Wellesley in the News
As the leading women’s college, Wellesley’s faculty, students, and alumnae are featured in national and international media on a daily basis. Below is just a sampling of the press coverage generated by Wellesley.
In this Boston Globe op-ed, economics professor Phillip Levine notes that families with equal incomes and equal counted assets, like stocks and bonds, would be eligible for the same amount of financial aid even if they had large gaps in uncounted assets, like home equity and retirement savings. But it is well-known that assets are unevenly distributed by race.
Professor Kellie Carter Jackson is featured in this episode of How to Talk to People, which analyzes how American efficiency culture holds us back from connecting in public, whether social spaces create a culture of interaction, and what it takes to actively participate in a community.
Profile of pioneering female astronomer Annie Jump Cannon, a 1884 graduate of Wellesley College.
Successful influencers often amass their large followings thanks to their conversational tones, relatability, and willingness to share both mundane and major moments from their lives. This gives fans a feeling that they know them personally... A parasocial relationship “is an imaginary, symbolic, one-sided relationship with a celebrity or media figure or just someone who you don’t actually know,” Dr. Sally Theran, an associate psychology professor at Wellesley College, tells TIME. And though they tend to get a bad rap, conjuring up images of normal people who have deluded themselves into imagining a closeness that doesn’t exist, that’s often not the case. “The vast majority of these relationships are healthy and not harmful, but we’re familiar with really extreme versions when someone actually believes they have a relationship with this person,” says Theran.
Review of history professor Quinn Slobodian's new book "Crack-Up Capitalism".
Associate professor of American studies Petra Rivera-Rideau writes for The Washington Post about how global music superstar Bad Bunny’s historic, headlining Coachella set warrants serious coverage and combats decades of stereotypes and dismissals of Latin music.
Africana studies professor Kellie Carter Jackson interviewed on Democracy Now! about the new Netflix documentary series "African Queens: Njinga", which she is featured in and tells the story of the 17th century warrior queen who fought the Portuguese slave traders. The series is executive produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith. Jackson calls it a "major contribution to understanding slavery and the slave trade" and notes it is "readily available" online "if students cannot get this in Florida in their classroom."
The Times of Japan reports: From January to May this year, Haruki Murakami has been speaking about female characters in his writing at the women’s university Wellesley College in the United States. “I used to be eager to become a better writer, so I did nothing but write. I didn’t lecture or do media appearances. My life was about running, translating, living overseas and writing. But since turning 70, I’ve started to feel more comfortable, or more accepting of the fact that there’s no point in pushing myself to improve my writing,” Murakami said.
“When you’re taking money away from higher education, you’re hurting the long-term growth of the economy in the state,” says Phillip Levine, professor of economics at Wellesley College. “A more productive workforce generates more output, generates more tax revenue.”
