Wesleyan University
Encyclopedia
Wesleyan University is a private
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

 liberal arts college
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...

 founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and sciences, also provides graduate research in many academic disciplines, and grants PhD degrees primarily in the sciences and mathematics. Wesleyan is the second most productive liberal arts college in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...

 in the number of undergraduates who go on to earn PhDs in all fields of study.

Founded under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

 and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the now secular university was the first institution of higher education to be named after John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

, the founder of Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

. About twenty unrelated colleges and universities were subsequently named after Wesley. Wesleyan, along with Amherst
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 and Williams
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

 Colleges, is a member of the historic Little Three
Little Three
The "Little Three" is an unofficial athletic conference of three elite liberal arts colleges in New England, United States. The "Little Three" are:* Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts* Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut...

 colleges and has long been known as one of the Little Ivies
Little Ivies
Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....

.

History

Two histories of Wesleyan have been published, Wesleyan's First Century by Carl F. Price in 1932 and another in 1999, Wesleyan University, 1831–1910: Collegiate Enterprise in New England, by David B. Potts.

Wesleyan was founded as an all-male
Men's college
Men's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions whose students are exclusively men. Many are liberal arts colleges.-United States:...

 Methodist college in 1831. The University was established as an independent institution under the auspices of the Methodist conference, and it was led by Willbur Fisk
Wilbur Fisk
Willbur Fisk , also known as Wilbur Fisk, was a prominent American Methodist minister, educator and theologian. He was the first President of Wesleyan University. Willbur Fisk (August 31, 1792 – February 22, 1839), also known as Wilbur Fisk, was a prominent American Methodist minister,...

, its first President. Despite its name, Wesleyan was never a denominational seminary. It remained a leader in educational progress throughout its history and erected one of the earliest comprehensive science buildings devoted exclusively to undergraduate science instruction on any American college or university campus, Judd Hall (named after alumnus Orange Judd
Orange Judd
Orange Judd was an American agricultural chemist, editor, and publisher.-Background and family:Judd was born of a rural family near Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York. His grandfather, also named Orange Judd , came from Tyringham, Massachusetts and served as a private in the Berkshire...

). It also has maintained a larger library collection than institutions comparable in size. Wesleyan was a very small institution for the first 140 years of its existence, having a student body ranging from 300 to 800 students throughout the period. Although Wesleyan developed into a peer of Amherst
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 and Williams
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

, Wesleyan was always decidedly the smallest of the Little Three
Little Three
The "Little Three" is an unofficial athletic conference of three elite liberal arts colleges in New England, United States. The "Little Three" are:* Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts* Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut...

 institutions until the 1970s, when it grew significantly to become larger than the other two.

In 1872, the University became one of the first U.S. colleges to attempt coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...

 by allowing a small number of female students to attend, a venture then known as the "Wesleyan Experiment". "In 1909, the board of trustees voted to stop admitting women as undergraduates, fearing that the school was losing its masculine image and that women would not be able to contribute to the college financially after graduation the way men could." Given that concern, Wesleyan ceased to admit women, and from 1912 to 1970 Wesleyan operated again as an all-male college.

Wesleyan severed its final ties with the Methodist Church in 1937, a final formal recognition of many decades of practice. The administration ceased to define the curriculum as Christian in the 1960s, and also eliminated compulsory chapel at the same time.

During World War II, as college-aged men volunteered or were drafted to fight overseas, Wesleyan's enrollment was supplemented by the presence on campus of both the U.S. Navy V-12 officer training
V-12 Navy College Training Program
The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II...

 program and the U.S. Naval V-5 Flight Preparatory School, which allowed the University to remain open.

Beginning in the late 1950s, president Victor Lloyd Butterfield began an ambitious program to reorganize the University according to Butterfield's "College Plan" somewhat similar to Harvard's House system, or Yale's colleges, where undergraduate study would be divided into seven smaller residential colleges with their own faculty and centralized graduate studies, including doctoral programs and a Center for Advanced Studies (later re-named The Center for the Humanities). The building program begun under this system created three residential colleges on Foss Hill (the Foss Hill dormitories) and then three more residential colleges (the Lawn Avenue dormitories, now called the Butterfield Colleges). Although the facilities were largely created, only four of the academic programs were begun, and only two of those continue today: the College of Letters (COL) and the College of Social Studies (CSS) (see program descriptions below), which are considered exceptionally intensive study programs and excellent preparation for later graduate work.

Butterfield's successors, Edwin Deacon Etherington (Class of 1948) and Colin Goetze Campbell
Colin G. Campbell
Colin G. Campbell was the thirteenth president of Wesleyan University.-Education:Campbell attended Cornell University where he served as the chairman of the Orientation Executive Committee and on the Willard Straight Hall Board of Managers. He was also elected to the Sphinx Head Society in his...

, completed many of the innovations begun during Butterfield's administration, including the return of women in numbers equal to men; a quadrupling in the total square footage of building space devoted to laboratory, studio and performing arts instruction; and a dramatic rise in the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity and size of the student body.

On June 7, 1964, The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the baccalaureate service from Denison Terrace and received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. King spoke at the University on four other occasions at campus rallies, church services, and colloquia. A number of Wesleyan faculty, staff, and students were active with Dr. King in the civil rights movement.

The University and several of its admissions deans were featured in Jacques Steinberg's 2002 New York Times Notable Book The Gatekeepers: Inside The Admissions Process of a Premier College
The Gatekeepers
The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College is a 2002 nonfiction book written by education reporter Jacques Steinberg that examines the inner workings of admissions committees at prestigious colleges and universities in the United States and addresses the changing face of...

.

In the fall 2007 semester, Michael S. Roth
Michael S. Roth
Michael S. Roth is a Jewish-American academic and university administrator. He became the 16th president of Wesleyan University in 2007. Formerly, he was the 8th president of the California College of the Arts , associate director of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and Director of...

, a 1978 graduate of Wesleyan and former president of the California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...

, was inaugurated as Wesleyan's 16th president.

On 25 May 2008, then U.S. Illinois senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 filled in for the ailing senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

, and addressed the graduating Class at the 2008 Commencement. Senator Obama was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws and urged Wesleyan graduates to enter into public service.

Wesleyan recently completed a ten year plan, which included the expansion of undergraduate housing (the Fauver dormitories), the renovation of classrooms and buildings, and a large investment in technology used for research and teaching.

Campus

Wesleyan occupies a 360 acres (1.5 km²) campus, with over 340 buildings, including: the five-building College Row; Olin Memorial Library (see below); Harriman Hall (which houses the John E. Andrus Public Affairs Center and the College of Social Studies); the Exley Science Center; Shanklin and Hall-Atwater Laboratories; the Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Wesleyan University. It was built in 1914 and named after the former head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at the university, Prof. John M. Van Vleck. It is located in Middletown, Connecticut .-Directors:*...

; the Butterfield dormitories; the Fauver Field dormitories; and the 11-building Center for the Arts complex. The campus also includes the William Street apartment complex.

The original core buildings of the campus were North College and South College. North College was a Nassau Hall
Nassau Hall
Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton University in the borough of Princeton, New Jersey . At the time it was built in 1754, Nassau Hall was the largest building in colonial New Jersey. Designed originally by Robert Smith, the building was subsequently remodeled by notable American...

-type building seen in most early American college campuses, but it was replaced after a fire in 1909 with the current North College. South College is the sole building from the beginning of the college. These two buildings were the first two in a line of six later called 'College Row', facing an expanse of lawn, (the campus), and a broad view of the Connecticut Valley below. The other buildings of College row include the recently renovated Memorial Chapel, which was planned in commemoration of the bicentennial of Methodism, the original college library, now a theater, and Judd Hall, which may be the first building dedicated to the sciences on any American college campus. Adjacent to College row, Olin Library, Harriman Hall, Shanklin Hall, and the former Hall Chemistry Building were designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...

 as a set (with Clark Hall and a never built sixth building) to form a quadrangle.

The northern end of High Street contains several large buildings which were former private residences a few of which were exceptional architectural examples. These include Russell House
Samuel Wadsworth Russell House
Samuel Wadsworth Russell House in Middletown, Connecticut is a landmark greek revival mansion built in 1828. It is now owned by Wesleyan University. In 1970, the Russell House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.-...

, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

, two Alsop family houses, (one is currently the African-American Studies center with student housing, the other is the Davison Art Center), the Davison infirmary, a second Russell family house that contains the University Development Office, and Downey House, (remembered fondly by alumni as the onetime main campus dining facility and pub, now classrooms and academic offices). There are other departmental offices in the neighborhood. High Street, which is the old center of campus, was once described by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

 as "the most beautiful street in America."

Recent building initiatives include the Freeman Athletic Center (which includes a 50-meter swimming pool, the Spurrier-Snyder Rink for hockey, the 1,200-seat Silloway Gymnasium, the 7500 square feet (696.8 m²) Andersen Fitness Center, and the Rosenbaum Squash Center with eight courts); the Center for Film Studies; and a multi-building renovation project creating a 'Humanities District' on the east side of High Street between Fisk Hall and Russell House, which includes facilities for the departments of English, Romance Languages, the College of Letters, Classical Studies, Philosophy, Art & Art History, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The Allbritton Center (previously the Davenport Student Center, and before that Scott Lab) opened in the fall of 2009 and houses the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center, the Quantitative Analysis Center (QAC), and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.

The Usdan University Center, which opened in September 2007, has dining facilities for students and for faculty. It also houses seminar and meeting spaces, the Wesleyan Student Assembly
Wesleyan Student Assembly
The Wesleyan Student Assembly is a body of 38 students elected annually to represent Wesleyan University’s undergraduate student body. Members serve as student advocates in all areas of the university, including matters related to student life, academics, campus facilities and university finances...

, Student Activities and Leadership Development Office, University Events and Scheduling Office, the post office, and the computer store. The Davenport Student Center and the buffet-style dining hall, McConaughy Hall (colloquially, MoCon) ceased service with the opening of the Usdan University Center.

Organization and administration

The President is Michael S. Roth.

The university is a member of the Annapolis Group
Annapolis Group
The Annapolis Group is an American organization that describes itself as "a nonprofit alliance of the nation’s leading independent liberal arts colleges." It represents approximately 130 liberal arts colleges in the United States...

, the Oberlin Group
Oberlin Group
The Oberlin Group is an "informal consortium of the libraries of approximately 80 selective liberal arts colleges in the United States. The group developed as a result of conferences held in 1984-85 at Oberlin College when the presidents of 50 colleges met to discuss the role of science...

, the Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges
Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges
The Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges is a nonprofit organization of 62 American liberal arts colleges which formed in 1984. CLAC "uses of computing and related technologies in the service of the liberal arts mission...

, the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, and the 568 Group
568 Group
The 568 Group is a consortium of American universities and colleges practicing need-blind admissions. The group was founded in 1998 in response to section 568 of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994.-History:...

.

Undergraduate

Wesleyan's 40 undergraduate academic departments offer over 900 courses each semester and more than 900 individual tutorials. Wesleyan also offers fifteen interdisciplinary programs, ten certificate programs, and nine Academic Centers. Undergraduates receive the Bachelor of Arts in one (or more) of 47 major concentrations. No minors are offered, but double majors are popular (approximately 29% of students select a double major). Students triple major as well. Undergraduates can also pursue a custom-designed major, known as a University Major. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Encyclopedia is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its important relationship with Columbia University, the encyclopedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963; the current edition is...

, "Wesleyan is noted for its undergraduate programs of tutorial instruction and independent study." Approximately 52% of students undertake independent study.

Wesleyan offers 3–2 programs
Double degree
A double-degree program, sometimes called a combined degree, conjoint degree, dual degree, or simultaneous degree program, involves a student's working for two different university degrees in parallel, either at the same institution or at different institutions , completing them in less time than...

 in engineering with the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

 and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

's School of Engineering. These programs allow undergraduates to receive degrees in five years from both Wesleyan (B.A.) and Caltech or Columbia (B.Sc., Engineering). Additionally, Wesleyan offers a BA/MA Program in the sciences leading to a Bachelor's degree in the fourth year and a Master's degree in the fifth year. Tuition for the fifth year of the Master's degree is waived. Undergraduates can pursue studies in pre-medicine, pre-law, and pre-business through any major. Most classes at Wesleyan are small; the predominant class size for undergraduates is 10–19 students, and the student to faculty ratio is 9 to 1.

The University has described a set of general principles that define its approach to undergraduate education summed up in ten essential capabilities that the faculty believe every undergraduate should possess when he or she graduates from Wesleyan. Students may acquire these capabilities through numerous courses throughout the curriculum designated by the faculty as satisfying specific capabilities and through extra- or co-curricular activities. The University does not require undergraduates to take prescribed courses.

Freshmen are offered First Year Initiative seminars, which are designed to prepare them for upper level courses by emphasizing writing, analysis, discussion, and critical thinking
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...

. Undergraduates are encouraged in the first two years of study to take a minimum of two courses in each of three areas: natural sciences and mathematics, humanities and the arts, and social and behavioral sciences. In the second two years, undergraduates are expected to take one course in each of these three areas. Fufillment of the General Education Expectations in conjunction with co-curricular activities provides simultaneous acquisition of the ten essential capabilities. "A student who does not meet these [general education] expectations by the time of graduation will not be eligible for University honors, Phi Beta Kappa, honors in general scholarship [honors or high honors], and for honors in certain departments."
Several of the University's undergraduate programs "have an unusually strong national representation," including American Studies, Astronomy/Astrophysics, Classical Studies, The College of Letters, The College of Social Studies, East Asian Studies, Economics (appraised as the "best small department of economics in the country" and "economics department is renowned as one of the best in the country"), English/Creative Writing, Film Studies, History, Music, and the Natural Sciences (including, but not limited to, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Psychology, ranked 5th nationally in research productivity and 3rd for the impact of journal citations). Current notable faculty include, among others, Richard Adelstein (Economics); William J. Barber (Economics); Richard S. Grossman (Economics-Department Chair); Richard A. Miller (Economics); Francisco Rodríguez
Francisco Rodríguez (economist)
Francisco R. Rodríguez is a Venezuelan economist and assistant professor of Economicsand Latin American Studies at Wesleyan University since 2005, who was the head of the Office of Economic and Financial Advisory of the National Assembly from 2000 to 2004 during the presidency of Hugo...

 (Economics); Gary Yohe
Gary Yohe
Gary Wynn Yohe is the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of economics at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, and Director of the John E. Andrus Public Affairs Center at Wesleyan. He holds a PhD from Yale University....

 (Economics); Richard W. Boyd (Government); Martha Crenshaw (Government); Elvin Lim (Government); Judith C. Brown
Judith C. Brown
Judith C. Brown is an American author and historian.She is Professor of History at Wesleyan University.-Publications:* Immodest Acts - The life of a lesbian nun in Renaissance Italy, Oxford University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-19-504225-5...

 (History); Ethan Kleinberg
Ethan Kleinberg
Ethan Kleinberg is Associate Professor of History and Letters at Wesleyan University and Associate Editor of History and Theory. His research interests include European intellectual history with special interest in France and Germany, critical theory, educational structures, and the philosophy of...

 (History and Letters); Nathan Brody
Nathan Brody
Nathan Brody is an American psychology professor Emeritus known for his work on intelligence and personality.Brody received his BA from University Of New Hampshire and his MA and PhD from University of Michigan...

 (Psychology); Scott Plous
Scott Plous
Scott Plous, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology of Wesleyan University. He is also a Faculty Associate of the Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy and founder of the Social Psychology Network....

 (Psychology); Charles Lemert
Charles Lemert
Charles Lemert is an American born social theorist and sociologist. He has written extensively on social theory, globalization and culture...

 (Sociology); Dani Shapiro
Dani Shapiro
Daneile Joyce "Dani" Shapiro is the author of five novels and the best-selling memoirs Slow Motion and Devotion. She has also written for magazines such as The New Yorker, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and ELLE....

 (Creative Writing); Anselm Berrigan
Anselm Berrigan
Anselm Berrigan is a poet and teacher. He grew up in New York City, where he currently resides with his wife, poet Karen Weiser. From 2003 to 2007, he served as artistic director at the St. Mark's Poetry Project...

 (English – poet); Kit Reed
Kit Reed
Kit Reed is an American author of both speculative fiction and literary fiction, as well as psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Kit Craig. Her first short story was published by Anthony Boucher. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of a five-year grant literary from the Abraham...

 (English); Deb Olin Unferth
Deb Olin Unferth
Deb Olin Unferth is an American short-story writer, novelist, and memoirist. She is the author of the collection of stories Minor Robberies, the novel Vacation, both published by McSweeney's, and the memoir, Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War, published by Henry Holt.Her...

 (English); Elizabeth Willis
Elizabeth Willis
Elizabeth Willis is an American poet, literary critic and professor of literature and creative writing at Wesleyan University. Her most notable work includes four major books of poetry and a scholarly collection of essays on Lorine Niedecker which she edited...

 (English); Anne Greene (English); Jeanine Basinger
Jeanine Basinger
Jeanine Basinger , a film historian, is Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and Founder and Curator of The Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut....

 (Film Studies); Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...

 (Music – awarded MacArthur Fellows Program
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...

 "genius grant" ); Neely Bruce
Neely Bruce
Neely Bruce , Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University, is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music....

 (Music and American Studies); Angel Gil-Ordonez
Angel Gil-Ordoñez
Angel Gil-Ordóñez has attained an outstanding reputation among Spain’s new generation of conductors as he carries on the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu Celibidache. The Washington Post has praised his conducting as “mesmerizing” and “as colorfully textured as a fauvist painting.”The...

 (Music); Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...

 (Experimental Music); Mark Slobin
Mark Slobin
Mark Slobin is an American scholar and ethnomusicologist who has written extensively on the subject of East European Jewish music and klezmer music. He is a Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University....

 (Music and American Studies); Eiko Otake (Dance – awarded MacArthur Fellows Program
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...

 "genius grant"); Eugene Marion Klaaren
Eugene Marion Klaaren
Eugene Marion Klaaren is a historian and professor of religion. He holds a BA from Hope College, an MA from Emory University, a BD from Western Theological Seminary, and a PHD from Harvard University. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Wesleyan University...

 (Religion); Jan Willis
Jan Willis
Janice Dean Willis, or Jan Willis is Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, where she has taught since 1977; and the author of books on Tibetan Buddhism. She has been called influential by Time Magazine, Newsweek , and Ebony Magazine...

 (Religion); Yuz Aleshkovsky
Yuz Aleshkovsky
Iosif Efimovich Aleshkovsky , known as Yuz Aleshkovsky , is a modern Russian writer, poet, playwright and performer of his own songs.-Biography:...

 (Russian);Vera Schwarcz
Vera Schwarcz
Vera Schwarcz is Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University. Her BA was from Vassar College, with a MA from Yale, a MAA from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D...

 (East Asian Studies); Joseph Siry
Joseph Siry
Joseph M. Siry is a leading American architectural historian and professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Wesleyan University. Siry's publications have focused particularly on the architecture of Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School.Siry received his education at...

 (History of Architecture); Reinhold Blumel (Physics); Tsampikos Kottos (Physics); Francis Starr (Physics); David Bodznick (Biology, Neuroscience & Behavior); David L. Beveridge (Chemistry); Carol Wood (Mathematics); Mark Hovey (Mathematics); Karen L. Collins (Mathematics); William Herbst (Astronomy, Director of the Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Wesleyan University. It was built in 1914 and named after the former head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at the university, Prof. John M. Van Vleck. It is located in Middletown, Connecticut .-Directors:*...

); Richard Slotkin
Richard Slotkin
Richard Slotkin is a cultural critic and historian. He is the Olin Professor of English and American Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, and in 2010 was elected a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1995 he received the Mary C...

 (American Studies and English).

College of Social Studies

The College of Social Studies (CSS) was founded in 1959, combining the fields of history, economics, government, and philosophy. It emphasizes intellectual independence and collaborative and social ties between faculty and students. Students take 5.5 of the program's 10.5 (thesis-writing students take 11.5) required credits during their sophomore year. Sophomore year focuses on the development of modern Western society from historical, economic, social and political perspectives, and culminates with comprehensive final exams. Junior year has a more global focus, while Seniors are required to write an Honors thesis (full year) or a Senior Essay. The program is known for its collegial spirit and academic rigor.

College of Letters

The College of Letters (COL) combines the study of history, literature, philosophy, and a foreign language of the student's choice. The program has a primary focus on the Western canon. Undertaking a chronological study that progresses from antiquities to modernity, COL students take one colloquium together each semester and study abroad for the second semester of their sophomore year; they are expected to be at an intermediate level of study in their language of choice at the time they enter the program as sophomores. During their junior year students prepare for intensive comprehensive examinations on the three colloquia taken up to this point. During their senior year students must write a thesis (full year paper) or an essay (half year paper).

College of the Environment

The College of the Environment (COE), created in 2009, integrates the following components: 1) a curricular component, including the newly established environmental studies major, the environmental studies certificate, and a senior capstone project; 2) a Think Tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 of Wesleyan faculty, scholars of prominence, and undergraduates whose aim is to produce scholarly work that will influence national and international thinking and action on critical environmental issues; and 3) the Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI), which is designed to encourage COE majors with the most potential to undertake environmental research. The threefold goal of the CRI combines: a) preparing students for senior research work; b) recruiting students of exceptional skill for participation in the COE Think Tank; and c) preparing students for research careers in environmental studies, as well as facilitating internships (non-credit) to provide students with research opportunities and "real world" experience (e.g., internships with governmental organizations, NGO's, and businesses, etc.).

Science and mathematics

According to National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

 (NSF) research and data, the University ranks first nationally among liberal arts colleges in federal funding for research in the sciences and mathematics. Wesleyan is also the number one ranked liberal arts institution in publications by science and mathematics faculty as determined by a measure of research publication rate and impact of publication that factors in both the number of research papers and the number of times those papers are cited in the literature. The University's undergraduates co-author (with Wesleyan faculty) and publish more scientific papers than do students at any other liberal arts school. Additionally, the University is the only liberal arts college in the nation to receive research funding from the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 (NIH) to support a Molecular Biophysics Predoctoral Research Training Program. Wesleyan is the sole undergraduate liberal arts college to receive this support among research universities such as Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Harvard University Medical School, Duke, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania.The University also may be the only liberal arts college to offer an undergraduate concentration in Molecular Biophysics. Medical school acceptances historically have averaged above 90% and in some years Wesleyan has recorded an acceptance rate of 100%. Many pre-med graduates are admitted to the most prestigious programs in the country.

Wesleyan was one of the first colleges to establish a separate Molecular Biology & Biochemistry department, and has extensive laboratory facilities. The University is reputed to have the most square footage of lab space per student of any college in the country. All of the science departments, mathematics & computer science, psychology, and anthropology support original post-graduate research programs. An additional laboratory building is in the planning stages.

The Astronomy department graduates more astronomy and astrophysics majors than any other liberal arts college in the country. The program is based at Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory
Van Vleck Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Wesleyan University. It was built in 1914 and named after the former head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at the university, Prof. John M. Van Vleck. It is located in Middletown, Connecticut .-Directors:*...

, built in 1914, which is on Foss Hill near the center of the Wesleyan campus. The telescopes are used for research-based observing programs and sky watching events open to Wesleyan students and the general public. The University owns three telescopes. A 16 inches (406.4 mm) and a 20 inches (508 mm) are both used for weekly public observing nights, open to the Wesleyan community and the general public. The third telescope, the 24 inches (609.6 mm) Perkins telescope, is used primarily for research, including for senior and graduate student thesis projects, as well as for departmental research programs. The Perkins scope is one of the largest telescopes in New England. Wesleyan participates in a consortium of universities that operate the WIYN .9-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...

 in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. Students (undergraduate and graduate) and faculty have the opportunity to spend time in Arizona doing research with the telescope. Wesleyan also is a member of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (KNAC).
Science in Society

Wesleyan's Science in Society Program (SISP) is an interdisciplinary major that encourages integrated study of the sciences and medicine as practices, institutions, and intellectual achievements, among other areas of study. The program has three components: science courses, SISP courses, and an area of concentration (which may include a major in one of the sciences). The program is well suited for students interested in a variety of professional and academic pursuits, since it encourages students to integrate technical scientific understanding with a grasp of the multiple contexts in which scientific knowledge is applied, and the issues at stake in its application.

Music

Wesleyan's program in World Music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

, described as "one of the top schools in the country for the study of ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...

," employs leading teaching musicians and ethnomusicologists, representing a variety of musical traditions. European (including Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic, Expressionistic, Neoclassical, Neoromantic, Gebrauchsmusik, 20th century, Contemporary, and Opera), South Indian Classical, Indonesian (including Javanese Gamelan
Gamelan outside Indonesia
Gamelan, although Indonesian in origin, is found outside of that country. There are forms of gamelan that have developed outside Indonesia, such as American gamelan and Malay Gamelan in Malaysia.- Australia :...

), East Asian, classical Chinese music, Korean music, Japanese music including Taiko
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...

 drums, West African, Caribbean, African-American, as well as Experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

 have been permanent components of the Music Department since the 1960s. The Experimental music work at Wesleyan dates to the residency of John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

 at the University, and subsequently to Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...

, Ron Kuivila
Ron Kuivila
Ron Kuivila is an American sound artist from Boston, MA. He is primarily known for his sound installations, which often utilize computers.-Biography:...

, and Jon Barlow. "Among universities, Wesleyan has one of the largest and most diverse collections of [world] musical instruments," which are depicted in the University's "Virtual Instrument Museum."

Film studies

The University's Film Studies program, ranked among the ten best in the world, is led by film historian Jeanine Basinger
Jeanine Basinger
Jeanine Basinger , a film historian, is Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and Founder and Curator of The Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut....

. In 2008, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...

said: "This tiny Connecticut University, with a total enrollment of 2,700, has turned out a shockingly disproportionate number of Hollywood movers and shakers." Similarly, in 2008, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

magazine noted Basinger's contribution to the film industry through her work in the Wesleyan Film Studies program, and the large number of alumni of the program now working in Hollywood. University students, biographers, media experts, and scholars from around the world may have full access to The Wesleyan Cinema Archives, which document the film industry during the 20th century and contain the personal papers and film related materials of Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...

, Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...

, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...

, Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...

, Frank Perry
Frank Perry
Frank J. Perry, Jr. was an American stage and film director, producer and screenwriter. His directorial debut, the 1962 film David and Lisa, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director....

, Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...

, Robert Saudek
Robert Saudek
Robert Saudek was a Czech-born graphologist and writer of novels, stories, poems and plays. He had considerable influence on the content and standing of graphology worldwide...

, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

, Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...

, Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...

, and John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...

, amongst others.

Theater

Wesleyan's theater program makes use of two theater facilities: the Theater in the Center for the Arts, a 400-seat space, and the '92 Theater, home to Second Stage, which may be the country's first solely student-run volunteer theater organization. Second Stage produces at least one performance per weekend during the school year, either in the fully equipped black-box Patricelli '92 Theater or alternative spaces around campus. Second Stage produces dance as well as theater performances. The Patricelli '92 Theater (then simply '92 Theater) became available for student-run productions when the Center for the Arts opened in 1974, providing the Theater Department with a state-of-the-art facility.

Foreign Languages

The University's Foreign Language program offers American Sign Language, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili. All language classes are held in Fisk Hall, which contains two Language Labs for student use.

Certificates

"Certificate programs at Wesleyan supplement (but do not replace) a major. A certificate requires an interdisciplinary set of courses that prepares a student for postgraduate work in a specified interdisciplinary field." There are ten certificate programs at the University:

  • Certificate in Civic Engagement
  • Certificate in Environmental Studies
  • Certificate in Informatics and Modeling
  • Certificate in International Relations
  • Certificate in Jewish and Israel Studies
  • Certificate in Middle Eastern Studies
  • Certificate in Molecular Biophysics
  • Certificate in Social, Cultural and Critical Theory
  • Certificate in South Asian Studies
  • Certificate in Writing (Creative)

International Study

Wesleyan sponsors international programs in France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain; has special relationships with programs in Japan and China; and has 140 other approved programs. Nearly 50% of students study abroad for a semester or academic year.

Twelve College Exchange

Many students participate in the Twelve College Exchange program, which allows for study for a semester or a year at another of the twelve college campuses. Typically, Wesleyan receives a larger number of Twelve College students, especially from Smith
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

, Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...

, Wheaton
Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Wheaton College is a four-year, private liberal arts college with an approximate student body of 1,550. Wheaton's residential campus is located in Norton, Massachusetts, between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1834 as a female seminary, it is one of the oldest...

 and Vassar
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

. The program also includes Amherst
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, Bowdoin
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

, Connecticut College
Connecticut College
Connecticut College is a private liberal arts college located in New London, Connecticut.The college was founded in 1911, as Connecticut College for Women, in response to Wesleyan University closing its doors to women...

, Dartmouth
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, Trinity
Trinity College (Connecticut)
Trinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...

, Wellesley, and Williams
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

.

Departmental Programs

Wesleyan features 11 graduate departmental programs in the sciences, mathematics, computer science, psychology, and music. Graduates receive the Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

, Master of Science
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

, or Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Administrators limit graduate course enrollment to 18 students or fewer.

Graduate Liberal Studies Program

In 1953, Wesleyan was the first university to begin a program leading to a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies is a graduate degree that aims to provide both depth and breadth of study in the liberal arts. It is by nature an interdisciplinary program, generally pulling together coursework from a number of the humanities and social sciences...

 degree, called the Graduate Liberal Studies Program. To date, hundreds of educational institutions have followed suit with similar programs. The academically rigorous program provides for interdisciplinary graduate study independent of the undergraduate academic departments. This replaced the Master of Arts in Teaching program previously offered, and expanded it so that students can pursue graduate study for any purpose.

A large proportion of G.L.S.P. students are public and private school teachers from the region, and the others are in different professions, or are otherwise augmenting their graduate studies.

The Graduate Liberal Studies Program offers both the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) and the Certificate of Advanced Studies (C.A.S.). The former requires 36 credit hours of study and may culminate in a capstone project or thesis. The latter requires 30 credit hours of academic study and a thesis.

Rankings and admission

Admission to Wesleyan is among the most selective in the United States. For the class of 2015, 10,033 applications were received and 23% (up slightly from 19.9% for the previous year) of applicants (2,339) were admitted. The median SAT scores were 720 for Math, 720 for Reading, and 730 for Writing. Additionally, the middle 50 percent of students scored between 30 and 34 (composite) on the ACT. The median SAT score was 2170, and the median ACT score was 32. 49% of the class of 2015 receives financial aid, and 40% are students of color.

Historically, Wesleyan holds the Washington Monthly survey's No. 1 average liberal arts college ranking in the nation. For 2011, the University is ranked No. 11 in this survey, and previously has been ranked as high as #2. In the current U.S. News and World Report rankings, Wesleyan is the No. 12 liberal arts college
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...

 in the United States overall and is tied for No. 5 in academic reputation with Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...

 and Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...

. In previous U.S. News rankings, the University has been ranked as high as No. 6 overall. In the current U.S. News High School Counselor Rankings of National Liberal Arts Colleges, the University is ranked No. 11 (in a tie with Amherst
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

, Bowdoin
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

, Carleton
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...

 and two other schools).

Wesleyan has been ranked by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

as one of the 25 best colleges in the nation, among both national research universities and liberal arts colleges, for schools with the most highly decorated students ("Brainiac Schools"--which measures the success of alumni in winning Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Gates-Cambridge, and Fulbright Scholarships--#18 overall, No. 9 among liberal arts colleges), for international "students immigrating to the United States for their higher education" (#18 overall, No. 10 among LACs), for paying back alumni in future earnings and quality experience (#18 overall, No. 12 among LACs), for schools offering an exceptional artistic atmosphere (#13 overall, No. 7 among LACs), and for "Activists" (#6 overall, No. 4 among LACs, ahead of Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, Pomona and MIT).

In the 2010 Forbes magazine ranking of American colleges, which combines national research universities, liberal arts colleges, and military academies together in one list, the University is ranked #15. Among liberal arts colleges only, Wesleyan ranks No. 7 in the survey. "StateUniversity.com – U.S. University Directory", which takes a statistical approach to rankings, ranks Wesleyan No. 9 among liberal arts colleges, national research universities, and military academies, and No. 2 among liberal arts colleges alone. According to a study entitled "Revealed Preference
Revealed preference
Revealed preference theory, pioneered by American economist Paul Samuelson, is a method by which it is possible to discern the best possible option on the basis of consumer behavior. Essentially, this means that the preferences of consumers can be revealed by their purchasing habits...

 Ranking" published by the National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...

, which combines national research universities and liberal arts colleges, Wesleyan ranks No. 22, and No. 5 among liberal arts colleges only.

In its 2012 edition, the Princeton Review gave the University an admissions selectivity rating of 98 out of 99 (tied with Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 and the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

) and an academic rating of 98 (tied with Amherst and Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....

). The university is classified as a "most selective" institution by U.S. News and World Report, and in the U.S. News ranking of "Highest 4-Year Graduation Rates" for all colleges and universities in the nation, Wesleyan is ranked No. 10, tied with Yale, Amherst, Carleton, Swarthmore, and two other schools. In August 2011, the Global Language Monitor
Global Language Monitor
The Global Language Monitor is an Austin, Texas-based company that collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language...

ranked Wesleyan as the No. 7 liberal arts college in the U.S., based on an analysis of the University's appearance in "the Internet, blogosphere, the 75,000 print and electronic media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter)."

Wesleyan is ranked very highly in the Washington Monthly's key academic output categories, currently holding first place in the research component among national liberal arts colleges. Business Week's 2011 study of which undergraduate institutions produce graduates who fare best on the GMAT ranked Wesleyan No. 13 in the nation among both national research universities and liberal arts colleges and No. 2 among liberal arts colleges alone. In the Princeton Review's 2011 ranking of the 100 "Best Value Colleges" (a ranking combining national research universities and liberal arts colleges) Wesleyan was named the No. 6 "Best Value" private college in the nation. Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. According to the Wall Street Journal, the university is one of the top "feeder schools" to elite graduate medical, law, and business schools.

The University is notable for the success of its minority populations. Wesleyan is one of only nine universities with a black graduation rate above 90 percent, along with three members of the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

, its two fellow members of the Little Three
Little Three
The "Little Three" is an unofficial athletic conference of three elite liberal arts colleges in New England, United States. The "Little Three" are:* Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts* Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut...

, as well as Wellesley College, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, and Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

. In this regard, Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise is a monthly U.S. magazine which describes itself as "the premier business news and investment resource for African Americans" and claims a readership of 3.7 million. It was founded in 1970 by Earl G. Graves, Sr.. The publication is known for its annual listing of the largest...

has ranked Wesleyan No. 10 overall among the magazine's top 50 universities and colleges for African Americans, and No. 2 among liberal arts colleges alone. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has ranked Wesleyan as seventh among the nation’s 50 leading liberal arts colleges and universities in the percentage of full-time African American faculty members, and first for five years in the highest percentage of first-year black students.

Also noteworthy is the success of female students at the University: According to a recent summary, women constituted 55.3% of Wesleyan's undergraduates who received doctorates. Similarly, "[a]ccording to the 2000 to 2004 Survey of Earned Doctorates, women accounted for nearly 63% of the doctorates received by Wesleyan alumni/ae in the sciences (calculated either including psychology or including both psychology and the social sciences) and earned 53% of the doctorates in the sciences when psychology and the
social sciences were excluded."

After graduation

Wesleyan has been noted as one of the most productive baccalaureate colleges in the United States in the undergraduate origins of PhDs in all fields of study, with exceptional productivity in undergraduates pursuing doctorates in the physical sciences, geosciences, life sciences
Life sciences
The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...

, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

, and humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

. According to studies undertaken by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

, the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 and other federal agencies, for the years 1999–2008, 1999–2003, and 1994–2003, Wesleyan undergraduates were second in receiving PhDs among all liberal arts colleges in the nation. For example, the University produces more history doctorates per undergraduate history major than any other liberal arts college or national research university in the United States (with the exception of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 which tied for first place with Wesleyan in a study, by the American Historical Association, of history PhDs earned between 1989 and 2002).

Eighty percent of Wesleyan graduates attend graduate or professional school. "Five years after graduation, about seventy-five percent will have gone to some kind of graduate school, and acceptance rates to professional schools remain close to ninety percent." Wesleyan has been described by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

as one of the nation's 25 best colleges, including both liberal arts colleges and national research universities, for paying back alumni in future earnings and quality experience.

Wesleyan graduates are awarded external fellowships, including Fulbright, Goldwater, Marshall, Rhodes, Truman, and Watson. For the years 2004 through 2010, Wesleyan was named a "Top Producer of Fulbright Awards for American Students" by the Institute for International Education. For the years 2007 through 2011, a total of 42 Wesleyan students and alumni received scholarships under the Fulbright program. The University is reputed to have produced more Watson Fellows
Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a grant that enables graduating seniors to pursue a year of independent study outside the United States. The Fellowship Program was established by the children of Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM....

 than any other liberal arts college in the country (90 as of June, 2011).

Libraries

Olin Memorial Library

Wesleyan University has an extensive library collection, most of which is housed in Olin Memorial Library, which has more than 1.8 million volumes and approximately 10,000 serial subscriptions. Wesleyan's first library was Rich Hall (now '92 Theater), which was built just after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

In the early years of the University, there was a general collection housed on campus, and two society libraries, which were in the Observatory Hall dormitory. These three collections were combined to make up the basis of the Rich Hall collection, and the library was supervised by William North Rice
William North Rice
William North Rice was an American geologist, educator, and Methodist minister and theologian concerned with reconciliation of science and religious faith.-Early life and education:...

, the first University Librarian. Olin Library was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...

, built in 1925–27 and dedicated in 1928. Olin originally was much smaller and also contained classroom space. It has since been enlarged twice, the last time in 1992. Olin also contains Special Collections & Archives, an extensive periodicals collection, microforms, scores and recordings, the World Music Archives, and is a U.S. Government Document Depository.

Science Library

The second largest library on campus is the Science Library, which houses over two hundred fifty thousand volumes of science abstracts, books, journals, monographs, papers, periodicals, and surveys. The Science Library also has a large collection called the Cutter Collection, which is an older private collection of mostly 19th century English language books of European literature, art, and culture.

Other libraries



The third library in size is the Art Library, housed in the Davison Art Center. There is also a Music library and several department libraries.

The Davison Art Center

Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center is in the Alsop House, which is designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The Art Center has a large collection consisting primarily of works on paper, including 18,000 prints, 6,000 photographs, several hundred drawings, a small number of paintings, and three-dimensional objects (including artists' books
Artists' Books
Artists' books are works of art realized in the form of a book. They are often published in small editions, though sometimes they are produced as one-of-a-kind objects referred to as "uniques"....

, sculptures, and other objects). The print collection is considered to be one of the most important at an American University, with works by Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...

, Goya, Rembrandt, Manet
Manet
-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....

, and others. Parts of the collection are regularly exhibited to the public. Some objects have been made available for loan to selected museums in the United States and abroad. Students at Wesleyan in many departments make use of the DAC collection for class assignments, viewings, and individual research projects under the guidance of faculty. Wesleyan does not have a museum studies major, but assisting in curating and exhibiting the collection allows students some professional experience in the field.

The Art Center's publications program produces catalogs concerning DAC collections and gallery exhibitions. In general, one catalog is published annually. This program affords students the opportunity to take part in carefully mentored student authorship. Additionally, it is a critical component of the museum's educational program, which also includes student museum internships and solely student-curated exhibitions.

The Center for the Humanities

One of the University's seven academic centers, the Center for Humanities is one of the oldest humanities institutes in the nation. It developed from the Center for Advanced Studies, established at Wesleyan in 1959 as a place where visiting scholars, particularly in the humanities, could pursue research and writing projects. The Center assumed its present name in 1969, when it was reorganized and opened to the Wesleyan community. With the expansion of the community of Center Fellows to include Wesleyan faculty members and students, the Center added the promotion of innovative, interdisciplinary teaching to its initial goal of supporting research. The Center is also a place for ongoing communication between the humanities and the social sciences. Its program each semester is organized around a central theme, which in turn shapes a weekly series of public lectures and smaller seminars. As a meeting place for the humanities and social sciences, for Wesleyan faculty and visiting scholars, and for faculty and students, the Center is an important site of intellectual life at the University.

Past Fellows at the Center have included Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...

, George Boas
George Boas
George Boas was a Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University.He received his education at Brown University, obtaining both a BA and MA in Philosophy there, after which he studied...

, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Stanley Cavell
Stanley Cavell
Stanley Louis Cavell is an American philosopher. He is the Walter M. Cabot Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University.-Life:...

 (MacArthur Foundation
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. Based in Chicago but supporting non-profit organizations that work in 60 countries, MacArthur has awarded more than US$4 billion since its inception in 1978...

 "genius grant"), Rene Dubos
René Dubos
René Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...

 (Lasker Award
Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary...

, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

), Leon Edel
Leon Edel
Joseph Leon Edel was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel....

 (Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

, National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

), Richard N. Goodwin
Richard N. Goodwin
Richard N. Goodwin is an American writer who may be best known as an advisor and speechwriter to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and to Senator Robert F. Kennedy.-Life and career:...

, E. San Juan, Jr.
E. San Juan, Jr.
Epifanio San Juan, Jr., also known as E. San Juan, Jr. , is a known Filipino American literary academic, mentor, cultural reviewer, civic intellectual, activist, writer, essayist, video/film maker, editor, and poet whose works related to the Filipino Diaspora in English and Filipino languages have...

, Clarence Irving Lewis
Clarence Irving Lewis
Clarence Irving Lewis , usually cited as C. I. Lewis, was an American academic philosopher and the founder of conceptual pragmatism. First a noted logician, he later branched into epistemology, and during the last 20 years of his life, he wrote much on ethics.-Early years:Lewis was born in...

, William Manchester
William Manchester
William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...

, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...

, Sir Leslie Munro
Leslie Munro
Sir Leslie Knox Munro, KCMG, KCVO was a New Zealand lawyer, journalist, and politician of international standing.-Law and media:...

 (14th President of the United Nations General Assembly
President of the United Nations General Assembly
The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis.- Election :...

), Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul, Theodore R. Sarbin
Theodore R. Sarbin
Theodore Roy Sarbin , known as "Ted Sarbin", was an American psychologist and professor emeritus of psychology and criminology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was known as "Mr. Role Theory" because of his contributions to the social psychology of role-taking.- Biography :Sarbin was...

, Baron C.P. Snow, Pamela Hansford Johnson
Pamela Hansford Johnson
Pamela Hansford Johnson, Baroness Snow was an English novelist, playwright, poet, literary and social critic.-Career:...

 (Baroness Snow), Gayatri Spivak, Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford
Jean Stafford was an American short story writer and novelist, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford in 1970....

 (Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

), Willard Van Orman Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition...

, C.H. Waddington, U.S. Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....

, and Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...

 (Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

), amongst others.

The Center for Community Partnerships

The focus of community service at Wesleyan, the Center for Community Partnerships centralizes the offices of the Service Learning Center (SLC), the Office of Community Service and Volunteerism (OCS), and the Green Street Arts Center (GSAC). The SLC supports service-learning courses that use service to the community as an integral part of their course content. As of Spring 2007, 19 service-learning courses existed in nine different departments or programs. The OCS encourages community building within the University and with the City of Middletown and Middlesex County by offering opportunities for volunteer work and work-study placements in the community, and supporting student-sponsored social action initiatives. Volunteer opportunities include, among others, the Community Health Center, elderly services, housing and hunger issues, Middletown tutoring programs, and WesReads and WesMath (elementary school programs). Green Street uses the arts in an attempt to transform lives. It serves as a cultural and educational resource for community residents of all ages, and works to develop their talents and abilities. Green Street offers classes in literary and media arts, music, visual arts, dance, theater, and tutoring in math and science. Under the leadership of the University, the GSAC is a collaboration among Wesleyan, the City of Middletown, and the North End Action Team. Students and faculty volunteer at Green Street in many capacities, including as homework helpers, teaching assistants, and leaders of workshops.

Wesleyan University Press

My Weekly Reader
Weekly Reader
Weekly Reader is a weekly educational classroom magazine designed for children in grades Pre-K–12. It began in 1928 as My Weekly Reader....

, once read by legions of school-aged children in the United States, was published for several decades by American Education Publications (a division of the Press), owned by Wesleyan from 1949 until it was sold to the Xerox Corporation in 1965. The sale of AEP helped to finance Wesleyan's graduate programs and the Center for Advanced Study (now the Center for the Humanities).

The Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The Press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist...

 is an important educational asset to the school. When Wesleyan sold the school division (AEP), the University retained the scholarly division. During the early 1960s, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

 served as an editorial consultant to the Press. All editing occurs at the editorial office building of the Press on the Wesleyan campus. Publishing (printing) now occurs through a consortium of New England college academic presses. The Press is well regarded for its books of poetry and books on music, dance and performance, American studies, and film. The Wesleyan University Press has released more than 250 titles in its poetry series and has garnered, in that series alone, among many other awards, five Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

s, a Bollingen
Bollingen
Bollingen is a village within the municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.- Geography :The village is located along the northern shore of the upper Lake Zurich between Jona and Schmerikon...

, three National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

s, two National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....

, and an American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

. The Press also has garnered Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

s, American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

s, and other awards in its other series.

The Press serves Wesleyan students through its work programs during the academic year and its summer publishing internships. The Press also connects the campus to the larger intellectual and cultural world through the presence of its authors on campus, whether they are faculty, visiting scholars, guest lecturers, or participants in Wesleyan's Distinguished Writers Series or Writers Conference. Wesleyan is the smallest college or university to have its own press. Approximately 25 books are released each year.

Religious life

Wesleyan's Memorial Chapel is the heart of religious life on campus. The university employs a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic Priest, a Protestant Chaplain, and a Muslim Imam. There is also program housing for Buddhists and Jews. And within the Memorial Chapel there are meditation rooms. There is a Wesleyan program in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Traditions

The Douglas Cannnon
In the late 1860s, a yearly contest, the “Cannon Scrap,” began between the freshmen, whose mission it was to fire the cannon on February 22, and the sophomores, who were charged with foiling the effort.

Today, its empty gun mount sits near the flagpole, between South College and Memorial Chapel. In 1957, the tradition of stealing the cannon began in earnest. The cannon has traveled widely since that time: It has been hidden in dormitories, presented to the Russian Mission at the United Nations as a “symbol of peace, brotherhood, and friendship,” appeared unexpectedly in the offices of the managing editor of Life magazine, presented to President Richard M. Nixon as a protest against the war in Vietnam (Nixon declined), and baked into Wesleyan’s sesquicentennial birthday cake, among many other escapades. After resting again briefly on its pedestal in 1995, the cannon disappeared, and then briefly reappeared in December of 1997. Its present location is unknown.

Athletics

Wesleyan is a member of the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), fields intercollegiate varsity teams in 29 sports, and competes against traditional Little Three
Little Three
The "Little Three" is an unofficial athletic conference of three elite liberal arts colleges in New England, United States. The "Little Three" are:* Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts* Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut...

 rivals Amherst and Williams. Approximately 700 students participate in intercollegiate sports each year. Wesleyan is one of the 39 founding members of the NCAA (other founding institutions include Amherst, Dartmouth, University of North Carolina, Penn, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Williams).

Football
Situated in the heart of the campus is Wesleyan's Andrus Field, the oldest continuously used football field in the United States.

Softball

Wesleyan won the school's first-ever softball NESCAC Championship in 2010.

Men's Water Polo

In the past decade, the Wesleyan Men's Water Polo Club captured two titles in the Division III Championships, placed second in the Division four times, and appeared in six Division III National Collegiate Club Championships. For the team's efforts, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) named the team the "Collegiate Club Division III Team of the Decade" for 2000–09. The New England division includes, among other institutions, Yale, Williams, Dartmouth, Boston College, Boston University and Middlebury.

Student groups and organizations

There are more than two hundred student organizations, clubs, and departmental groups including a cappella groups, literary magazines, political organizations, theater and dance troupes, a vegetable farm, and groups devoted to outdoor activities, martial arts, ethnic interests, community tutoring and service, the arts, and academic interests. In response to student interests, new groups are continually formed and registered with the Wesleyan Student Assembly, which represents the student body and appropriates funding for student groups. With around 270 current student groups and 2800 undergraduates (a student group to undergraduate ratio of about 1 to 11), extracurricular opportunities abound at Wesleyan.

Wesleyan Student Assembly
The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) is a body of 38 students elected annually to represent Wesleyan University's undergraduate student body. The members of the Assembly serve as student advocates in all areas of the University, including matters related to student life, academics, University finances, and campus facilities. The WSA also serves as a liaison between the student body and the city of Middletown.

Debate

The Debate Society was founded in 1903 and later named in honor of Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, former Professor and Chair of History and Political Economy at Wesleyan from 1888–1890. It captured first place in past years at the annual Brown
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, Harvard, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, Tufts and Williams
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

 tournaments, among others, and has reached the semi-finals of all other major tournaments. The Debate Society also has competed internationally, and in 1990 the Society won the National Championships and ninth place in the World Student Debating Championships.

Environmental

Another student group is the Environmental Organizers' Network (EON), which has helped to bring discussions about climate change and environmental sustainability to the forefront of campus dialogue. Wesleyan also owns a tract of land that is used as Long Lane Farm, a 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) organic vegetable farm run mostly by students.

Publications

Some of the oldest and most visible student groups are campus publications, including a bi-weekly newspaper, The Wesleyan Argus, one of the oldest college newspapers in the country and the oldest twice-weekly college newspaper in the United States and a periodical, Hermes, the University's oldest student-run progressive publication. The student body also publishes the Olla Podrida which was originally a quarterly newspaper in the late 1850s, but which has been the college yearbook since the Civil War and the permanent establishment of the Argus as the campus newspaper. Wesleying is a student-run weblog that documents undergraduate life at Wesleyan.Overall, at least "[fifteen student publications are sent to press ... once a semester, ranging from the school newspaper, the Argus, to magazines of fiction, humor, women’s issues, activism, and poetry."

In addition to publications, the student body in conjunction with the administration has been responsible for the radio station WESU, 88.1 FM, which has broadcast locally since 1939

Singing groups

Wesleyan was long known as the "Singing College of New England." The University's "tradition as a 'singing college' had its roots in the vitality of Methodist hymnody." Glee clubs were formed "for special occasions from the mid-1840s through the 1860s". In 1862, however, a University glee club made the first tour of Wesleyan singers. The Wesleyan glee club organized by students frequently traveled and performed from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century and was considered among the best collegiate glee clubs in the late 19th century. It traveled widely giving concerts, including being received twice at the White House (in 1901 by President McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

 and again in 1928 by President Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

) and being recorded onto a phonograph record by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

. University alumni published the first edition of The Wesleyan Song Book in 1901. Subsequently, the Glee Club twice won the National Intercollegiate Glee Club Competition at Carnegie Hall. Since the Glee Club's disbanding, the tradition of choral singing has been carried on by the Wesleyan Singers, later renamed the Wesleyan Concert Choir, and then renamed again The Wesleyan Ensemble Singers (2010). It is currently directed by the former associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Spain, Angel Gil-Ordonez
Angel Gil-Ordoñez
Angel Gil-Ordóñez has attained an outstanding reputation among Spain’s new generation of conductors as he carries on the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Sergiu Celibidache. The Washington Post has praised his conducting as “mesmerizing” and “as colorfully textured as a fauvist painting.”The...

.

This tradition also continues today in several a cappella groups on campus, including, among others, the Cardinal Sinners (all-female), Onomatopoeia (all-female), the Wesleyan Spirits (all-male), Quasimodal (co-ed), the New Group (co-ed), Slavei (co-ed; Eastern European-themed), Notably Sharp (co-ed), Vocal Debauchery (co-ed), Slender James (all-male), and Waiting In Line (a co-ed comedy a cappella group). Additionally, a student-run ensemble called The Mixolydians sings contemporary choral works.

The musical In the Heights
In the Heights
In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights....

, was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (class of 2002) during his Sophomore year, and was nominated for 13 Tony awards
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for the Broadway production. The musical won four Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

s for Best Musical, Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics by Miranda), Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations, among other awards. In 2009, In the Heights
In the Heights
In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights....

won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award was given only to the album producer, and to the composer and lyricist who wrote at least 51% of the music which had not been recorded previously....

 and Miranda was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...

. (Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 announced in November 2008 that it plans to adapt the musical as a feature film.)

Secret societies and fraternities

Secret societies on campus include two Mystical Sevens
Mystical Seven (Wesleyan)
The Mystical Seven is a society founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut that currently is in existence as two separate groups. Publicly, members are called Mystics.-Early history:...

, Skull & Serpent, and Theta Nu Epsilon
Theta Nu Epsilon
Founded at Wesleyan University in 1870 as a chapter of Skull and Bones, Theta Nu Epsilon is a sophomore class society that accepts members regardless of their fraternity status.-Early history:...

. Skull & Serpent has a small building, called The Tomb, for meetings. The Mystical Seven senior society had a building from 1912 to 1997. The building burned in 1997 and was razed in 2007, though the society is still active. There are also chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha, Psi Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Delta Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Delta Sigma Theta, and Alpha Delta Phi.

Need-blind admissions

Wesleyan adheres to a need-blind admission
Need-blind admission
Need-blind admission is a term in the United States denoting a college admission policy in which the admitting institution does not consider an applicant's financial situation when deciding admission...

 policy. Financial circumstances are not considered when deciding whether to admit, wait list, or turn down an applicant. In 1982, trustees announced that, following federal cuts to student aid, Wesleyan would begin to consider financial circumstances when admitting wait-listed students. Students protested the decision, and though trustees did not back down from their recommendations, Wesleyan raised enough money for financial aid to avoid putting the new policy into effect. In 1992, the administration again considered a moratorium on need-blind admissions. A student group, Students for Financially Accessible Education (SFAE), organized a series of actions, including rallies, a silent vigil encircling a trustee meeting, a sit-in in an administration building, and a camp-out on its lawn. Wesleyan's need-blind admissions policy was preserved and remains today. For several years, SFAE continued to raise awareness about financial accessibility, offering interest-free loans to students with financial emergencies, and raising money for financial aid through energy conservation campaigns. The group appears to be dormant at this time.

WESU & National Public Radio

Another controversy in the same period was the status of the campus radio station, WESU
WESU
WESU is a college/community radio station in the United States, founded in 1939 as an unofficial AM carrier current station in the basement of Clark Hall. Upon eventually gaining recognition, the station operated under the callsign WES. In the 50's, the call-sign became WESU. Then in the 60's it...

, founded in 1939 as the second college radio station in the United States. WESU broadcasts 24 hours a day. Until 2004, WESU's format had been entirely free-form, with DJs and student staff having complete freedom to program what they will. The University had, at that time, announced its intent to seek an affiliation with National Public Radio, and to drastically change the station's format. Douglas Bennet, then President of the University, was a former president of NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

. The station now broadcasts an NPR feed from WSHU
WSHU-FM
-External links:*...

, the college station of Sacred Heart University
Sacred Heart University
Sacred Heart University is a Roman Catholic university located in suburban Fairfield, Connecticut, United States. Sacred Heart was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart University was the first Catholic university in...

, for several hours a day. For the remainder of the broadcast day, WESU continues to operate as a free-form station.

Literary, media, and cultural references

More than 30 books have been published concerning the University, including: The Wesleyan Song Book, by Karl P. Harrington and Carl F. Price (1901); The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education
The Goose-Step (book)
The Goose-step: A Study of American Education is a book, published in 1923, by the American novelist and muckraking journalist Upton Sinclair. It is an investigation into the consequences of plutocratic capitalist control of American colleges and universities...

, by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

 (1923); Wesleyan's First Century With an Account of the Centennial Celebration, by Carl F. Price (1932); Wesleyan University, 1831–1910: Collegiate Enterprise in New England, by David B. Potts (1999); The Gatekeepers: Inside The Admissions Process of a Premier College
The Gatekeepers
The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College is a 2002 nonfiction book written by education reporter Jacques Steinberg that examines the inner workings of admissions committees at prestigious colleges and universities in the United States and addresses the changing face of...

, by Jacques Steinberg (2002); One Hundred Semesters: My Adventures as Student, Professor, and University President, and What I Learned along the Way, by William M. Chace (14th President of Wesleyan) (2006); A History of the Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta, 1837–1970, by William B.B. Moody (2007); Hidden Ivies by Howard Greene and Matthew Greene (2000, 2nd Ed. 2009); Music at Wesleyan: From Glee Club to Gamelan by Mark Slobin (2010).

The main character, Girl, in the 2004 novel Citizen Girl (ISBN 0743266854), by the authors of The Nanny Diaries
The Nanny Diaries
The Nanny Diaries is a 2002 novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, both of whom are former nannies. The book satirizes upper class Manhattan society as seen through the eyes of their children's caregivers....

, is a graduate of Wesleyan.

In The Corrections
The Corrections
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium...

(National Book Award for Fiction
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

, 2001) by Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen is an American novelist and essayist. His third novel, The Corrections , a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction...

, Chip (a principal character) and Melissa visit and explore the University.

John Maher's 1995 work Thinker, Sailer, Brother, Spy: A Novel (ISBN 0964312107) features a fictional look at the life of a professor (a principal character) in the "hothouse atmosphere of Wesleyan University...."

In the 1983 novel The Matlock Paper
The Matlock Paper
The Matlock Paper is the third suspense novel by Robert Ludlum, in which a solitary protagonist comes face to face with a massive criminal conspiracy....

by Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...

, the author of espionage thrillers who created the character Jason Bourne
Jason Bourne
Jason Charles Bourne is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the novels of Robert Ludlum and subsequent film adaptations. He first appeared in the novel The Bourne Identity...

, much of the action take's place in and around the campus of a thinly disguised Wesleyan, Ludlum's alma mater.

The 1963 comedic novel, Night and Silence Who is Here?, by novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson
Pamela Hansford Johnson
Pamela Hansford Johnson, Baroness Snow was an English novelist, playwright, poet, literary and social critic.-Career:...

, is thought by many literary critics to be patterned humorously after Wesleyan's Institute for Advanced Studies (now the Center for the Humanities); the main characters comprise and parallel the cast of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

A play, The Eclectic Society, written by alumnus Eric Conger, is based upon the Eclectic Society
Eclectic Society (Fraternity)
The Eclectic Society was originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States...

 at the University during the early 1960s.

The 9 September 2002 episode of the TV quiz show Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

featured the University as an answer to a clue in the Jeopardy! Round: "Methodists founded this Connecticut University & named it for Methodism's founder." In the May 1990 Jeopardy! College Championship
Jeopardy! College Championship
The Jeopardy! College Championship is one of the traditional tournaments held each season on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! Contestants in this tournament are full-time undergraduate college students with no prior degrees...

, Wesleyan was represented for two weeks in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals (by senior Amy Zucker, who was the second runner-up in the Championship).

Characters in several television series have been portrayed as Wesleyan students or graduates. They include 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...

, As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

, How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

(characters Ted Mosby
Ted Mosby
Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby is the titular fictional character of the U.S. television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor...

, Marshall Eriksen
Marshall Eriksen
Marshall Eriksen is a fictional character in the American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and portrayed by Jason Segel.-Character profile:Marshall is an easy-going, naive optimist from St. Cloud, Minnesota...

, Lily Aldrin
Lily Aldrin
Lillian "Lily" Aldrin is a fictional character created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas for the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by American actress Alyson Hannigan. She is the wife of Marshall Eriksen and the best friend of Robin Scherbatsky...

), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The West Wing, and M*A*S*H.

The 1994 cult comedy film PCU
PCU (film)
PCU is a 1994 comedy film. The film depicts college life at the fictional Port Chester University, and represents "an exaggerated view of contemporary college life...." The film is based on the experiences of writers Adam Leff and Zak Penn at...

was based on (and filmed in part at) Wesleyan, the alma mater of the screenplay's two writers, Adam Leff and Zak Penn, and represents "an exaggerated view of contemporary college life...." centering around a fictionalized version of the Eclectic Society
Eclectic Society (Fraternity)
The Eclectic Society was originally a college fraternity at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was one of older fraternal college organizations in the United States...

, known in the film as "The Pit." PCU has been ranked among the ten best college movies.

In the autumn of 2010, the Pulitzer prize-winning comic strip Doonesbury
Doonesbury
Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau, that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college...

by Garry Trudeau
Garry Trudeau
Garretson Beekman "Garry" Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip.-Background and education:...

 featured the University in a series of daily strip
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....

s.

Notable alumni and faculty

Wesleyan alumni have achieved prominence in many fields, including U.S. and non–U.S. Supreme Court Justices; U.S. and non–U.S. Presidential cabinet members and Presidential advisers; U.S. Senators, Congresspersons, and Governors; diplomats; federal appellate and trial judges; U.S. Attorneys; scientists; presidents and founders of universities; physicians; CEOs; academicians; architects; artists; inventors; journalists; musicians; members of the military and the clergy; winners of the American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

, Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...

, Frederick Douglass Prize
Frederick Douglass Prize
The Frederick Douglass Book Prize is awarded by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, at Yale University.It is a $25,000 award for a book on the subject of slavery.-External links:*, CSPAN, February 28, 2002...

, National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....

, Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...

, O. Henry Award
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American master of the form, O. Henry....

, Orange Prize, Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

, Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....

, and Whiting Writers' Award
Whiting Writers' Award
The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...

; recipients of MacArthur Fellowships, Rhodes
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...

, DAAD Scholarship
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....

s, Fulbrights, Goldwaters, Guggenheim Fellowships, Luce Scholarship
Henry Luce Scholar
Henry Luce Scholar is a recipient of a cultural exchange and vocational fellowship sponsored by The Henry Luce Foundation, a private foundation established by Time, Inc. founder Henry R. Luce.-The program:...

s, Marshall
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...

s, Truman
Truman Scholarship
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a highly competitive federal scholarship granted to U.S. college juniors for demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service. The scholarship is in the amount of $30,000 toward a graduate education...

s, Watsons, and White House Fellows
White House Fellows
The White House Fellows program was established by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964. President Johnson articulated that the mission of the program was "to give the Fellows first hand, high-level experience with the workings of the federal government and to increase...

hips; recipients of the Balzan Prize
Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...

, the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

, and the Congressional Gold Medal; members of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

, and National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...

; Oscar, Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

, Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

, Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

, and Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

 winners.

Former Wesleyan faculty and affiliates V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...

, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, and T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

 have been awarded Nobel Prizes. Gary Yohe
Gary Yohe
Gary Wynn Yohe is the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of economics at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, and Director of the John E. Andrus Public Affairs Center at Wesleyan. He holds a PhD from Yale University....

, current Professor of Economics, is a senior member and convening lead author of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Other faculty have been or are members of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

, and recipients of the Lasker Award
Lasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary...

, MacArthur Fellowship, Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...

, National Humanities Medal
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.The award, given by the...

, National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...

, National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...

, and Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

, among other awards. Former faculty and affiliates, Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....

, Mark Strand
Mark Strand
Mark Strand is an American poet, essayist, and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. Since 2005, he has been a professor of English at Columbia University.- Biography :...

, and Donald Hall
Donald Hall
Donald Hall is an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2006.-Personal life:...

 were United States Poet Laureates. The avant-garde composer John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

 was affiliated with the University from the 1950s until his death in 1993. Cage collaborated with members of the University's music faculty, and composed and performed on campus. Several of his books were published by the Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The Press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist...

. Similarly, author and biographer William Manchester
William Manchester
William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...

was affiliated with the University from 1955 until his death in 2004, and served as an adjunct professor of history, professor of history, professor of history, Emeritus, and writer-in-residence, among other positions.

External links

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