Diploma Mailing Update – 6/30

International diplomas were Fedexed on Monday, June 14th; however we encountered major delivery issues with those being sent to China.  FedEx tried to contact those graduates but could not dial a United States number.  If your diploma was mailed to an international address and you  have not received it, please email Tracey Stanley (tstanley@wesleyan.edu) with your legal name and WesID, (please do not send her your preferred name).

The first half of the alphabet was FedEx on Friday, June 18th.  This included graduates names (A-Jontz).  They should have arrived by now.  If you have not received your diploma, again email Tracey Stanley (tstanley@wesleyan.edu) with your legal name, WesID and the address that it should be mailed to.

The remaining graduates (Joyce-Zitter), those that have cleared their student accounts and those upon completions that have been cleared will be FedExed on July 1st with a July 7th delivery date.

Again, please make sure that if you contact Mrs. Stanley that you include your legal name, WesID and address that it should be mailed to.

Congratulations again!

Diplomas/Mailing Addresses, Transcripts, Commencement Photos and Middletown Cash Refunds – 6/4

Greetings!

I hope you’re enjoying the summer and looking forward to the next leg of your journey. There are still some lingering questions and loose ends to tie up; hopefully, the information below is helpful.

Diplomas, Diploma Addresses and Official Transcripts

Any changes to diploma mailing addresses are due to Tracey Stanley in the Registrar’s Office by 4:30pm, EST today, June 4th. Include your name, WesID and your new address in any correspondence with Ms. Stanley about updating your diploma mailing address. Future inquiries about your mailing address and changes should be directed to Ms. Stanley. The Registrar’s Office staff is working with a vendor to mail diplomas this month; you should receive them by July 5th if not earlier.

Official transcripts with your degree conferral date are available now. You may request an official transcript through the Registrar’s Office and the National Student Clearinghouse. You may also request Enrollment and/or Degree Verification through the Registrar’s Office. Additionally, employers may call the National Student Clearinghouse at (703) 742- 4200 to verify degree completion.

Employers can verify degrees by calling this number.

Commencement Photos and Follow Up

Wesleyan partnered with GradTrak® Graduation Images and professional photographers  to take a candid photograph of each graduate present at the ceremony. You will receive a free passport-sized digital proof of these photos on an order card within 5 to 7 days following the ceremony. Questions may be emailed to service@gradtrak.com.

You may order online at www.gradimages.com or call (800) 261-2576. To pre-register your permanent email address and receive a $5.00 coupon towards a purchase of $25.00, please visit www.gradimages.com and click on Pre-Event Registration. You may add contact information for up to six additional relatives and/or friends. GradTrak® will never sell or share the address/email information provided to them.

Middletown Cash Refunds

Contact Cathy-Lee Rizza at the WesCard Office (wescard@wesleyan.edu) to make the initial request for a refund of your Middletown Cash (note: points are not eligible for refunds). She will help you close your Middletown Cash account, and your balance minus a $25.00 administrative fee will be transferred to your student account. You will then need to fill out a refund request form on the front page of the student accounts website.

I will be working most of the summer, so feel free to reach out with any other questions or concerns. I’m also preparing to welcome the Class of 2025 this fall, so you will most likely see some changes to my outgoing messages.

Have a wonderful summer!
Dean Leathers

Tanesha A. Leathers, PhD (she/her/hers)
Dean for the Class of 2025
Interim Dean for the Class of 2022, Li-Ro
Congratulations to the Class of 2021!
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT 06459

Middletown Cash Refunds

Contact Cathy-Lee Rizza at the WesCard Office (wescard@wesleyan.edu) to make the initial request for a refund of your Middletown Cash (note: points are not eligible for refunds). She will help you close your Middletown Cash account, and your balance minus a $25.00 administrative fee will be transferred to your student account. You will then need to fill out a refund request form on the front page of the student accounts website.

Commencement Photos and Follow Up

Wesleyan partnered with GradTrak® Graduation Images and professional photographers  to take a candid photograph of each graduate present at the ceremony. You will receive a free passport-sized digital proof of these photos on an order card within 5 to 7 days following the ceremony. Questions may be emailed to service@gradtrak.com.

You may order online at www.gradimages.com or call (800) 261-2576. To pre-register your permanent email address and receive a $5.00 coupon towards a purchase of $25.00, please visit www.gradimages.com and click on Pre-Event Registration. You may add contact information for up to six additional relatives and/or friends. GradTrak® will never sell or share the address/email information provided to them.

Public Health Update – 5/21

To the Wesleyan community:

The more we know about the COVID-19 vaccines, the better equipped we are to make informed decisions. I know many of you have questions and the topic raises strong feelings among some.

After more than 35 years as a physician, I critically evaluate scientific studies, keep an open mind to new theories, and stay up-to-date about the medical issues I face regularly in college health. I feel confident in assuring you that vaccines are one of the most important ways (if not the most important way) to control and at times eliminate infectious diseases. Few of us recall the days of the iron lung for polio patients, children dying from the whooping cough, or the sequelae of brain inflammation caused by a number of childhood diseases. Those days are over thanks to vaccines.

I would like to dispel some common myths about the COVID-19 vaccines.

  1. The current vaccines are too new and have not passed the test of time. It takes years for the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a pharmaceutical. These vaccines were approved in a few months.

In reality, the studies that led to approval were well designed, enrolled many people (tens of thousands), and were closely monitored. The rare complication of thrombotic thrombocytopenia occurred in fewer than one in a million people. Rare instances of complications such as this would not be seen with a medication that went through years of an FDA approval process until the medication was in general use. And frankly, the pandemic that was devastating the world warranted a rapid and thorough process of approval. This is much different than, let’s say, the 10th cholesterol medication being evaluated for release on the market.

The technology for the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines (those made by Pfizer and Moderna) started in the early 1990s, with initial research focusing on rabies, Zika, and cytomegalovirus. The adenoviral vector technology dates back to the 1970s. Research focused on Ebola and cancer treatments. There was a great deal of scientific bench work done prior to the pandemic.

  1. The current vaccines approved in the U.S. use brand-new technologies that have not passed the test of time.

Phase Three studies included many folks. The efficacy and safety profiles appear to be extremely promising.

  1. We do not yet know the long-term effects of taking these vaccines. How do we know what will happen in years to decades?

Side effects and complications from vaccines traditionally occur in the short-term, whether we are looking at allergic reactions, contracting the disease (which only occurs with live vaccines and does not apply to COVID vaccines), the rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, or most recently the extremely rare thrombotic thrombocytopenia syndrome. No long-term sequelae have been identified with the advent of modern vaccines, predating the 1950s to our current vaccines.

  1. The vaccines can affect fertility.

There is no scientific evidence that the vaccines affect fertility and no scientific theory that would link the mechanisms of action with the messenger RNA or the viral vector vaccines to any physiological effect on fertility. While there are some reports of menstrual irregularities following vaccination, we know there are many physiological and psychological stressors that can temporarily affect the menstrual cycle.

  1. The vaccines can alter our DNA.

None of the approved vaccines alters our DNA. Their actions do not affect DNA at all.

  1. Nano particles can be (and are) injected into our bodies. Mass vaccination will essentially effect the takeover of the human race.

This is not true.

I have no doubt that you all understand the importance of becoming educated about the vaccines, considering carefully the sources of information. To date, there have been 163 million cases of COVID and 3.4 million deaths from the disease worldwide. There have been 33 million cases and 583,000 deaths in the U.S.  It’s no surprise that as vaccine rates are climbing, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID are decreasing.

Please get vaccinated. Students, once you are fully vaccinated, you must upload your information to the Davison Health CenterFaculty and staff, once you are fully vaccinated, we encourage you to share your information via WesPortal.

And to you students graduating, members of the Class of 2021, my congratulations and best wishes for all your future endeavors!

Tom McLarney, MD

Oak Hall Regalia Pre-Orders Available for Pickup at Tomorrow – 5/21 at 10am

Students may pick-up their Oak Hall pre-ordered regalia from WRJJ Bookstore starting Friday, May 21st, at 10 AM. Only regalia pre-ordered via the Oak Hall website will be available for pick up tomorrow. Note that the bookstore cafe opens at 9am, but the store will not be open until 10am.

More information is forthcoming for students who still need to purchase regalia.

Please contact WRJJ Bookstore with any questions. (860-685-3939).

Apply for Fulbright and Other National Fellowships – Info Sessions 6/1 – 8/24

Dear Class of 2021,

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! As you plan for the future, please consider applying for national fellowships. They are fully funded, usually year-long programs that support a range of global experiences, from research to graduate study to English teaching.

I especially encourage you to consider the Fulbright Study/Research or English Teaching Assistant grants, which allow you to spend a year in one of 100+ participating countries, pursuing independent research or graduate study or teaching English in the classroom. They are open to graduating seniors and recent alumni who are U.S. citizens, and they don’t have a minimum GPA requirement.

If you have clearly defined professional interests supported by experience, consider the Luce Scholarship, which provides a year-long professional placement at an organization in Asia.

Explore our website to learn about other fellowship opportunities and watch short video testimonials from recent applicants.

Application cycles for fellowships are almost a year long to allow for several stages of application review. Apply this fall for programs that take place in 2022-23. See campus deadlines on our website.

To learn more about applying for fellowships, please watch this recording. Fellowships Assistant Genesis Garcia ’22 and I talk about what fellowships are, what experiences they fund, who can apply, and why you should be thinking about them. I also encourage you to watch this recording, in which recent fellowship applicants from Wesleyan share their experiences and advice.

You’re also welcome to sign up for a video appointment on my calendar to talk about choosing the right program and planning the application process.

Finally, if you plan to apply for a national fellowship, either in this application cycle or in the future, you’re warmly invited to participate in the virtual summer application writing sessions. Research shows that writers who write with others are happier, more productive, and more successful.

The virtual application writing sessions will be held every other Tuesday from 7:30 to 9pm ET at the following Zoom link:  

https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/97807415070?pwd=b0sxb1Yxc0tNaC9qU1ZaOStaeGNtZz09

Meeting ID: 978 0741 5070

Passcode  529431

The session dates are as follows:

June 1

June 15

June 29

July 13

July 27

August 10

August 24

Each session will start with goal setting and end with reflection on the work you’ve done. For best results, I encourage you to commit to a set number of sessions. We may talk a little in the beginning, in person or in the chat, then mute ourselves and write. Cameras are always optional.

I’m looking forward to talking to you!

Best wishes,

Magda

Magdalena Zapędowska, Ph.D. [za-pen-doff-ska]

Assistant Director, Fellowships | Fries Center for Global Studies

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Wesleyan University

201D Fisk Hall, 262 High St. | Middletown, CT 06459, USA

 

End-of-Semester Dining for Seniors – Spring 2021

Dining for spring Semester will close following brunch on Saturday, May 22nd.  If you will be staying for Commencement, please plan ahead and stock up on groceries (use of your points) from WesShop prior to the end of finals. Any unused points are forfeited after dining closes.

WesShop hours:

Friday 5/14: 2pm-6pm

Saturday 5/15: 2pm-6pm

Sunday 5/16 – Thursday 5/20: 12pm – 10pm

WesShop closes for the semester after hours on Thursday, 5/20.

Please email dining@wesleyan.edu with any questions.

Finals Write-In + Study Space! – 5/16

Join the Writing Workshop for our first ever Finals Write-In + Study Space! On Sunday, May 16th we’ll be in Tischler Hall (Exley 150) between 2-8pm. Stop by for the most productive afternoon of your finals season–and to make all this work a little less lonely. Writing Tutors will be available for drop-in sessions, and we’ll have plenty of free snacks and stationery to go around. Be one of the first 5 to RSVP and we’ll have a goodie bag for you to pick up on the day-of!

If you can’t come on Sunday, we hope you’ll still make a Writing Workshop appointment this Reading Period. Visit your Writing Workshop Account (WesPortal > Academics) for more details. Email writingworks@wesleyan.edu with any questions.

Finals Write-in Flyer May 16