» Theses/Dissertations

Student scholarship

Valerie Gillispie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:38:20 +0000

We have been adding student theses to WesScholar, our online repository of Wesleyan scholarship. We have most of the 2009 and 2008 theses, a smaller number of 2007 theses, and we’re adding earlier theses as time allows. We just added one of our all time most popular theses, The “Quails”: the History of Wesleyan University’s First Period of Coeducation, 1872-1912.

Written in 1972, Louise “Lucy” Wilby Knight sent surveys to those female and male students who had been present for Wesleyan’s coeducation “experiment” (1872-1912). Elderly at the time, these alumni and alumna remembered their experiences at Wesleyan and provided an invaluable record of that first period of coeducation. Special Collections & Archives also has Knight’s original research notes and completed surveys.

Now that The Quails is available online, more readers will be able to learn about Wesleyan’s history–and see the incredible work completed by Wesleyan students!

Looking back, looking forward

Valerie Gillispie — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:31:24 +0000

Congratulations to the class of 2008! The upcoming weekend will be a celebration of our newest graduates, as well as a gathering time for alumni of all ages. There will be two WESeminars–presentations open to all students, alumni, parents, and visitors–related to Wesleyan University history. One is “A History of Wesleyan Presidents,” a look back at Wesleyan’s leaders from Fisk to Roth, presented by Suzy Taraba and Valerie Gillispie. We’ll be sharing biographical information as well as some little-known facts. Did you know that not one but two Wesleyan presidents have been ousted by student petition? And did you know that President Shanklin’s inauguration in 1909 was attended by U.S. President Taft? The photo below shows the extent of the celebration on that exciting day.

After the presentation, we’ll give our audience a fun “Presidents Quiz” to test their mastery of the history of Wesleyan presidents! This presentation will take place on Thursday, May 22 at 3pm in the Kerr Lecture Hall (Shanklin 107).

The second WESeminar is “The Guardians of the ‘92: The History of Second Stage.” Suzy Taraba and Jackie Chapman, class of 2008, will talk about the history of this unusual theatre group, now celebrating its 35th year. Jackie based her senior thesis on the Second Stage Records in the University Archives, and will talk about some of the fascinating information she uncovered. The talk will take place on Friday, May 23 at 1:30pm in the Patricelli ‘92 Theatre.

The whole weekend’s itinerary is available here. Hope to see you!

Theses and dissertations — online

Valerie Gillispie — Fri, 18 May 2007 14:42:53 +0000

We are testing an online repository for the theses and dissertations of Wesleyan students. You can browse the uploaded theses here. Why are we putting these online?

-Students’ work will be available around the world 24/7, not only at Wesleyan. Currently, paper copies of honors theses are only available in Special Collections & Archives during reading room hours.

-It will allow Wesleyan’s great scholarship to be distributed more widely. We already know that Wesleyan students do amazing research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences and math. Let’s show the rest of the world, too!

-Students will easily be able to show their theses to future employers, graduate schools, etc. Online theses make it so easy to demonstrate the work done at Wesleyan.

As of now, it appears the project will go forward and become an additional way that theses and dissertations will be submitted. It’s an exciting time to be here!