coexist – Page 2 – bailey college of the environment @ wes u

george ’26 spends summer exploring food systems

Every year, the Bailey COE awards fellowships to fund research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Most recently, the COE awarded nearly 40 summer fellowships, including sociology and psychology double major Lacy George ’26, who spent her summer farming in Northern Italy and working at her local food bank in Seattle to conduct a narrative-based analysis of how food production, distribution, and waste is structured in small Italian and American communities. Her research aims to understand food justice solutions at the local level to potentially replicate at a national level.

think tank explores agency: affect and action

by sjager

Every academic year, the COE invites a small group of Wesleyan faculty and undergraduate students, plus a noted scholar from outside the University, to gather together for the Think Tank: a yearlong discussion of a critical environmental issue. The 2024-2025 Bailey COE Think Tank feature Sonia Sultan, Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies; Justine Quijada, Associate Professor of Religion, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Environmental Studies; and Garry Bertholf, Assistant Professor of African American Studies, alongside undergraduates Maryam Badr ’25, Hannah Podol ’25, and Nic Galleno, ’25. These University fellows will be joined by the 2024-2025 Menakka and Essel Bailey ‘66 Distinguished Visiting Scholar Roxy Coss: Jazz saxophonist and Founding President of the Women In Jazz Organization, as well as a Grammy-award winning musician, composer, educator and activist.

meet our envs class of 2025!

by candersen

Environmental studies (ENVS) is the academic component of the Bailey COE. Offered as a linked major or minor, ENVS current and past students hail from almost every single department and program Wesleyan has to offer: from government, art, and chemistry to economics, English, and earth and environmental sciences to film studies, sociology, and biology. Meet some of our 40 ENVS class of 2025 majors below!

grammy-winner coss joins coe think tank

by sjager

What brought you to the Bailey COE, and what kinds of contributions are you hoping to make here?
I’m officially here for the Bailey COE Think Tank, continuing the tradition to include cross-disciplinary contributors. This year the theme is agency, and the three faculty fellows wanted an artist or musician to complete the team. There’s a biologist [Sonia Sultan], an anthropologist and religion scholar [Justine Quijada], and an African American studies and literature scholar [Garry Bertholf] on the faculty.

leviton ’25 explores how educators define a sustainable future

by pdamato

Every year, the Bailey COE awards fellowships to fund summer (and spring and fall) research opportunities for Wesleyan undergrads across all majors and class years. Most recently, the Bailey COE awarded almost 40 fellowships to Wes students, including Isadora Goldman Leviton ’25, an education and American studies major, who spent the summer conducting qualitative research interviews in the Greater Hartford area, regarding how educators define a sustainable future for themselves and their students.

nodiff ’19 creates climate imaginarium

by acmorris

Josh Nodiff ’19 graduated from Wes with a double major in environmental studies and American studies. He is the founder and executive director of the Climate Imaginarium, a consortium of climate organizations with a center for the arts on Governors Island in New York City.

For those who are unfamiliar with this project, what is the Climate Imaginarium?
The Climate Imaginarium (@climateimaginarium) is a new consortium of climate organizations with a center for the arts on Governors Island in New York City. The Imaginarium serves as a community center for climate and culture, with galleries and spaces for exhibitions, performances, film screenings, and events that respond to the climate crisis with solutions and visions for hope and justice. Programming is offered by a range of institutions, initiatives, and organizations, coming together under one roof to reimagine a just and regenerative future.

envs course inspires guillemin ’27 to obtain wildfire cert

by ssekkmmiles

This past June, E&ES major Finn Guillemin ‘27 participated in an incredible hands-on learning experience through the YMCA of the Pines in Western New Jersey: getting his wildfire firefighter certification.

Finn’s decision to pursue certification was heavily influenced by a course he took in spring 2024: Fire Ecology and Management/ENVS329, taught by Professor Helen Poulos. The course focuses on fire as a fundamental ecological disturbance process that shapes plant communities globally. In the course, students explore how climate change and human land use have altered fire behavior, disrupting many species. The course also examines shifting fire regimes over time, from indigenous fire practices to contemporary fire management. The mix of in-class lectures, field exercises, and discussions fueled Finn’s curiosity and desire for hands-on experience.