Staying Connected - Wheaton College Massachusetts

Connect Virtually

The Office of Alumni Relations and Parent & Family Engagement are here to support Wheaton community members as we all continue to stay connected and support one another, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we practice social distancing, this collection of online resources has been curated to provide our community members information, entertainment, and a way for the college to help you remain connected to one another, during these challenging times.

As our staff members are currently working remotely, rest assured that we remain accessible virtually to all of our community members. We’d love to hear from you, so please be in touch!

View the current COVID-19 testing results on campus

Follow us on Facebook

Check out the Alumni Association Facebook page to get news from campus, event updates, and fun Wheaton facts!

Wheaton Alumni Association Facebook Page

Find us on Instagram

Follow the Alumni Association on Instagram and get swept away with beautiful campus scenery or have a lighthearted laugh while watching our Instagram stories.

Wheaton Alumni Association Instagram Account

Chat with us on Twitter

Tweet with the Alumni Association on Twitter and see alumni features and see what is trending at Wheaton!

Wheaton Alumni Association Twitter Account

Virtual Platforms

Wheaton Book Club

Take your love of reading to the next level by joining our free Wheaton College Virtual Book Club!

Find out more information here.

Wheaton CONNECT

Explore all the different ways you can CONNECT with classmates and friends and network with fellow alumni when you join the official alumni networking platform for Wheaton College.

Login to Wheaton CONNECT today.

Wheaton has Talent

Consider sending us a recording, YouTube video, podcast, webinar or Livestream link of your reading, performance or tutorial so we can share it with the Wheaton community.

Please share your talent with us!

Virtual Backgrounds

Show a little Wheaton spirit on your next Zoom call with custom Wheaton backgrounds!

View and download your favorite Wheaton background!

Fun and Games

Color in Roary!

For Wheaties of all ages! Download Roary and showcase your Wheaton Pride by sharing your completed art on social media!

Download Roary (pdf)

Wheaton Puzzle

Looking for a new puzzle to complete? Try out our online Wheaton puzzle, of an iconic campus spot.

Start your Wheaton Puzzle

Wheaton BINGO!

Let’s see how many community members can get BINGO! Share your completed BINGO cards on social media.

Get your Wheaton BINGO card

Share on social media how much fun you are having with Wheaton’s Fun & Games by using #WheatonMA with your posts!

Wheaton in the Community

Wheaton Blog

Visit the Wheaton Blog, a selection of the latest stories, photos, and videos about Wheaton people, programs and events, produced by members of our community.

Wheaton Magazine

Read the digital version of the Spring 2020 edition of Wheaton’s Magazine!

Wheaton News

Stay up to date on current Wheaton happenings by reading Wheaton News.

Alumni Engagement

The President of the Alumni Association, Josh Bauchner ’95, shares a message about the myriad of ways alumni can stay connected.

Parent & Family Engagement

Parents and families play a big role at Wheaton. Learn more about how family members can get involved at Wheaton.

COVID-19 Resource Page

Curious how Wheaton is responding to the COVID-19 crisis? Visit the official webpage of information and updates on COVID-19 for Wheaton College.

Virtually @ Wheaton

Explore campus life and hear from students, staff, and faculty. Visit Virtually @ Wheaton today!

Perspectives from Wheaton

President Hanno Shares

5 tips for small-college leaders to foster community amid coronavirus

Dennis M. Hanno, president of Wheaton College, offers five concrete tips to small liberal arts colleges on how to maintain a sense of community as they pivot to remote learning due to COVID-19. Hanno’s tips were published in Education Dive, an online news site that covers trends shaping K–12 and higher education.

Read the full article here.

Maintaining Mental Health

Counseling center director offers advice on wellness during challenging times

Valerie Tobia ’07, director of Counseling and Health Services at Wheaton, oversees all aspects of Wheaton College’s Counseling Center, including programming, outreach, training and the providing of and coordination of services for students. Although the college has switched to remote operations because of COVID-19, Tobia is still working to support students during this challenging time. Continue reading to learn more about best practices for maintaining mental wellness.

Gaining Perspective on Panic

Psychology professor Gail Sahar sheds light on human behavior during COVID-19

Professor of Psychology Gail Sahar, who is chair of the Wheaton College Psychology Department, this semester is teaching PSY 232 Social Psychology, which is an introduction to the systematic study of human social behavior. Witnessing how people began behaving as the impact of the coronavirus grew worldwide—crowding grocery stores and emptying shelves of toilet paper and food staples—continue reading as Professor Sahar shares insight into why this was happening.

Providing Solutions for Remote Classes

Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning helps faculty switch to distance learning to lessen COVID-19 impact

At institutions of higher learning all over the world, those who teach suddenly are becoming students themselves, as the impact of COVID-19 forced faculty to quickly pivot from in-person classes to remote instruction.

For the first time in Wheaton’s 186-year history, the college’s personal face-to-face learning must be delivered via computer and telephone screens. It has been no small feat but, within a matter of a few days, Wheaton was up and running with virtual classes by the time students returned from an extended spring break on Monday, March 23.

Read the full article here.

Wheaton Virtual Happy Hours

Do you find yourself jumping on a lot of video conferences, but truly thinking about your upcoming happy hour with your Wheaton friends? How about you be socially distant in style and download a Wheaton College virtual backgrounds to use during your next Wheaton virtual get-together!

Don’t forget to tag @WheatonMAalum when you share your virtual alumni get-togethers on social media to be featured on the Alumni Association accounts.

Left photo: Class of 1977 virtual get-together | Middle Photo: Dimple Divers Virtual Alumni Show | Right Photo: Class of 1992 virtual get-together

While scheduling your virtual happy hour with classmates, try making something on the newly designed Wheaton Cocktail Menu, created by Sam Wetterau ’09 (view instructions (pdf)). Looking for your own class menu, visit Sam’s website at menyou.cool.

Wheaton on the Front Lines

Alumni share Insight into COVID-19

Emergency Preparedness in a Time of Crisis

For the past 11 years, Chris Paquet ’03, a Wheaton trustee, has dedicated his career to preparing New York City for disaster, as the assistant commissioner in the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response within the New York City Health Department. In response to COVID-19, Paquet has been mobilizing the NYC Health Department’s response to the pandemic. Continue reading about Paquet ’03 front line experience...

Alumni share Insight into COVID-19

Sending help from afar

Mingshi “Cecilia” Zhang ’20 is helping her Wheaton College community from afar by shipping several hundred KN95 face masks from her home in China to campus to offer protection against the spread of the coronavirus. Continue reading about how Zhang ’20 continues to support the Wheaton Community…

Alumni share Insight into COVID-19

Data supported decision-making

In Rhode Island, Emily Toma ’19 is helping to supply the data that public health officials need to formulate smart policy decisions. In her role as research assistant in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., she contributed to a study that tested a random sample of people to gain a better understanding of who has been impacted by COVID-19. Continue reading about Toma ’19 and her research…

Sustaining Community

Campus food pantry supports students

Led by the First-Gen and Low-Income Task Force and the Center for Social Justice and Community Impact (SJCI), the Wheaton community established a food pantry the week of March 23 in the basement of Cole Memorial Chapel, which remains available to the 60-plus students staying—socially distant—on campus. Continue reading about how Wheaton is aiding students who may be food-insecure…

Alumni share Insight into COVID-19

On the ground at the CDC

A member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) global immunization division, called the Demand for Immunization Team, Atsuyoshi “Atsu” Ishizumi ’12 uses social and behavioral sciences to improve uptake of vaccines in various parts of the world. Continue reading about Ishizumi ’12 frontline experience…

Polar Seltzer & PPEs

Boston 25 News features Carolyn Stimpson ’81

When a DIY video on YouTube caught her sister-in-law’s eye, Carolyn Stimpson ’81 and her family immediately stepped up to help.

As co-owners of Worcester-based Polar Beverage, crafting two-liter seltzer bottles into personal protective equipment, or PPE, for people on the front lines of the battle against COVID-10 felt like something they could do. Continue reading the Boston 25 News Article…

Alumni share Insight into COVID-19

A public health perspective

Rachel Mitrovich ’04, a global health practitioner who works on the pharmaceutical side of improving access to vaccines through evidence-based policy development, said the coronavirus is re-orienting our relationship to the government, to one another and to the outside world. Continue reading about Mitrovich ’04 frontline experience…

Connect Virtually

On this page

Social Media

Follow us on Facebook

Find us on Instagram

Chat with us on Twitter

Virtual Platforms

Wheaton Book Club

Wheaton CONNECT

Wheaton has Talent

Virtual Backgrounds

Fun and Games

Color in Roary!

Wheaton Puzzle

Wheaton BINGO!

Share on social media how much fun you are having with Wheaton’s Fun & Games by using #WheatonMA with your posts!

Wheaton in the Community

Wheaton Blog

Wheaton Magazine

Wheaton News

Alumni Engagement

Parent & Family Engagement

COVID-19 Resource Page

Virtually @ Wheaton

Wheaton Virtual Happy Hours