- the “primal scream” Monday at midnight (to release all tension and frustration built on over the semester, Wes students will emerge from their dorms/libraries/rooms/etc. at the stroke of midnight, screaming at the top of their lungs outside for a full minute – it’s really interesting to be around so many people who are ready for finals!)

- music concerts

- dance performances

- comedy troupe shows

- and much, much more!

It’s that time of the year!!!

CHEERS!

H. Rizk ‘08
Senior Interviewer

• The Writing Workshop: This is the epicenter writing resources at Wesleyan. Stop by the office and meet with a writing tutor or peruse sample essays and writing resources. Workshop tutors also hold satellite drop-in sessions throughout campus. Check out the schedule here.
• Writing Course Tutors: Attached to a specific course, these tutors are excellent resources for course and dicipline-specific writing help. Every course tutor is well versed in the specific subject of the course and/or the department. Course tutors are often associated with FYI courses.
• Writing Mentors: Unlike workshop and course tutors, writing mentors work repeatedly with the same students to help them improve their writing skills. Students and their mentors are encouraged to meet as often as possible to work on any writing assignment. This is an excellent way for less experienced writers to work one-on-one with someone who knows the student’s writing intimately and can facilitate growth.

Additionally, the English department offers “The English Essay,” a course on developing your non-fiction essay writing skills. This course is especially helpful for non-native speakers.

For more information, check out the Writing Program’s website.

And for those of you who dream of being published in The Atlantic Monthly or other media outlets, head over to WesMaps and check out the amazing creative writing courses (numbered between 130 and 170) we’re offering this year.

Justin Holzwarth ‘08
Senior Interviewer

• African-American Studies: …”Majors are required to take courses from a variety of disciplinary areas, including literature, the social sciences, and the arts. Each major also concentrates in a specific discipline or in a particular thematic area…”
• American Studies: “…The complexity of culture and of its historical development is such that its analysis requires the intellectual tools of more than one discipline and the interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives emerging in American Studies and other interdisciplinary fields…”
• Medieval Studies: “…the program may also provide a framework for students wishing to cross the somewhat arbitrary temporal, topical, and geographical boundaries of medieval studies in order to consider such problems as relationship between classical and medieval literature or art or the broader history of the preindustrial European studies…”
• Science in Society: “…an interdisciplinary undergraduate major program that encourages integrated study of the sciences and medicine as institutions, practices, material cultures, intellectual achievements, and constituents of culture and politics…”
• Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies: “…encourages students to explore and critique past and present cultural structures of power, focusing in particular on the social construction of gender as a category of analysis within the broader matrix of race, class, ethnicity, and sexual identity…”

These are just a handful of the interdisciplinary majors available to you at Wes. And if you don’t find one that suits your fancy, you can arrange to design your own!

Jessie Spector ‘08
Senior Interviewer

A small sampling of some of the best speakers to come to campus in the past four years:

Music and Art:

Dar Williams ‘89 – a folk singer-songwriter

Patti Smith – singer-songwriter, poet, musician, who was one of the women most influential in the birth of punk rock.

Sol LeWitt - minimalist and conceptual artist specializing in wall drawings with exhibitions in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art.

Amiri Baraka - author and poet, former Poet Laureate of New Jersey.

Books and Literature:

Art Spiegelman - comics artist, editor, and Pulitzer-Prize winner for his best selling graphic memoir, Maus.

Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket ‘92 – author, screenwriter, and musician. Best known for his children’s series A Series of Unfortunate Events. He has played accordion with The Magnetic Fields.

Eric Schlosser - author best known for Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness.

Journalism and Politics:

Ralph Nader - consumer advocate and presidential candidate.

Seymour Hersh – Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist and author.

Amy Goodman – progressive broadcast journalist and host of the radio program “Democracy Now!”

Madeline Albright - former United States Secretary of State.

Film and Television:

Joss Whedon ‘87 – Academy-Award nominated writer and director famous for his show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Alexander Payne – Academy- Award winning director and screenwriter best known for Election.

Michael Bay ‘86 – director and producer best known for The Rock, Transformers, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor.

Paul Weitz ‘88 – director and screenwriter best known for American Pie, American Dreamz, and In Good Company.

Jonathan Demme – Academy- Award winning director, producer, and writer best known for Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense, and Philadelphia.

Martin Scorsese – Academy-Award winning director, producer, and writer best known for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed.

and… finally… gracing our campus this coming Thursday …

Robin Williams – Academy-Award winning actor and comedian best known for Mork and Mindy, The Birdcage, Patch Adams, Jack, Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, and Dead Poet’s Society.

Enjoy!

Emily Einhorn ‘08 and Jeff Wong ‘08
Senior Interviewers

The Colloquium Vibe
The colloquia are lively seminars, and the students are as actively engaged as the faculty. With two professors in the room, there is no sense that any question has a right or final answer, but through discussion students and faculty explore ideas and texts together. Because of this format, COL students have a high tolerance for ambiguity, allowing questions to be raised and discussed, but ultimately linger unresolved. The class grows together through these colloquia, and the ability to draw on previous discussions and readings makes the discussions progressively richer through the program. Classes also see the development of a strong class dynamic that makes the group understand each others’ speaking, learning, and thinking styles and habits, and react more effectively to them. In most colloquia, students are in charge of initiating the conversation, with one or two students given responsibility for leading any day’s discussion and providing relevant background (we occasionally assign each other extra reading, but generally just send out some provocative questions to get everyone ready for the discussion).

Because all classes taken in the COL for major credit are ungraded (we use written evaluations instead), there are a lot of opportunities to take risks—why play it safe when you could come up with something brilliant by going out on a limb, or learn a lot from a spectacular failure? This idea is carried through in COL colloquium papers, where there are rarely specific assignments. Instead, students choose individually how they want to formulate the questions, selecting their texts, framework, and the style of the paper. With two professors commenting on your work, it is common to elicit different reactions to the papers, which gives students a fuller understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in their work, and a good sense of how to improve.

The Application Process
Students apply to the College of Letters at the end of their first year. While acceptance to the major is based on a brief application essay and interview, the process is far from competitive. COL students are a self-selecting bunch, and those students who are passionate about their studies will generally do well in the program. The one strict requirement is that students be advanced enough in a European language to study abroad in their sophomore year.

Sophomore Spring Abroad
COL sophomores study abroad in the Spring semester, and after having had a class together, having all these friends spread across Europe can be really helpful when you’re traveling. COL students study mostly in Wesleyan’s programs in Madrid (Spain), Paris (France), Regensburg (Germany), and Bologna (Italy), though other options are available for those interested in studying in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, or an ancient language. During my semester abroad in Madrid, I was with three other COL students on the Vassar/Wesleyan program, but also visited the COL majors in Paris, and accidentally ran into one while we were both on vacation in Florence, waiting in line at the Uffizi. The abroad experience gives COL students confidence and fluency in the language they study, and also provides a good background for continued study in the junior and senior years—when we talked about the connections between Medieval scholasticism and Gothic architecture, I had actually seen the buildings!

The Social Aspect
Because of its unique structure, the COL has a strong social aspect. The majors in each graduating class form a tight bond, with a series of five classes together, a shared study abroad experience with many students from the major, and the intense Spring semester of junior year spent studying for Comprehensive Exams together. In addition to these elements, there are also a series of faculty/student dinners each semester, as well as lectures and social hours that bring students and faculty together for food and intellectual engagement outside of class. In addition to the official departmental functions, it is not uncommon for the majors to have parties of their own, welcoming the new sophomores, welcoming the juniors back from abroad, celebrating the end of junior comps, or just to talk about Sartre some more. My class has also organized COL tea, and recently, has had several film viewings outside of class (after all, if you have to read Beowulf, why not see the Angelina Jolie movie version, too?).

What do you read?
The COL is often thought of as the “dead white men” major, but this is only partially true. COL doesn’t use a fixed canon, but rather the texts are selected anew each semester, so we read works that professors and students continue to find relevant and interesting. We follow Western ideas, but don’t necessarily confine ourselves to geographical limitations. In the Ancient Colloquium, the movement of ideas from the fertile crescent through Northern Africa and eventually up to Europe, as well as out of Greece and Rome and into Asia Minor are particular focuses. This concept of the movement of ideas continues strongly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as we look at colonial and postcolonial reinterpretations of the Western canon, and at how the ancient ideas of the Western world can be adapted and used in new ways. Because COL is not just a series of fixed courses but allows a great deal of flexibility, a lot of students take a particularly modern bent on their studies, using the Classical education they can get in the COL to inform their ideas about gender, race, postcolonial theory and literature, etc.

As for the actual books we read, here are a few sample reading lists from my colloquia:

20th Century Colloquium, “Precedence and the Void,” Fall 2005
Dostoevsky, Yeats, Freud, Engels, Eliot, Kafka, Woolf, Hemingway, Benjamin, Orwell, Borowski, Arendt, Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Rubenstein, Fanon, Friedan, Garcia Marquez, and Foucault.

Ancient Colloquium, “Geographies of Identity,” Fall 2006
The Bible (Old and New Testaments), Hesiod, Sophocles, ancient historians Herodotus and Livy, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Ovid, and St. Augustine.

If you have questions about the College of Letters, please don’t hesitate to email me at pshill [at] wesleyan [dot] edu—I’d love to tell you more about it!

Peter Hill ‘08
Senior Interviewer

Some of our all time favorite night seminars we have taken :

Eastern European Jewish History – A history, religion, and Russian studies course, this class offered students an opportunity to read primary source material and develop a clearer understanding of what life was really like for the Jews living in Eastern Europe.  While “Fiddler on the Roof” painted a rosy picture of shtetl life, this course made it clear early on that history creates a much more complex picture than that.  Some materials were translated into English for the first time for this course, allowing students to become historiographers and determine how to interpret confusing texts.

Animal Minds: The Moral Significance of Animal Cognition – An interesting combination of philosophy majors and biology/medical students, this course examines the contemporary philosophical literature discussing animal cognition, rationality, and the ability to feel pain.  Focusing on biological studies, it allows students to draw conclusions about what these studies really mean and how we should treat animals based on them.

Sixties Politics from Port Huron to Porto Alegra -  In 1962, Tom Hayden, a student activist, wrote the Port Huron Statement, a document which described the societal and political problems of the time, and which served as the manifesto for the activist group, Students for a Democratic Society. What if students today were to write a similar document, detailing the problems of today’s generation? This class examines this idea, as students discuss what has changed since the 60’s and what has stayed the same. After much discussion, students complete a semester-long project in which they attempt to write their own, modern-day statement.

So when you come to college, remember that classes and learning don’t just happen during the day.  In fact, some of the best stuff gets taught at night!

Emily Einhorn ‘08 and Jeff Wong ‘08
Senior Interviewers

Some of these are First Year Initiative (FYI) courses. The FYI is a special breed of Wes-course and is one that we take great pride in. To put it simply, these courses are Wesleyan’s answer to the freshman seminar. We cap the courses at 20 first year students (and only first year students), so you’ll be able to have an intimate class right off the bat. Furthermore, departments assign their cream-of-the-crop faculty to teach these courses, which tend to be outside the standard curriculum. Wesleyan is a core curriculum-free zone, so there isn’t any sort of freshmen writing seminar. Therefore, one of the main goals of FYI courses is to make sure that every student has a proper introduction to writing at the college level. Many FYI courses have their own writing tutors who are there to read students’ work (before it’s handed in) and help them through writing their first college essay. Most students sign-up for at least one FYI, but they are not required. I actually took four, because I found the topics so intriguing.

My favorite was “Culture and Cuisine,” taught by Professor of Government John Finn. It was a sociological look at food, and Professor Finn has been to culinary school, so of course he cooked for us! “Culture and Cuisine” was very reading and writing intensive, but the topic was so interesting that it never felt tedious. And that’s just the nature of FYIs! So head over to WesMaps Search and click the box next to “First Year Initiatives.” A lot of them sound really neat! I wish seniors could take them.

Justin Holzwarth ‘08
Senior Interviewer

The Essential Capabilities were designed by the Wesleyan faculty (and are continually updated) to be sure that each and every Wesleyan student graduates as well-educated in as many ways as possible – not only through the GenEds for breadth of study, not only through the major for depth of study, but also through the Essential Capabilities to allow for individual and personal growth – making the student a viable and promising member of the global community. The Essential Capabilities are:

• Writing
• Speaking
• Interpretation
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Logical Reasoning
• Designing, Creating, and Realizing
• Ethical Reasoning
• Intercultural Literacy
• Information Literacy
• Effective Citizenship

These are some of the building blocks that make a Wesleyan student a Wesleyan student. They are not simply expected – they are essential, an integral part of the curriculum. As an incoming freshman, you will do a self-critique, and rate yourself in each of these areas. It is entirely up to you what you do after that. Wesleyan students will develop in these areas over time, even if they never pay any mind to these capabilities at all – every class is designed to enhance at least one, but often many, of these capabilities, and you’ll find yourself improving in each area over time.

Your e-portfolio will keep track of the Essential Capabilities that you are enhancing in class, allowing you to see exactly where you might be lacking, leaving you to make the choice to improve that part of yourself through the courses that you select, if you chose to do so (again, WesMaps provides a search function for these). The faculty recognizes that the Essential Capabilities are embedded in every facet of life, not just in your academics, so the relationships you forge while at Wesleyan –while adding to your education in ways you cannot hope to imagine now– will ultimately add to your mastery of these capabilities, often without your realizing it!

Jacqueline Chapman ‘08
Senior Interviewer

Wait… that’s all? Well, yes and no. In an effort to create a standard body of knowledge that becomes synonymous with its graduates, many colleges and universities establish a Core Curriculum, which each and every student is required to fulfill. Wesleyan is not one of them – there is no one class that everyone at Wes has taken. However, there are some guidelines for your course of study while here: they are called the General Education Expectations, or GenEds. Note that GenEds are dubbed expectations not requirements – about 20% of the student body never complete their GenEds. However, GenEd completion is a requirement of being eligible for Phi Beta Kappa, University Honors, as well as for acceptance, completion and/or Honors in some departments – so pay attention!

Okay… so what are these expectations anyway? By the time you graduate from Wesleyan, the University would like to see that you have taken three courses from each of three divisions – Humanities and Arts (HA), Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), and Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM). Never fear – again, the GenEds are NOT Core! This means that YOU choose the courses that you want to use to fulfill the expectations – no one else. These courses can be Intro courses to other majors, or courses designed by departments specifically with the non-major in mind. Most Wesleyan students complete their GenEds without even thinking about them – if you study across the curriculum, following your varied interests, you’ll get them done in no time and even by accident (as I did). Here are some awesome options for this coming year, for majors and non-majors alike:

HA (Humanities and Arts)

AFAM 129 / ENGL 129 – Resisting the Romance in Black and White and Technicolor
FILM 307 – Western Movies: Myth, Ideology, and Genre

SBS (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

HIST 116 – Education in Society: Universities as Agents of Change, Ivory Towers, or Knowledge Factories
RELI 273 / AFAM 273 / AMST 276 – Vodou in Haiti – Vodou in Hollywood

NSM (Natural Sciences and Mathematics)

BIOL 118 – Reproduction in the 21st Century
CHEM 198 – Forensics: The Science Behind CSI

As Justin H. mentioned earlier, WesMaps is easy to navigate and exciting to peruse! Explore!

Jacqueline Chapman ‘08
Senior Interviewer

Click on any of the majors listed on the site, and you will find links to not only the courses offered this coming year, but also to the department website, requirements for majors, and courses appropriate for first year students (hint, hint). Have a field day! No, seriously, I know a lot of Wes students who spend days browsing WesMaps, especially when it’s newly updated for the upcoming year.

Some courses that jumped out at me, as I was sifting through today:

• History 118, Baroque Rome: I didn’t know it was baro-ken. ZING!
• Theatre 384, Introduction to Puppetry: I believe this is my calling.

I should point out that WesMaps has an excellent search function that allows you to search courses by keyword, time, GenEd, and even key capabilities. Pretty snazzy, huh?

Justin Holzwarth ‘08
Senior Interviewer