16 minute read
Around the Dimple
KEITH NORDSTROM
The Wheaton community gathered in Hindle Auditorium on March 1 for the panel discussion “What is Happening in Ukraine?” featuring faculty from the departments of history, political science and Russian studies.
Wheaton community responds to Ukraine crisis in various ways
The Russian-Ukraine conflict continues to stir much confusion, sadness and outrage—as well as intensify concerns about its long-lasting global impact.
During the spring semester, the Wheaton community found constructive ways to better understand, process and respond to the tragedy, including through a student-led radio program, a faculty panel discussion and a peace vigil.
Wheaton’s radio station WCCS 96.5FM, Model United Nations and the Wheaton Democrats hosted a radio broadcast on the conflict, which began in February when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Harrison Zeiberg ’22, Mae Flibotte ’22, Stevent Cleto Garcia ’22 and Elian Fabing ’22 presented research on the history of the region, the ongoing refugee crisis and more. The group also interviewed Kiran Pfitzner ’21, a University of Chicago master’s degree student who is studying European military history.
“We had a record number of listeners to the radio during this event, with many of them staying tuned in for the entirety of the broadcast,” Zeiberg said.
Claire Brady ’23, a history major and member of Model United Nations who helped organize the broadcast, said she found it awe-inspiring that students came together so quickly to create this event.
“Educational events help provide important information that might have been missed due to the constant stream of information from the news. In addition, they help us become better-informed citizens of the world,” Brady said.
In early March, more than 200 members of the campus community attended a faculty panel discussion in Hindle Auditorium at the Diana Davis Spencer Discovery Center Dedicated to Free Speech and Innovation.
“As educators, we felt that it was our responsibility to provide the Wheaton community with an opportunity to learn more about what is going on to contextualize and understand what they are seeing on the news,” said Associate Professor of Political Science Aubrey Westfall, who organized the event.
In addition to Westfall, faculty who provided their insight on the Ukraine crisis included Tom Dolack, Francoise Rosset and Jeanne Wilson (Russian studies); Anni Cecil (history); and Jonathan Chow (political science).
Students said they benefited from hearing from professors.
“I learned there are multiple elements that must be considered and being able to hear from experts in all areas was very informative,” said Kate Brennan ’25, a double major in environmental science and political science.
Also in March, students, faculty and staff attended a vigil for peace at Cole Memorial Chapel and received information on how to support Ukraine. The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, Center for Social Justice and Community Impact and UWC Davis International House jointly sponsored this event. —Laura Pedulli
Pursuing passions abroad
Projects for Peace in Bhutan
Chogyal Norbu ’23 won a Projects for Peace award for his proposal to create a community center for children who live in a military camp in his native Bhutan. The plan aims to improve the experiences of children by providing a place for activities that will support their academic pursuits and enrich their social lives. “I want to focus on improving student reading, writing, listening and language skills so they will be able to express themselves more coherently and fluently,” said Norbu, who is double majoring in political science and international relations. “They will also get awareness programs on violence, mental health issues and the effects of drugs and alcohol. I believe when young people get opportunities to learn and express themselves, it gives peace a chance in the community.”
Fulbright to Mongolia
Leigh Brooks ’22 won a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant scholarship that will take her to Mongolia. A triple major in linguistics, Russian language and literature, and European history, she is poised to delve into a whole new linguistic experience and culture. “Language is unequivocally the passion of my life. There is a joy to be found in the comprehension of another person that is unlike anything else, and I want to share that feeling with the world,” Brooks said.
Fulbright to Germany
Chloe Van Dyne ’22 loves a classroom environment that lends itself to community building and personal growth. She will create a positive experience for student learners as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Germany. “Everyone deserves to have at least one teacher who cares, one class that they can be themselves in, and a safe learning environment where they can feel comfortable making mistakes. I know for a fact that this is what made me stick with German. My desire to help other students feel this same way about learning a language is what motivates me,” said Van Dyne, a double major in elementary education and German.
Chogyal Norbu ’23
KEITH NORDSTROM PHOTOS
Leigh Brooks ’22 Chloe Van Dyne ’22
Social entrepreneurship at work
Friends and business partners earn recognition
Aidan Travis ’22 and Gabriel “Gabe” Childs Michael ’22 were selected among the winners of the #impaktWISE Ideation Awards 2022 sponsored by Copenhagen Business School in Denmark. Their social venture, Conifer Solar Solutions, aims to increase access to renewable energy through the sale of solar-powered thermoelectric cooling systems.
The #impaktWISE Awards are an international social business model competition. This year’s winners included teams from schools in Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Travis, a business and management major, and Michael, an economics major, started Conifer Solar Solutions in January 2021 during the first part of Wheaton’s Social Entrepreneurship Launch (SE Launch) Program. The Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship Network has been leading this social venture bootcamp portion of SE Launch for several years.
“We had a desire to work on a project that would increase access to renewable energy. We have worked on all aspects of this project together over the past year,” Travis said. “We are honored to win the Copenhagen Business School’s Ideation Award.”
Michael added that he and Travis were excited to have the opportunity to compete and dive deeper into the project. “It was definitely a surprise to be one of the three Ideation Award winners. There were a lot of great business models submitted and we were just grateful to be a part of the competition,” he said.
Imran Chowdhury, Diana Davis Spencer chair of social entrepreneurship and associate professor of business and management, said when a Copenhagen Business School faculty member asked him to nominate a team from Wheaton for the competition, he immediately thought of Travis and Michael.
“Conifer Solar Solutions was one of the most active participants in the 2021 version of SE Launch. I think Aidan was at every spring workshop. In the process, they really honed the vision for their company, and thought hard about what they would want their post-Wheaton lives to look like—the kind of future visioning that we encourage across all of our social innovation and social entrepreneurship programs,” Chowdhury said. —Sandy Coleman
KEITH NORDSTROM
Aidan Travis ’22 and Gabriel “Gabe” Childs Michael ’22 stand with a solar panel used as part of the thermoelectric cooling system they developed for their social business venture.
Social entrepreneurship at work
Conference inspires ideas for a better world
Changing the world for the better requires new, compelling ideas and a plan to manifest them. Wheaton students helped provide those tools—and developed their own actionable ideas—as the key organizers and participants of the second annual Social Impact Conference held on April 28 and 29.
The event, which took place at the Diana Davis Spencer Discovery Center Dedicated to Free Speech and Innovation, offered students the opportunity to network with distinguished practitioners and scholars working on social impact issues while learning how to employ their own talents for social good.
Gabriel “Gabe” Fellows ’23, Ariel Ferreira ’24, Akib Marzuk ’22, Ervin “Erv” Williams ’24, Masa Mita ’22 and Erin Billinger ’25, with assistance from social entrepreneurs in residence Archana Shah and Pabel Delgado, planned a full slate of speakers, workshops and interactive activities.
KEITH NORDSTROM
Keynote speaker Ross Franklin ’02, CEO of Pure Green Franchise, opens the 2022 Social Impact Conference, an annual student-run event.
Visiting entrepreneurs Kana Hattori, left, and Kendra Malloy co-presented a mindfulness seminar as part of a new lecture series.
The students selected Ross Franklin ’02, founder and CEO of Pure Green Franchise, as this year’s keynote speaker.
“The conference brought together many of the elements that help Wheaton students develop the expertise that they can use to strengthen their commitment to social change and to make the world a better place,” said Imran Chowdhury, Diana Davis Spencer chair of social entrepreneurship and associate professor of business and management. “After a successful virtual Social Impact Conference in 2021, the student organizing committee took the event to new heights with an in-person event this year.”
—Laura Pedulli
Guest lecture series launches
Experience brings some of life’s most valuable lessons, whether that is in pursuing personal passions, a career focus or business goals that have social impact. Wheaton in March launched a Visiting Entrepreneur program lecture series that will bring a wide range of those lessons to campus.
Led by Pabel Delgado, one of Wheaton’s two social entrepreneurs in residence, the lecture series began with Kana Hattori and Kendra Malloy as the first visiting entrepreneurs to make in-person presentations on campus.
Hattori, a business owner and cultural guide from Kyoto, Japan, and Malloy, a Miami-based professional life coach and nutritionist, co-presented a cross-cultural mindfulness seminar that explored Eastern-Western wellness practices, each within the context of the other.
Hattori also presented three other lectures, including “The Lived Experience of a Female Entrepreneur in Japan.”
To plan the series, Delgado reached out to student leaders to gather their suggestions and invite student-run groups to co-sponsor events. The collaboration included the Asian Studies Department; M.A.D. House (Media Arts Discourses House); the Social Impact and Innovation Club; Art Haus; SAFE Haüs (Sexuality Affirmation and Freedom of Expression Haüs); the Queer and Trans People of Color club; the East Asian Students Association; and theater and film students.
Ariel Ferreira ’24, who is a business and management and political science double major, and president of the Social Impact and Innovation Club, said that she and members were happy to be able to support the lecture series.
“We are excited for future social entrepreneurship programming as well,” Ferreira said.
MLK Jr. Legacy Awards honor role models
“Everybody can be great. … because anybody can serve,” Martin Luther King Jr. is noted for saying. Wheaton has honored two great community members who are living up to those words: Justin Martinez ’22 and Professor of Anthropology M. Gabriela Torres.
Martinez and Torres have been awarded 2022 Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Awards, presented to a student and faculty or staff member whose actions and leadership help the campus community live in a manner that is equitable, inclusive and consistent with King’s values.
The two received the awards during the Annual Martin Luther King Legacy Celebration, which was held virtually in February.
The event was sponsored and cohosted by Diversity, Equity and Access Leadership’s (DEAL’s) Education and Programming Committee, the Office for Institutional Equity and Belonging, and the Office of the President. The DEAL team reviewed nominations for the awards and selected the winners.
Martinez, a double major in history and secondary education, has been involved in a long list of campus activities, including helping incoming students begin their Wheaton journey as a 2021 intercultural student early arrival assistant.
Professor Torres, associate provost, is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in the study of violence—particularly gender-based violence—and state formation. She regularly serves as a pro bono expert witness on gender-based violence and Guatemala country conditions.
The nomination for the award noted that Martinez, a Posse 19 Scholar, has been a campus leader since arriving at Wheaton and has made a significant impact on inclusion and belonging on campus. Martinez’s involvement includes serving as an intergroup dialogue facilitator for almost four years and president of the Queer and Trans People of Color club.
“Winning this award is an absolute privilege. However, I want to make it crystal clear that this is not just a product of my own individual work; upholding Martin Luther King Jr.’s values, defined by intentional and meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion, is a community effort,” Martinez said.
Torres’s nomination highlighted her work researching and curating a web page that contributes to and helps guide Wheaton’s commitment to social justice and engaged scholarship; her hand in helping to develop Wheaton’s Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning, which fosters strong relationships and partnerships between staff and faculty; and her establishment of the course “Creating a Just World.”
“My work on anti-racist education, advocating for a fair process for refugees and mitigating gender-based violence seeks, at its essence, to combat inequality. I do this work because I have been taught by my parents that it is my responsibility as a human to recognize and challenge inequalities,” she said. “Dr. King is the model for me of how to live a life that is centered on recognizing and challenging inequality.”
KEITH NORDSTROM
MLK Jr. Legacy Award winners Justin Martinez ’22 and M. Gabriela Torres, professor of anthropology and associate provost
Seniors on professional fast track
Long before they donned their robes for the trip across the stage in May, many Wheaton seniors already were on their way to the full-time positions they secured prior to graduation. Here, a few of them reflect on how their education set them up for success. Go online to read more about how they earned these opportunities.
KEITH NORDSTROM
Akib Marzuk ’22
Associate consultant Charles River Development, Boston Financial mathematics, independent major
“Wheaton’s curriculum and social culture give you the opportunity to explore the reality and breadth of the problems faced by the world and how different industries tackle them. It gives you an added sense of self-reflection and motivation to go beyond the norm, to think constructively about the intersection of capitalism and society, and to take risks with your academic and career interests to explore what really drives you. That’s something that’s invaluable and infinite in nature—structuring the pathway to success.”
Hana Memisevic ’22
Teacher Success Academy, New York City Hispanic studies major
“Wheaton gave me so many opportunities to explore different aspects of education as a field of expertise—through internships, of course, but also through many conversations with different highly experienced professors, staff members and other students. My professors’ passion for education inspired me endlessly and fed a lifelong passion for being the best teacher I can be.”
KEITH NORDSTROM
Jillian Riveros ’22
Research assistant I in the Hotamışlıgil Lab Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston Biochemistry major
“Wheaton helped me discover my passion for research and gave me the courage and support to apply for scholarships, internships and job opportunities that I never thought I would have. ... My summer at Vanderbilt University doing cardiovascular metabolism research in Professor David Wasserman’s lab really helped me get this opportunity. All of the wet lab exposure I received directly translated to my role at the Hotamışlıgil Lab.”
Elizabeth “Ellie” Williams ’22
Research associate II, Compound Management team Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Mass. Biochemistry major
“The Chemistry Department is full of extremely dedicated professors who create closeknit relationships with their students and really want them to succeed. I met so many professors who have helped me on my journey in this department and have worked with me closely to make me more independent and confident. My professors—in particular, my amazing advisor Professor Jennifer Lanni, as well as Professors Thandi Buthelezi and Matthew Evans—have pushed me to further my interests in the biochemistry field and constantly supported my aspirations.”
Fun traditions, Holi and the Peacock Pond race, make a comeback to the delight of students.
Back in the spring of things
Head of the Peacock, Holi return
KEITH NORDSTROM PHOTOS
The beloved Head of the Peacock Regatta returned outdoors to much fanfare in April. The campus community came out in force to cheer on 23 teams that paddled across Peacock Pond in their handmade water vessels. The Outdoors House team came out on top as this year’s champions. Another fun event also made a comeback in May. For the first time since 2019, students had the chance to celebrate Holi—Wheaton’s version of the traditional springtime Hindu festival in which participants joyfully douse each other with colored powder and water. Dozens of students flocked to Chapel Field to celebrate the end of the semester. This year’s Holi was organized by the South Asian Student Initiative, a student-run club that aims to foster cultural awareness of the South Asian diaspora and the history of its constituents.
—Laura Pedulli
The upside of scientific failure
Science experiments don’t always go as planned. They can yield results that don’t neatly follow carefully crafted hypotheses, and that can lead to confusion, frustration and lost time.
But learning to persevere through inevitable failure is part of what it means to be a scientist, and something Associate Professor of Biology Jennifer Lanni makes sure to impart in her courses at Wheaton.
Her article “Why I teach my students about scientific failure” in the journal Science talks about why it’s important for students to perform experiments that have the potential to fail. In it, she describes one three-hour lab for students that yielded data that didn’t fit with their hypotheses and the learning experience that followed.
“After a solid hour of struggle and some leading questions on my part, one student finally spoke up. ‘It doesn’t make sense. The bands look the same size, but the proteins should be different sizes.’ Hallelujah! A student had stepped back from seeing what they expected to see and described what the data actually showed. Their breakthrough helped their classmates start to look at the results with more objective eyes. Within minutes, they were overflowing with questions and ideas about what could have gone wrong. … My students were thinking like scientists—a development no amount of advance planning could have created,” she wrote.
Professor Lanni said this lab led to many fruitful discussions about scientific failure. “I hope the handful of students who go on to graduate school will learn from the experience and bring an awareness with them that success doesn’t always come easy.”
The Science article has resonated with many people since its publication, according to Lanni.
“I have been amazed at the magnitude and warmth of the response to my article. Apparently, many other scientists, professors and students have lived through their own scientific failures. One of the most touching emails was from a graduate student in Chile, who wrote to ask me whether he should continue with his Ph.D. research despite a lack of data. I also heard from senior scientists in biology, chemistry, geology and physics, each of whom shared their own failure-persistence lessons and research philosophy,” Lanni said.
“Now more than ever, I am convinced that we need to talk openly about failure as a necessary foundation for future success,” she said.
KEITH NORDSTROM PHOTOS
When work underway in a lab fails, it can be the foundation for future success, says Associate Professor of Biology Jennifer Lanni.
