audio & features
A Computer Called Watson, Sony Music Entertainment
June 14, 2023
In 2011, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter faced off against an unlikely Jeopardy! opponent: the IBM supercomputer known as Watson. The size of 10 refrigerators — Watson was designed to be a “question answering machine” that could take on the likes of Jeopardy!'s fiercest super champs. This week, hear about how Jeopardy! became the next frontier for testing the limits of artificial intelligence. Plus, what our human players remember about that fateful match.
The Mother of the Disability Rights Movement: Judy Heumann, Sony Music Entertainment
March 30, 2023
Without Judy Heumann, it’s hard to see how we would ever have achieved the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Disabled by polio at just 18 months old in 1949, Judy grew up in a time when nothing prevented discrimination against people with disabilities. In fact, so-called “ugly laws” even outlawed the appearance in public of people who were “diseased, maimed or in any way deformed.” But Judy didn’t let any of this stop her. Instead, she became a trailblazer that transformed the state of disability rights in the United States and the rest of the world. In this special episode, we speak with the legend herself: Judy Heumann.
Judy Heumann passed away on March 4th, 2023. Her life’s work has sparked a growing movement that continues to this day. You can learn more about Judy’s legacy in her memoir Being Heumann, the documentary Crip Camp, and her podcast the Heumann Perspective.
May her memory be a blessing.
Family Secrets, "This Is Uncomfortable" by Marketplace APM
November 4, 2021
"Matthew Chow spent his adult life trying to build a close relationship with his estranged father. In his father's will, he found a decades-old family secret."
ORSL Budget Reductions and Restructuring Spark Strong Pushback from Students, Faculty, and Staff
November 19, 2020
"The University’s Former Muslim Chaplain Omar Bayramoglu was sitting in his kitchen at home in Farmington, Connecticut on Jul. 21 when he received an email from the University’s Catholic Chaplain Father Bill Wallace. Wallace had reached out to Bayramoglu to ask if it was true that he was leaving his position at the University, which he began in Aug. 2019. This news came as a shock to the young imam, who had neither submitted a letter of resignation nor received notice from the University about discontinuing his employment for the 2020-2021 academic year. "
Strengthening Cross-Strait Solidarity: Perspectives on Hong Kong Asylum Seekers in Taiwan
April 8, 2020
"TAIPEI, TAIWAN–On the eve of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential elections, I visited Che-lam Presbyterian Church (濟南教會), the only organization in Taiwan to publicly assist the Hong Kong protestors and a major supplier of protest equipment sent to Hong Kong from Taiwan. The congregation is part of an informal coalition of NGOs and other civil society groups that aid Hong Kongers as they continue to resist Beijing’s heavy-handed tactics to encroach upon the city’s political freedoms. "
Risk and Resistance: Discussing Hong Kong Protests on Campus
September 16, 2019
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news
November 19, 2019
"Students from mainland China held a forum on Nov. 12 featuring 14 anonymous stories articulating the diversity of Chinese identities and what it means to navigate college campuses in the United States. The story readings were followed by a discussion, moderated by Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies Yu-ting Huang, during which students had the opportunity to respond to the stories and share their own experiences."
SF New Deal extends lifeline to struggling restaurants and vulnerable residents
May 26, 2020
"Weeks before shelter-in-place orders took hold in San Francisco, Alfred Lee, owner of K-Elements BBQ in the Richmond District, saw his restaurant revenue plummet by nearly 90 percent after shutting down all in-house dining due to the pandemic."
October 25, 2019
"Ever since news about Wesleyan’s potential joint-venture campus in China began circulating in late September, members of the Wesleyan community have raised questions about administrative transparency surrounding the venture. Without established channels of communication with University administration, some students turned to protest and online platforms to raise additional concerns about academic freedom and the broader political implications of the venture."
Students Participate in Rally Supporting Hong Kong, Denouncing Hengdian Venture
October 15, 2019
"Students participated in a solidarity rally for Hong Kong outside of Usdan on Friday, Oct. 11, joining 22 other cities that also demonstrated. Organizers of the rally also added the denouncement of Wesleyan University’s proposed joint venture with Hengdian Group to the rally’s platform, declaring the two issues were inextricable from one another, which incited backlash from students online before the rally."