Student Ombuds
This semester we are launching a Student Ombuds program at Wesleyan, which is an initiative inspired and informed by student voices.
The Student Ombuds are available to talk with students about your concerns related to experiences in the classroom, with your athletic team, or within other parts of your academic and campus life at Wesleyan. Each Ombud serves as a neutral and confidential peer resource focused on empowering students to successfully navigate the institution and advocate for yourselves in moments of conflict.
Here’s just a few of the ways Student Ombuds can offer support:
- Serve as a private, confidential thought partner for students considering options for resolving an issue
- Hold a safe and supportive conversational space, simply listening and serving as an impartial sounding board
- Provide insight on managing challenging conversations
- Share information about campus resources
- Explain institutional policies and processes, including those regarding how to make a formal complaint to the University
- Communicate any observed patterns of concern to university leadership
The Student Ombuds partner with and are supported by Dr. April Ruiz, Dean for Academic Equity, Inclusion, & Success.
Students can connect with any of the individual Ombuds they wish, or they can email studentombud@wesleyan.edu to reach out to the full team and to be assigned to any Ombud whose availability matches theirs.
Our Student Ombuds stand ready to support you throughout the academic year.
Free Class of 2024 T-Shirt and Silicone SmartPhone Wallet
Come to the Class of 2024 Welcome Reception under the Huss Tent on Thursday, September 9 from 4:30-5:30 to get a free Class of 2024 T-Shirts and Silicone Phone Smart Wallet. Supplies are limited and will be available only on a first-come first-served basis.
Class of 2024 Campus Tours
Greetings Class of 2024,
This past year has been difficult in many ways for all Wesleyan students, but the Class of 2024 is unique in that many students will be coming to campus for the first time as sophomores, and others who were able to be on campus couldn’t get to know the real Wes in a typical year.
Upperclassmen have volunteered to host modified “campus tours” for members of the Class of 2024 during WesWOW (Sept 6th-Sept 12th)! Your upperclassmen tour guides can show you all the best places to know about on campus! Sign up on the Excel sheet below if you would like to take a walk through Wesleyan and learn about it from another student’s perspective and make upperclassmen connections!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tQVIj0-y6gwRtMIslDZiTAGEFZGHp570LBGT0PSvfWM/edit?usp=sharing
We will be capping each tour at 5 students per group, so if there are already 5 names listed, please sign up for another time. The designated meetup location for the tours is in front of North College, on the side facing High St. The last day to sign up will be Sept 4th!!
If you have any questions, feel free to email schang@wesleyan.edu or hallisonway@wesleyan.edu.
Engaged Projects CSPL/CGST480
Engaged Projects (CSPL/CGST480) are 1.0-credit, semi-independent educational endeavors that empower Wesleyan students to study a topic of their choice and produce a public project. They:
- Encourage students to connect their academic studies to the complex world outside Wesleyan, test their capacity to engage with and find meaning in public life, and reflect on their own positionality and agency
- Empower students to imagine, design, and produce projects for a non-academic audience
- Nurture personal connections through relationships with Sponsors and Cohorts
- Endow students with the skills, confidence, and intellectual flexibility to shape a safe and better future
- Provide academic space to practice research methods, public writing, and other competencies that are fundamental to a Wesleyan education
All Engaged Projects have the following components:
Topic | Each Engaged Projects student chooses a topic that has some connection to their education and to the world.
Research | Students meet with a librarian to devise a research strategy that draws from multiple disciplines, research methods, and sources.
Sponsor | Engaged Projects students enlist a volunteer Sponsor who has lived or professional experience with their topic. Sponsors give advice and feedback throughout the semester.
Cohort | Students are grouped into Cohorts of three for peer mentorship and accountability.
Instructors | A member of the faculty and a student teaching apprentice (TA) host office hours and comment on submitted assignments. (There are no mandatory class meetings or lectures.)
Project | After conducting and analyzing their research, students design and create a project for a public (not academic) audience. Weekly homework assignments document progress and increase accountability.
Medium | Projects can be completed in any medium. Past students have created films, podcasts, websites, blogs, slide presentations, Instagrams, e-books, and more.
Audience | Each Engaged Project must have a target audience. The most successful projects are those that seek input from audience members early and often, and that have the potential to impact that audience positively.
Reflection | Students complete three reflections during the semester, deepening the learning experience.
For more information, visit http://engagedprojects.site.wesleyan.edu/ and schedule time to meet with the instructor at http://calendly.com/mjkingsley
Consent@Wes 9/8
Consent@Wes
Wednesday, September 8
1-3 pm
Usdan 108
Class of 2024 Welcome Activities
Saturday, September 4
10:30 a.m. Got Balance? Mindful Wes (Hogwarts Tent)
1:00 p.m. Waste Not Tag Sale (Garage behind 44 Brainerd Ave)
8:00 p.m. Welcome Back to Campus Open Mic (tent behind Usdan)
Sunday, September 5
9:00 a.m. WesBAM (Wes Body and Mind) Workouts (Fayerweather Rehearsal Studios)
10:00 a.m. Catholic Student Organization Brunch (Zelnick Pavillion)
10:00 a.m. Throw Culture: Ultimate Frisbee (Foss Hill)
2:30 p.m. Wesleyan Student Assembly Info Session (Usdan 108)
3:00 p.m. Meet the Muslim Student Association (Usdan 110)
3:00 p.m. Wesleyan Christian Fellowship (TBD)
4:30 p.m. Class of 2024 Photo and Welcome from President Roth (behind Olin Library)
6:00 p.m. “Sunday Serenade” A Cappella Concert (Memorial Chapel)
8:00 p.m. Wesleyan Jewish Community S’mores Night (Bayit backyard)
9:15 p.m. Residential Community Meetings
Monday, September 6
12:00 noon Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Wesleyan (Albritton 022)
Tuesday, September 7
12:30 p.m. Navigating COVID-19 Boundaries (online)
Wednesday, September 8
11:30 a.m. Getting around Middletown 101 (Huss Courtyard)
12:00 noon Health Professions Overview for your First and Second Year
12:00 noon CAPS 101
1:00 p.m Consent@Wes for the Class of 2024 (Usdan 108 and online)
3:30 p.m Student Affairs and Financial Aid Open House (North College 2nd floor)
Thursday, September 9
11:00 a.m. Study Abroad Fair (online)
11:00 a.m. Student Employment Fair (Usdan Tent)
12:00 noon CAPS 101
4:30 p.m. Class of 2024 Welcome Reception with Dean Mike and Dean Phillips (Labyrinth tent)
7:00 p.m. Theater Fall Productions Info Session (Online)
8:00 p.m. Screening: Singing in the Rain (Goldsmith Family Cinema)
Friday, September 10
1:00 p.m. Writing at Wesleyan (Shapiro Center for Writing)
2:00 p.m. IDEAS Lab Open House
2:00 p.m. Student Involvement Fair
4:30 p.m. Introduction to Student Journalism and the Argus
8:00 p.m. Screening: Nomadland (Goldsmith Family Cinema)
Saturday, September 11
8:00 p.m. Screening: Beatriz at Dinner (Goldsmith Family Cinema)
Learn More about the FGSS Fall 2021 Gateway Courses
Learn more about these FGSS Fall 2021 gateway courses that are available to first-year and sophomore class students:
- FGSS 200F Sex/Gender Critical Perspective (FYS): MW 8:20am-9:40am
- FGSS 200 Sex/Gender Critical Perspective: MW 4:40-pm-6:00pm
Course Description
Feminist, gender and sexuality studies is an exciting interdisciplinary field that addresses gender, sex, and sexuality as well as related issues of race, class, nation, and citizenship across multiple disciplines, epistemologies, methods, and vantage points. At its most fundamental, the field addresses how persons are identified and identify themselves as similar to and different from each other and the relation of these categories of difference to power relations. The study of feminist and queer thought on sex/gender and sexuality offers a critical lens through which to examine social structures and social problems, inequality, difference and diversity, identity and the self, belonging and community, and the possibility of social change, among other topics. This course will offer a broad introduction to the field and provide a foundation for further study of specific areas of interest. The primary goals are to (1) explore the multiple ways feminist and queer scholars have understood sex, gender, and sexuality; (2) explore different methods and styles of feminist thought and expression; (3) situate these in time and place, with attention to historical and cultural contexts; and (4) explore the intersections of sex, gender, and sexuality with race, nation, and other categories of difference. The course will cover aspects of first-wave feminism (e.g., suffrage and the abolitionist movement); second-wave feminism and critical theories of sex/gender; and contemporary feminism, including queer theory, intersectionality and race, and transnational and postcolonial feminism.