natural resources. The interviews and research she conducted will form a podcast she is developing this semester as part of her senior capstone for the environmental studies and government majors.
On October 14 & 15, 2021, Forklift Danceworks presented WesWorks, a performance celebrating the skilled movement and telling the often unheard stories of the people whose work sustains the daily lives of the Wesleyan campus.
WesWorks (2021) featured the movement and stories of Wesleyan U employees as directed by Forklift Danceworks of Austin, Texas, led by Artistic Director Allison Orr, Distinguished Fellow in the College of the Environment and Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, with Forklift choreographer and programs manager Gretchen LaMotte ’18.