Employment Opportunity: Homecoming/Family Weekend

Have you ever wanted to…

Meet alumni and parents from around the world?  Make money, friends and gain a whole new perspective on life at Wesleyan?  Drive a shuttle van around campus and use a walkie-talkie?  AND get a FREE Wesleyan T-Shirt?

Apply now to be part of Homecoming/Family Weekend 2011. Student workers play an integral role in the weekend by greeting guests at the registration site, assisting with activities and event preparation, escorting guests around campus in shuttle vans, and much more!

Applications close on Friday, October 14 at 5:00pm. 

The application can be found at: http://wesconnect.wesleyan.edu/hcfw2011_student_app

Please note, students who are hired to work for Events during this period cannot also work for Bon Appetit.

Best, Cuong Nguyen ’12, James Gardner ’13, Will Curran-Groome ’14 and Raymond Wong ’14–Interns, Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, interns@wesleyan.edu, 860/685-2418

 

Celebrating Students ’13: Grace Asleson

When thinking about internships for the summer, I thought I’d try a career that many sociology majors pursue—public relations. It has a nice ring, doesn’t it? Relating to the public. Professional schmoozing. I thought it’d be simple—I’d go to parties, eat a few fancy crackers with tiny orange egg toppings, and chat with people in Brooks Brothers cardigans.  

That’s what I thought in May.  Sixteen weeks later, I had a different story to tell. I can safely say that I did not attend any work-related parties, ate zero crackers with tiny orange eggs, and was seldom surrounded by Brooks Brothers. I did, however, get an invaluable glimpse of what life may be like once I leave Wesleyan, which is, in so many words, H-A-R-D.

I worked twelve to thirteen hour days at a one of the world’s largest public relations firms based in San Francisco. I built media lists, called reporters, researched competitors, created media monitoring reports, compiled clipbooks, participated in client phone calls, and met with people who mentored me within the company. And all of that time, I thought I would be wearing pencil skirts and collecting fancy ballpoint pens.

The PR world was tedious and stressful, but above all, it was eye opening in wonderful and surprising ways. Every day, I’d enter our downtown office to a room buzzing with excited young account executives, high on coffee and fresh creativity. I got to see brainstorming in action outside a liberal arts setting—I never realized that my seminar classes could turn into seminar-style meetings. I never realized that a Wesleyan-like environment could be found in even the most corporate of settings. I never realized that my voice could be taken seriously even as a lowly intern.  I was told at my internship that I should take my job into my own hands—to focus on what I love and try to make that what I do the most. What I found that I loved the most was the electric energy that is ignited at Wesleyan every day—an energy that can be brought to any career in any setting.

 

Financial Aid Forum — 10/10, 7 p.m.

Financial Aid Forum

Monday, October 10,  Usdan 110,  7 p.m.

The Financial Aid Office invites you to a presentation and open forum to learn more about financial aid issues at Wesleyan.  Hosted by the new financial aid director, John Gudvangen, this is an opportunity to share ideas about financial aid, student loans, student employment, student accounts, and Wesleyan’s commitment to need-blind admission and meeting 100% of calculated financial need.  Come for the cookies and brownies, stay for the conversation.  7 p.m.  Monday, October 10, 2011, Usdan 110.  For questions, x2800 or finaid@wesleyan.edu

SP ’12 Study Abroad DEADLINE — 10/17

FROM THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES –

This is a reminder about the deadline for the General Wesleyan Study Abroad Application. It is the “permission to study abroad” application that must be completed by ALL students applying to study abroad for spring 2012, regardless of program choice,  including Wesleyan-administered programs (Bologna, Bordeaux, Madrid, Paris, Regensburg). The application  is usually due on OCTOBER 15 but that date falls on a weekend this year, so the deadline has been moved to MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. This is a firm deadline and late applications will not be accepted.

 A copy of the permission application may be picked up at the Office of International Studies or printed from our website at www.wesleyan.edu/ois. Just click on “Applications” in the “Forms” section and print the “Permission to Study Abroad” PDF document.

Applications must be turned in to the Office of International Studies, Fisk Hall 105. A complete application includes the following 7 items:

  • Personal information sheet
  • Academic justification essay
  • Online Health Information Clearance form*
  • Pre-approval of courses form
  • Student Medical Release and Parental Statement form
  • Assumption of Risk and Release and Waiver form
  • Standards of Conduct Pledge

*All applicants must complete our online Health Information Clearance form. If you have not already done so, you may still do it now. It is in your student e-Portfolio under “Tools and Links.” Be sure to do this before October 17.

If you have any questions about this application, please feel free to stop by the office during drop-in hours (M-W-F 10-noon; T-TH 2-4 p.m.) or call us at 860 685 2550.

Please note that approved programs (not run by Wesleyan) have their own specific deadlines (many do “rolling admissions” and can fill before stated deadlines) so students should check directly with the programs to make certain that applications are filed in a timely manner.  

Gail Winter, Assistant Director, International Studies, ph: 860 685-3006, fax: 860 685-2551,email: gwinter@wesleyan.edu, url: www.wesleyan.edu/ois

 

FGSS Symposium: “Confronting Gender Violence” — 10/7, 2-5 p.m.

Please join us on Friday, October 7, 2 pm – 5pm for the FGSS 2011 Annual Symposium “Confronting Gender Violence: The Personal and the Political,” to be held in Usdan 108.

Panelists will include:

Professor Cynthia Enloe “Wartime Violence Against Women: What Do Soldiers’ Rapes of Women ‘Over There’ Tell Us About Rape Here at Home?” Department of International Development, Community, and Environment and Women’s Studies, Clark University;

Andrea Ritchie “Racial Profiling and Police Brutality Against Women and LGBT People of Color”  Feminist lawyer, scholar and member of the National Collective of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, National Coordinator of the Color of Violence III and member of the editorial collective for Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology; and 

Karen Singleton “Transforming Campus Communities: Creating and Sustaining Comprehensive Responses to Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence”  Director, Sexual Violence Response at Columbia Health, Columbia University, New York 

Sponsored by Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, the Office of Student Affairs, and the Office of Diversity and Institutional Partnerships.   Event Organizers: Associate Professors Anu Sharma and Mary-Jane Rubenstein.

The event is free and open to the public.  For more information, please contact Jennifer Enxuto in the FGSS Office at x3296 or Jennifer Tucker at x5389.

Celebrating Students ’13: Alex Kuwada

This past summer, I spent seven weeks on the campus of Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, Massachusetts working for the Northfield Mount Hermon Upward Bound Summer Academy. Upward Bound is a federally-funded educational program that serves low-income, first-generation college-bound students. The summer academy I interned at brought in students from high schools in Holyoke, Springfield, and Franklin County, Massachusetts for an intensive six-week program in an academic and residential setting.  I was a dorm staff member in the male dorm and was the lead teacher of two classes, sophomore geometry and independent study in sophomore Algebra 1, among various other roles such as a tutor during study hall and the program photographer. The internship presented me with new experiences and challenges, especially as the only teacher in a mathematics classroom of 12 high school students. I enjoyed every minute of the six weeks the students were on campus. From seeing the proverbial light bulb switch on when a student mastered a math concept to playing board games with the students in the dorm lounge, the students lit up each of my days, while I felt like I was making a positive impact in fostering their growth as scholars.                                                                           Alex, second from right

While the Upward Bound Summer Academy gave me invaluable educational and leadership experience in a positive and enjoyable atmosphere, the value of the program to its students is unparalleled. These incoming high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors willingly and enthusiastically went through a rigorous academic and residential program during their summer. Their commitment to scholarly achievement and to paving their way to a bright future was inspiring, and it is all made possible by the NMH Upward Bound program, which continues throughout the school year through tutoring and activities, and provides the students with priceless rewards. One day during the summer academy, various NMH Upward Bound Summer Academy alumni returned to share their experiences post-graduation from the program. The alumni, however, did not dwell on their current achievements, but on the skills they gained from and the doors that were opened to them through Upward Bound.

This summer, I gained skills in teaching and counseling students, but equally importantly I gained insight into the importance and value of the Upward Bound program. The Upward Bound program as a whole is at risk due to major cuts in federal budget cuts. More than focusing on my experience, I would like to stress the importance of this program to its scholars and to raise awareness of its uncertain future. The program song ends with this message: “So let’s rise to the occasion with each dawning of the sun– As we strive for the future and the best in everyone.” The Upward Bound program gives the opportunity to its inspiring and motivated scholars to rise to the occasion and truly to find the best in themselves.

Session on Internships — 10/6 at noon

Finding an Internship:  Thursday, October 6, 12-1 p.m., Usdan 108 

 

Wesleyan students land outstanding internships every summer.  This workshop with Jim Kubat of the Wesleyan Career Center will review the tools and resources you need to make your summer a productive and stimulating experience.

Poster Session on 11/4 on Student Research Abroad — Application deadline 10/10

The Office of International Studies invites you to submit a proposal for a 

Poster Session on Student Research Abroad

The session will take place on

Friday, November 4, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Wesleyan University’s Exley Science Center.

If you have carried out academic research in another country, this is a great opportunity to present your findings and gain public speaking experience, as well as to hear about other student research abroad and share your stories.

 Please forward a poster title and one-paragraph abstract by Monday, October 10 to:  Carolyn Sorkin, Director of International Studies, Csorkin@wesleyan.edu