Renee Johnson-Thornton, Ph.D.

The Gordon Career Center at Wesleyan University is excited to announce a new partnership with the Denver-based CLIMB Internship Program

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The Gordon Career Center at Wesleyan University is excited to announce a new partnership with the Denver-based CLIMB Internship Program.

Colorado Leaders, Interns and Mentors in Business (CLIMB) is an intensive paid summer internship program for students from Wesleyan, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Middlebury, Brown, MIT, Denison, and Northwestern McCormick School of Engineering. The 30-40 students learn the business, professional, civic, and social offerings of the Denver area. CLIMB offers students challenging paid jobs, introductions to the community and its leaders, alumni mentorships, interesting events and group housing for the summer.

The CLIMB program consists of four principal components to educate students and connect them with Denver and Colorado.

Challenging Internships
The cornerstone of the program is to provide high-quality, 7- to 10-week paid summer internships (private, nonprofit, and public). The program offers a wide range of employment opportunities in metro Denver. A few of our past employers include the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Pathfinder Systems, the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, Analysis Group, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Emich Volkswagen, Hosting.com and Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO).

Events
The program sponsors a series of programs and events during the summer to educate students about Denver, and introduce them to Colorado. Events have included discussions with the Mayor, the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools, Senator Gary Hart, the President and CEO of the Denver Broncos, business leaders, discussions of climate change and water policy, a lecture and Shakespeare play “under the stars,” rafting on the Colorado and Arkansas rivers, picnics and hikes, community service opportunities, and alumni-hosted dinners.

Group Housing
Interns are housed together, at the Program’s expense, at Campus Village at Auraria, www.campusvillagedenver.com. Students share dinners and discussions of work, and build close and lasting friendships, and understandings of their various schools.

Mentors
Students are paired with local mentors to help them learn about Denver, and to connect them to Denver. Mentors are friends and models for the students as they demonstrate the balance of work, family, organizational commitments, and civic leadership. Alumni of participating schools are welcome to apply for mentoring opportunities by contacting climbinternships@gmail.com.

Current Opportunities

Internship opportunities across a variety of fields and industries are posted by the CLIMB Internship Program (rather than by each company) on Handshake. To see newly added opportunities log-in to Handshake, click on “Jobs & Internships,” and search by the keyword “CLIMB.”

Water Engineering Intern, Wright Water Engineers — Application Deadline 1/29

Simulator Engineering Intern, Pathfinder Systems, Inc. — Application Deadline 1/29

Investment Analyst Summer Internship, Arrowpoint Partners — Application Deadline 1/30

Biomedical Research and Introduction to Medical Careers Internship, Webb-Waring — Application Deadline 1/29

Marketing/Digital Internship, Novus Biologicals — Application Deadline 1/29

Business Intern, FareHarbor — Application Deadline 2/19

Summer Internship Program, Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology — Application Deadline 2/19

Clean Energy Internships, National Renewable Energy Lab — Application Deadline 2/19

Real Estate Private Equity Summer Associate, Ascentris (Cardinal Internship) — Application Deadline 3/19

 

**NEW AND TIMELY COURSE FOR THIS COMING SEMESTER!**

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**NEW AND TIMELY COURSE FOR THIS COMING SEMESTER!**

FIST229: POLITICAL TURMOIL: “What just happened? What’s going to happen? What do we do now?”

Prof. Meg Furniss Weisberg <mweisberg@wesleyan.edu>

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:20-2:40pm

https://iasext.wesleyan.edu/regprod/!wesmaps_page.html?crse=014857&term=1171

Political turmoil, while disconcerting to say the least, is nothing new. This course will look at case studies from different times and regions (the creation of the US; the 1960’s in the US, France, Italy, and elsewhere; Brazil’s and Chile’s dictatorships; Italy in the 90s; the Arab Spring; post-Revolution Iran; the Great Leap Famine in China; contemporary Mali and D. R. Congo; and the U.S. just before the Civil War, among others) to see how others have responded to periods of political oppression and upheaval. After an initial period of discussion based on readings, we will hold conversations with members of our campus community who have experienced various forms of political turmoil.

The goal of the course is ultimately project-based: as we gain perspective on the issues, we will turn what we learn into well-informed, measured, concrete action. In particular, we will workshop several writing exercises related to the topic and destined to make an impact (letter to the editor, letter to an elected official, public service announcement for the radio, etc). All students (including those whose first language is not English) are welcome in the course and will receive individualized attention to their writing.

The structure of this course will be somewhat unusual: after the first few meetings, the first session of each week will be devoted to discussing the week’s reading and collectively brainstorming questions; during the second session, we’ll ask those questions of the week’s invited guest (often, but not always, another faculty member). We will write and workshop pieces related to the topic and/or destined to make an impact (letter to the editor, letter to an elected official, public service announcement for the radio, etc). We are also going to make a radio program interviewing our guests, so that the course can reach a wider audience.

This course is going to be an experiment: it will operate more like a working group than a regular academic course, and I will be learning beside you, rather than imparting information. My role will be to teach about effective writing, deepen your critical thinking and analytical abilities, solicit guest speakers who will suggest readings, and facilitate discussions. The class will be graded CR/U, and would likely be fine to take in addition to a normal course load—though it goes without saying that you should check with your advisor.

 More info: contact:

——————————————

Meg Furniss Weisberg

Visiting Assistant Professor of French

Interim Director of Academic Writing

Wesleyan University  

300 High St, Middletown CT USA

+1 (860) 685-2902

https://wesleyan.academia.edu/MegWeisberg

Center for the Study of Public Life (CSPL) is showcasing several classes

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This spring, the Center for the Study of Public Life (CSPL) is showcasing several classes taught by some exciting and unusual visitors, in addition to some wonderful classes taught by Wesleyan professors. The following courses still have seats available:

·  Community Research Seminar (SOC 316), cross-listed with ENVS, the Civic Engagement Certificate, and the Environmental Studies Certificate

Taught by Rob Rosenthal (1.5 credit, meets M/W 10:50 am-12:10 pm) – contact Course Assistant Maddie Scher for the application and with any questions

Teams of students learn the theory and practice of doing community research while carrying out research for local nonprofits, community organizations, and activist groups.  1.5 credits.  Highly challenging, highly rewarding. This year’s projects include research on how institutional and systemic racism effects of Communities of Color in Middletown (for the Middlesex Coalition for Children) and the long-range effects of service-learning courses (for the Wesleyan Service-Learning Program).

·  Group Psychology in Politics: Local, State, and National Perspectives (CSPL 206)

Taught by Middletown’s Mayor Dan Drew (0.5 credits, meets Friday 1:20-4:10 pm) – open to first-years!

This course is an introduction to the use of group dynamics to understand the deep personal and systems-level issues at play in the body politic. This framework is applicable at the local, state, national, and international levels. Often, if not most of the time, these issues play an outsized role in any public policy initiative, debate, vote, action, deliberation, and discourse, though they are rarely acknowledged. This class will examine group dynamics as it is practiced in the field of organizational development (OD), a branch of organizational psychology used to implement cultural changes across social systems. The application of OD to politics is not widespread, but its tools are useful in understanding the dynamics in political situations and in the understanding of how power is exercised. The course will introduce concepts in open systems theory and will introduce three models to hold the data in our case studies: the Burke-Litwin Model, BART, and GRPI. 

·  Topics in Journalism: Writing, Wit, and the Natural World (CSPL/WRCT 250K)

Taught by Koeppel Fellow Richard Michael Conniff (1 credit, meets T/R 2:50-4:10 pm)

This course will engage students as readers and writers of essays, opinion pieces, and long form articles about the natural world. We live in the shadow of climate change and the sixth great extinction event. So when is outrage effective, and when does wit or irony allow a writer to find a more persuasive voice? What’s the role of objectivity in a world where everybody seems to be shouting? We’ll consider the work of such writers as Gerald Durell, David Quammen, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Peter Matthiessen. Students will also write regularly and collaborate together in class to critique and improve one another’s work. 

·  Collaborative Cluster Initiative Research Seminar II (CSPL 321)

Taught by Sean McCann and Charles Barber (0.5 credit, meeting time TBA) – POI (open to any interested students)

Students participating in the Collaborative Cluster Initiative will take this course in the spring semester. They will continue with projects started in the fall semester. This is a continuation of CSPL320. This course will supplement the seminars providing historical and cultural background of the prison system in the United States. The emphasis will be on the practical application of topics engaged in the other seminars and contemporary concerns related to the prison system in the U.S. We shall follow current debates at both the national and state level, including legislation, media, and university initiatives. Students will also visit local sites. Speakers will visit the class to share their experiences and expertise. Students will conduct individual research projects and present them in workshop fashion.

·  Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy (CSPL 333)

Taught by singer/songwriter Dar Williams (1 credit, meets Wednesday 1:20-4:10 pm)

This course will focus on music movements that have used the presentation, expression, and production of music and music events to facilitate sociopolitico transitions. The vital context of these movements is the United States in particular, where the speed and power of commerce, as well as the concentration of capital, present unique opportunities for progressive values and goals in music.

We will look at huge events, like the Newport festivals, Woodstock, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Lillith Fair, and Bonnaroo, and examine how these movements have both evolved and spread their tendrils into the world (if they have). We will also spend some time on smaller, grassroots venues and music series in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and New York and see how blues, folk, punk, and “Americana” venues have affected and interacted with their communities. We will look at how music scenes evolved and grew and sometimes became institutions, like the Chicago Old Town School of Music.

·  Topics in Education, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Social Entrepreneurship in Education (CSPL 341B)

Taught by Harber Fellow Bernard Dean Bull (1 credit, meets T/R 10:20-11:40 am)

This seminar focuses upon educational innovation and entrepreneurship as a form of social entrepreneurship, some of society’s greatest challenges in education. Learners will survey critical issues in contemporary education and explore innovative and entrepreneurial efforts to address these issues. Learners will explore how diverse education startups, non-profit organizations and NGOs, individuals and grassroots groups, K-12 schools, Universities, foundations, professional associations and others are responding to these issues in innovative ways. As the course progresses, learners will explore the roles of foundations, corporations, and government policies and regulations upon educational innovation and entrepreneurship. As part of this course, learners will work individually or in groups to research solutions to a pressing contemporary educational challenge and propose/pitch a means of addressing that challenge through social entrepreneurship.

The Wesleyan Sustainability Office is hiring! Apply by Sunday, January 29

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The Wesleyan Sustainability Office is hiring!  Please apply if you’re interested and share with others who may be interested:

Communication and Outreach Intern: Are you interested in sustainability? Want to help lead change on campus? Want to learn more about web design and pick up some communication skills? Then consider applying to be the Communication and Outreach Intern starting in February 2017! This awesome job will have you working on publicizing events & projects all throughout campus to promote sustainability! You will also be involved in strategic planning for the office and act as liaison between administration, faculty, staff and students. You’d be working within an established structure with as much support as needed! It’s a great opportunity to learn how to be an operator of change with an important issue!

Apply through the Google Form by Sunday, January 29 at https://goo.gl/Vvx6CP!  Questions can be directed to jkleindienst@wesleyan.edu. 

Please note, there are now 2 forms of Course and Teaching Evaluations

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Juniors – Please be sure to complete your course and teaching evaluations to avoid delays in seeing your course grades. There are now two forms of the evaluations. – Dean Thornton

New Teaching Evaluations Update

Wesleyan is implementing a new teaching evaluation form this fall.  The majority of classes will use the new teaching evaluation form, with new questions.  However, a small number of classes will continue to use the old form for a few more terms, so some students will complete a different form for certain classes.  There will be one landing page for all student course evaluations, with a link to the correct form for each course.

“Professor Meet-and-Greet” – Thurs., 12/1, 4:30 p.m., Judd 113

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“Professor Meet-and-Greet” – Thurs., 12/1, 4:30 p.m., Judd 113

Royette Tavernier

Come learn more about ongoing research on campus! PSI CHI  (Wesleyan’s psychology honor society) is hosting a Professor Meet-and-Greet with Prof. Royette Tavernier.  Prof. Tavernier is a developmental psychologist, whose research program examines the link between sleep and psychosocial adjustment. This is a great way to get to know professors in a more informal space, to ask questions, and to get to know fellow psychology majors and non-psychology majors.

**This event is open to all students.** Coffee and donuts will be provided! No need to RSVP. Any questions, please contact any of the Psi Chi officers.

Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Program (MICHHERS)

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The University of Michigan invites outstanding individuals to apply for the Michigan Humanities Emerging Research Scholars Program (MICHHERS). This program is designed to encourage rising seniors, recent B.A.s and terminal Master’s students from diverse cultural, economic, geographic, and ethnic backgrounds to consider pursuing a doctoral degree in humanities at the University of Michigan. Our goal is to attract diverse scholars with unique experiences who foster innovation and push the humanities to meet today’s challenges. For 2017, students interested in the fields of English, History, Linguistics, Romance Languages and Literatures, Sociology (qualitative), and Women’s Studies (any humanities field) are eligible.

This summer research experience, running from Tuesday, June 6 to Wednesday, June 14, 2017, will help students learn about the various fields within their chosen discipline along with the latest methodologies and developments from faculty in individual departments. Students will have the opportunity to work on a piece of their own scholarship or develop a research project in consultation with U-M faculty and graduate students in their field. Attention will also be given to articulating the importance of diversity to the development of the humanities. Students will receive practical instruction on applying to graduate school and pursuing careers inside and outside academia.

http://www.rackham.umich.edu/michhers

NEW COURSE: CGST210 Q: What is linguistics?

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NEW COURSE:  CGST210

Q:  What is linguistics?

A: It’s the study of language, its structures, and the way it works.

We’re pleased to be re-introducing into the Wesleyan curriculum an introductory course on Linguistics, to be taught by Prof. Louise Neary in Spring 2017.  This course will introduce students to some of the principal areas like phonology  (the study of the sounds of language),morphology (the structure of words), syntax (the structure of sentences) and semantics (the meaning of language). 

This course has no prerequisites and will be interesting for anyone curious about how and why humans make the sounds we make. 

Check out Wesmaps for more info.  Offered M & W—2:50-4:10 p.m.