Remember the "freshman 15"?

The Freshman 15 Research Group is looking for volunteers--both freshmen and seniors. Ellie Healy '10 writes:

Please come participate in our focus groups for our research project!! We are a group of students studying opinions and facts about the freshman 15. We would love for you to participate in a non-invasive discussion about your feelings on the freshman 15 and how the freshman 15 has influenced, if at all, your college experience.

Please come participate! Our focus groups will be held in the psychology lounge of Judd Hall. Baked goods will be provided!!!

Dates and times are as follows:

Freshman women: Thursday, Oct. 30, 5:00-6:00 PM

Freshman men: Sunday, Nov. 2, 1:30-2:30 PM; Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5:00-6:00 PM

Senior women: Thursday, Nov. 4, 5:00-6:00 PM

Senior men: Wednesday, Oct. 29, 8:00-9:00 PM; Sunday, Nov. 2, 1:30-2:30 PM

Contact Ellie (ehealy@wes) or Katie Grogan '09 (kgrogan@wes) if you're interested.

This Saturday: A Chance to Hear About Some Fellow Students' Research Adventures Abroad

The Office of Internation Studies and SIT (School for International Training) Study Abroad present: a conference on "The Joys, Challenges, and Uses of Student Research Abroad."

All day this Saturday, April 26, drop by Usdan to learn about the experiences of seven Wesleyan students (myself included) who lived and did research abroad. Come if you're interested in international or intercultural issues or the politics of study abroad programs, if you've been abroad and you miss it, or if you're thinking of going in the future. Each presenter will talk about the challenges, lessons, and rewards of hir study abroad experience and will discuss the research ze performed. And it will be way more interesting/exciting than I'm making it sound.

Schedule of Events
9:45 am Coffee and pastries
10:00 am Opening remarks
--Carolyn Sorkin, Director of International Studies, Wesleyan University
--Rebecca Hovey, Globally Engaged Scholar, SIT Study Abroad

10:15 am Panel I: Africa:
--Jessica Posner, SIT Kenya: Development, Health, and Society
“The Face Behind the Mask: A Play About Poverty”
--Johanna Richlin, SIT Ghana: Arts & Culture
“Invoking the Israelites: The Manifestations of Hebraic Identity in Ghana”
--Jettie Word, SIT Cameroon: Culture and Development
“From Buenos Aires to the Bamileke: Foreign Narrative and Gender Dynamics in Cameroon”
--Matt Podolin, SIT Kenya: Health, Development, and Society
“Developing Community-Sensitive Sexual Health Education: An Examination Through Kibera Youth”

11:45 am Panel II: East and West
--Alissa Greenberg, SIT Yunnan
“‘Once Upon a Time’ in the Valley: Storytelling and Ethnic Identity on the Nu River, China”
--Maura Scully, SIT Ireland: Peace and Conflict Studies
“Walls: Space, Violence and Group Identity in Ethnic Conflict”
--Lindsay Weber, SIT The Balkans: Gender, Transformation, and Civil Society
“poetic terrorism//this is your true desire” Autonomous Spaces, Organizing, and Squatting in Two Croatian Urban Environments”

1:00 pm Lunch
2:30 pm Roundtable: Wesleyan faculty and SIT Academic Directors discuss the joys, challenges and uses of student research abroad, and offer some suggestions on how to do it well
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What: A Research Abroad conference featuring student presentations based on time in the Balkans, Ireland, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon, and China
When: Saturday, April 26, 9:45 AM- 4 PM
Where: Andersen Meeting Room (110), Usdan

WesResearch?

If you’re anything like me you came to wes not only because you wanted a liberal arts school, but also because you knew the programs here in the sciences are totally solid (link proof). One of the great things about the sciences at wes is the departments and majors tend to be relatively small so getting to know professors on a personal level is practically a given. This also means that finding a professor to do research with is actually incredibly easy: you just have to ask. There’s an amazing plethora of cutting edge research being conducted here. You don’t have to be a major, and you can even be a freshman, which is something I think a lot of frosh don’t realize! Personally, I’m only starting to pick this up now as a sophomore and the geek in me is quite excited.