Scholarly exchange

Strengthening U.S.-Japan Ties Beyond Defense: Wesleyan Hosts Binational Symposium on Soft Security Cooperation

by Zaynah Almasri On March 5th and 6th, Wesleyan University proudly welcomed members of a binational U.S.-Japan study group focused on advancing non-military cooperation between the two nations. In light of shifting global dynamics—particularly China’s growing geopolitical and geo-economic influence—the symposium emphasized the increasing relevance of “soft” security. This includes collaborative efforts in areas like…

Internationalizing Chemistry

This past year (2023-24), the Wesleyan community was enriched by the presence of our first-ever Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence (S-I-R), Dr. Pawan Sharma from Kurukshetra University in India. The S-I-R program aims to promote campus internationalization by bringing scholar-teachers to campus for either a semester or a whole academic year; as Fulbright explains on its website, “S-I-Rs…

Celebrating and Embracing Diversity: Redefining Spanish Identity in the 21st Century

by Nataly Huyhua Earlier this week, on Monday, April 15th, a thought-provoking lecture titled “Spain is Not OnlyWhite: National Identity in the 21st Century” provided an exploration of Spain’s evolvingidentity in the modern era. Dr. Jeffrey Coleman’s lecture discussed Spain’s demographic shifts, particularly the profound impact ofmass migration since the 1990s. While Spain has long…

Meet Teresita Padilla-Benavides, Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry

A globally-engaged researcher, collaborator, and scientist, Teresita (Tere) Padilla-Benavides is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry committed to increasing access to the sciences and centering culturally diverse research. Tere conducts biochemistry research at the Hall-Atwater building, but her outreach spreads far beyond the lab, campus, and borders of the US to increase access…

Beyond the Weirdness of Time Zones and Snow in April

Written by Lucía Guerrero, Spanish FLTA (2020-2021) This week during one of my tertulias, one student Zoomed in from a very sunny field on campus, raving over how great the weather had been. The next day, another student told me that it’d snowed. Sitting just above the equator, my home city of Bogotá doesn’t have…