Center for the Study of Public Life

Fall Course Openings: Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, Decolonizing Indigenous Middletown, Money and Social Change, and Collaborative Cluster

There are many great opportunities to engage in public life and service through your academics at Wesleyan. Here are a few courses that still have openings available for this fall, including the Collaborative Cluster, service-learning classes, and a quarter-credit class taught by Patricelli Center director Makaela Kingsley. Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship (.25-credit, second quarter) CSPL 262, Makaela Kingsley…

The Female Voice in Politics

On Saturday, May 2, the Female Voice in Politics Conference will bring together notable and accomplished female politicians and leaders to discuss issues facing women in the political arena today. This event provides not only an opportunity for learning but also a chance for interested alumni and students to meet one another.  Speakers include: Susan Bysiewicz, Former Secretary…

Regional and National Drug Policy

The third and final panel discussion in the “Drugs, Harm and the Campus” series:   About the panelists: Ethan Nadelmann is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the leading organization in the United States that promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.  Nadelmann is widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy…

Allbritton Talks: Gentrification

What do we mean when we talk about gentrification? Look closely at the history of any urban area and one is bound to find some demographic flux, yet there are elements of neighborhood change that are particularly problematic or harmful, namely the displacement of lower-income residents. Alongside the severe social costs, however, there may also be…

Nonprofit Board Residency Program

Nearly every nonprofit has a board of directors — that is, a group of elected or appointed volunteers who help govern and guide an organization. Through internships and volunteer work, Wesleyan students gain experience with programs and services run by nonprofits, but it isn’t often that undergraduates get to work with closely with boards of directors,…

WesFest 2015: Civic Engagement, Social Impact, and Entrepreneurship at Wesleyan

Business is booming in the Allbritton Center. The Office of Community Service is growing (Welcome, Scholars in Action and Julia’s Star!), the Patricelli Center is hosting even more workshops, students are flocking to the Civic Engagement Certificate, and each semester boasts an even great number of courses that address public life or incorporate service-learning (or both).…

We Almost Lost Detroit: a Hopeful Tale About Cars, Crises, Cities, and America

Ron Bloom ’77 – Obama’s “Auto Czar” and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World – will come to campus on Wednesday, April 8 to discuss lessons learned in his career in politics and finance, particularly in the auto industry bailout and in addressing the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy. After graduating from Wesleyan with…

Drugs, Harm, and the Campus

How should we – as a university and as a society – address the use of illicit drugs? In light of recent events, the Allbritton Center is bringing together experts from a variety of fields and perspectives for panel discussions on drug use and policies at Wesleyan and beyond. The hope is to have an open and…

Heather Gerken on “The Loyal Opposition”

In the final lecture of the Centralization and Decentralization series hosted by the Allbritton Center Collaborative Cluster Initiative, Heather Gerken – J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School – will discuss “the Loyal Opposition”: The term “loyal opposition” is not often used in American debates because we believe that we lack an institutional…