It may seem that Homecoming/Family Weekend is so far away, but after fall break,  it will be right around the corner! In navigating the packed schedule for the weekend, don’t miss out on any of these civic engagement related events:

Friday, November 1st

11a-2p WesU 88.1FM Open House: Tour Wesleyan’s student-run radio station and meet the board of directors. Refreshments will be provided. For more information about WESU or to listen live, visit http://www.wesufm.org.
WESU, 2nd Floor (above Broad  Street Books), 45 Broad Street

4-5:30p US Healthcare Reform: Images and Realities of Costs, Quality, and Access
Moderator: John Dankosky, News Director of WNPR/Host of “Where We Live”, CT Public Broadcasting Network
Guest Speakers: Donald Taylor, Associate Professor, Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke Medical Center; Austin Frakt, Associate Professor, Health Policy & Management, Boston University School of Medicine; Sarah Gollust, Assistant Professor, Health Policy & Management, University of Minnesota school of Public Health
Event Co-Chairs: Damien Sheehan-Connor, Assistant Professor of Economics, and Erika Franklin-Fowler, Assistant Professor of Government/Director, Wesleyan Media Project
Sponsored by: The Center for the Study of Public Life
Powell Family Cinema, Center for Film Studies 

4:30-6p WESEMINAR From Classroom to Community and Back: Service-Learning at Wesleyan
Critics like to charge institutions of higher learning with being remote from real-world experiences and sheltered from society’s pressing needs. While many Wesleyan students perform community service and have a passion for social justice, service-learning courses allow them to integrate service with academic work. Through service students apply and test material and theories studied in the classroom. Upon returning to campus, the students analyze their experiences and share their enlarged understanding with peers and community partners. In this session, faculty members and several of their students will describe the service-learning in which they have engaged.
Sponsored by:  The Center for Community Partnerships, which is celebrating ten years since its founding.
Moderated by: Rob Rosenthal, Sociology, former Provost and founder of Wesleyan’s service-learning program
Presenters: Peggy Carey Best, visiting faculty in Sociology and pre-medical advisor, who regularly teaches SOC 315, The Health of Communities; Dana Royer, E&ES, who last year taught E&ES 305, Soils, in conjunction with two schools in New Haven that were preparing to plant school gardens; David Westmoreland, Chemistry, who regularly teaches CHEM 241 and 242, Informal Science Education for Elementary-School Students; Indira Karamcheti, American Studies, who has taught ENGL 274, Oral Histories and the Portland Brownstone Quarry; Students of Joy Anderson ’89, visiting faculty in the Center for the Study of Public Life, who this year is offering for the second time CSPL 210, Money and Social Change.
Room 116, Judd Hall

Saturday, November 2

11a-12p WESEMINAR Community Archaeology at the Beman Triangle, Middletown
This seminar will introduce the archaeology and history of the Beman Triange, a mid-nineteenth century neighborhood of property-owning free African Americans, closely tied to the AME Zion Church. Professor Croucher will discuss the importane of community archaeology, and how she has been working with community partners such as the AME Zion Church to develop a research project which is responsive to local stakeholders. Findings from the archaeology project will be presented, including a range of material which is beginning to illuminate late-nineteenth century pharmacy in Middletown. The seminar will also discuss the way in which this archaeology project can help in understanidng the complex relationship that has existed between the AME Zion Church and Wesleyan since the 1830s.
Presenter: Sarah Croucher is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on nineteenth century historical archaelogy, previously on Zanzibar, and now in Middletown. She directs the Beman Triangle Project, a community archaeology project connecting students and volunteers through excavations of a site on the Wesleyan campus.
Room 002, Public Affairs Center (PAC)

1:30-2:30p WESEMINAR Food Justice, Urban Agriculture, and Leadership Development: Three Wesleyan Garden Stories
The 10-year old Long Lane Farm is Wesleyan’s own student-run organic farm dedicated to sustainable food production and experiential learning; this summer, the Long Lane Collective launched The Middletown Food Project, a grant-funded community supported agriculture (CSA) program for Middletown families. Now entering its third year, Summer of Solutions is a Hartford fellowship program co-founded by a Wesleyan student in which young people ages 15-30 manage 6 urban farms while tackling food security and community development in their home city. Middletown Urban Gardens is a student-run collective that builds community gardens in the North End of Middletown and runs garden-based nutrition education programs at local elementary schools.  During this panel, we’ll hear from representatives of these three enterprises about their missions, progress, and plans for the future.
Presenters: Hailey Sowden ’15 and Ansel Hernandez from Long Lane Farm and The Middletown Food Project; Joshua Lee ’16 from Summer of Solutions Hartford; Adin Vaewsorn ’15 and Nur Moebius from Middletown Urban Gardens
Sponsored by the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service (WAPPS)
Room 116, Judd Hall 

2:30-4p Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE) Open House
Join staff and students from the Patricelli Center and members of Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service (WAPPS) for an open house and networking reception.
PCSE, Ground Floor, Allbritton Center 

So come out to any and all of these events! We look forward to meeting you.

For a complete list of Homecoming and Family Weekend events, click here.