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Selwyn Cudjoe, professor of Africana studies, spoke about art and culture in West Africa and the Caribbean at a lecture delivered at the Pa Gya! A Literary Festival in Accra, Ghana.

When war broke out in Ukraine last year, Federal Reserve officials were quick to speak about it. “Many of the impacts of the horrific events and what we’re seeing at the moment are beyond the economic ones,” Susan Collins, the current president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said during an event hosted at Wellesley College earlier this month. Nevertheless, the conflict is something the Fed will take into account in its models that help officials make policy decisions, she said.

"Carlos Alberto Vega’s mirror art draws in the viewer for a closer examination as they hold glimpses of their own reflection amidst the vibrant and colorful symbols and icons imprinted on vintage, mixed-media mirrors," writesMarjorie Agosin, professor in the humanities and Spanish. 

Sari Kerr, senior research scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women and lecturer in economics, is interviewed on BBC's World Business Report about women and the wage gap starting at 17:00.

Reflecting on recently retired Trinidadian politican, Ashton Ford, Africana studies professor Selwyn Cudojoe writes, "I am always elated with seemingly little, obscure people—that is, people who are not in the spotlight—when they are recognised for the contributions they make to the civic, social and political development of our society. I felt that way when Ashton Ford was honoured with Hummingbird Silver last Sunday. He thoroughly deserved it."

Nina Tumarkin, Director of the Russian Area Studies Program at Wellesley College, continued the discussion by examining the evolution of Russian war memory and the cult of the Great Patriotic War. Tumarkin noted that celebrations of the war during the Brezhnev era were both genuinely popular and orchestrated by authorities as a source of legitimacy. She traced the ebbs and flows of the event’s popularity through different regimes, from Stalin’s denial to Brezhnev’s exultation, Yeltsin’s rejection, and Putin’s revival. Tumarkin posited that the idealization of history allowed the Kremlin to claim moral superiority, which legitimized its military activity in its successor states. She concluded by discussing this year’s Victory Day under quarantine, where attempts to generate virtual patriotism are contrasted with the toll of the pandemic.

Diana Chapman-Walsh, President Emerita of Wellesley College, has written an uplifting memoir, entitled The Claims of Life (forthcoming in November from MIT Press). Warm, tender, and honest, it’s a book as much about living a meaningful live as it is being an effective college president....From beginning at Wellesley with the “belief that I wasn’t smart enough, that I had to work especially hard to hold my own,” through a series of leadership opportunities and challenges, all shared with Chris, her (recently deceased) husband of 57 years, Walsh learned five lessons for being a trustworthy leader - question yourself, establish partnerships, resist the use of force when in power, value differences, and cultivate communities of self-support.

Claudia Goldin has illuminated issues like the gender gap in pay, child and elder care and the lack of women economists... These impacts persist, according to Sari Kerr, senior research scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women and lecturer in economics, who co-authored a working paper with Goldin on women in the workforce and the career gap. “We still have the perpetual question of how to afford day care, child care and elder care,” Kerr said. “And since that care burden is so unevenly distributed still between men and women, and how to manage that are big questions, certainly.”