Cyrano at Boscobel, Aug. 25

YWAA will host its annual Boscobel event, Aug. 25, featuring Cyrano, directed by Jason O'Connell. 

As part of its annual outing at Boscobel and featuring productions of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, YWAA will host alumni, family and friends for performance at Cyrano, Sunday, Aug. 25 (7:30 pm) in Garrison.

Yale lecturer Murray Biggs once again will open the events of the day with a pre-performance lecture at 3:30 pm. YWAA guests will then have a chance to have a picnic on the grounds of Boscobel before joining the public to watch actors of the HVSF group present Cyrano.

To purchase tickets for the event and join the affairs of the day, click Boscobel Tickets.  YWAA board member Rich Fabbro '76 is organizing the day's events.

In most years, the YWAA Sunday event often showcases a Shakespearean play.  Last year the Festival performed Richard II.  In 2016, the performers presented a female actress Maria Christina-Oliveras '91, a Yale alumna, in the male role Macbeth. Other "Yale Day at Boscobel" performances in the past included The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, and Othello.

A Yale expert on Shakespeare, Biggs, in his Boscobel lectures, offers insights, special tips, clues, and color before the Yale group watches the evening performance.

This year the August Yale gathering won't see a Shakespeare production. The actor, Jason O'Connell, who will play the part of Cyrano in this year's Cyrano, co-wrote the drama with Brenda Withers.  Meredith McDonough is its director.

Cyrano is O'Connell's loose interpretation of the life and fancies of Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17th century French novelist and playwright. The play chronicles Cyrano's crush, love letters and love interests in Roxanne even as France prepares for war with Spain.

YWAA: Save the Date, 2019

Yale a cappella groups the New Blue and the Spizzwinks (top and above R) will sing in Chappaqua Feb. 3. Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos will address Yale alumni and guests in Chappaqua Mar. 7. (New Blue, Spizzwinks and Yale photos)

Sunday, February 3

The Spizzwinks and the New Blue, a cappella groups from Yale, will perform in concert at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, Sunday, Feb. 3, at 1 pm.

The Spizzwinks return to Westchester after performing in Scarsdale in 2013 and 2015. The group plans to sing in Iceland, Seattle and China this coming spring and summer.

The New Blue is Yale's oldest female a cappella group, formed in 1969, the year Yale's undergraduate population included women for the first time. Laura Clapp '21 of Scarsdale and Anna-Sophia Boguraev '20 of Bedford sing with New Blue.

In 2018, the Whiffenpoofs and Red, Hot & Blue performed in separate concerts in Rye.

YWAA will host the concert. Details will follow.

Thursday, March 7

Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos will present a lecture to Yale alumni and friends in Chappaqua.  Details will follow.  Santos is best known for having taught arguably the most popular course ever among Yale undergraduates, "Psychology and the Good Life," when over 1,200 students enrolled last spring.

The course is also known as the "Happiness" course and is labelled "The Science of Well-Being" in an online adaptation of the same.

Santos also acts as Head of Silliman College at Yale.

The scheduled lecture is part of YWAA lecture series.  Click YWAA Lectures for more about the series and Yale professors who have visited Westchester over the last several years.

Sidra Bell at the Yale Club, Mar. 15

At Yale, Sidra Bell '01 studied history before deciding on a career in dance.

Greenburgh native Sidra Bell '01, the choreographer who leads her own New York dance company Sidra Bell Dance, will speak on dance innovation at the Yale Club of New York, Wednesday, Mar. 5 at 6:30 pm. Yale alumni, guests, and those interested in the arts and dance are invited to attend. 

A New York Times reviewer once referred to one of her group's performances as "slick, in-your-face intensity."  A Washington Post critic described her choreography as "creepy and comical."  

Bell will discuss her work after a short reception.  At Yale, a resident of Saybrook College, she majored in history before earning an MFA degree from Purchase College. Her dance company has performed around the country and abroad (in Greece, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Germany, among other countries). 

In 2015, she was honored by ArtsWestchester as one of the top 50 artists who work in or are from Westchester. 

"It's not about the steps," she once told an interviewer. "It's the ideas behind the steps."

Sidra Bell '01 will speak on dance innovation and contemporary dance at the Yale Club of New York, Mar. 15

Salovey Will Speak in Greenwich, Mar. 7

Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. will speak in Greenwich, Mar. 7

Yale Westchester alumni and guests are invited to join a discussion with Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Tuesday, Mar. 7 at 6:30 pm. The event will be hosted by the Yale Alumni Association of Greenwich. 

Guests will attend a reception before Salovey's remarks and have an opportunity to view the works of Alfred Sisley, the French impressionist master of the 19th century.

Salovey, who will speak from 7:30-8:30 pm, will provide updates on campus activities and initiatives. Yale alumni can submit questions and topics for Salovey to address when they register for the event.

As most alumni know, the pulse of Yale seldom sits still. In New Haven, Yale prepares for the opening of two new residential colleges (Franklin and Murray) and next month will admit the largest freshman class in its history (the Class of '21). 

Calhoun College will be renamed Hopper College in the wake of a special committee's presentation of guidelines for renaming campus structures.  Commons in the center of campus prepares to close for renovations as it transforms into a new student center, the Schwarzman Center. Yale sports will have a representative in the Ivy League's first-ever basketball tournament in Philadelphia early March. And many are raving about the opening of spacious, new facilities at the School of Music.

Salovey also spoke to Yale alumni in Greenwich just days after he was inaugurated as president in Oct., 2013.  His talk was entitled "A More Unified Yale."

Participants must purchase tickets ($50) to attend the event. Click YALE-GREENWICH to register. 

Save the Date: Holloway in Rye Brook

Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway '91MA '95Ph.D. will speak to alumni in Rye Brook, Mar.2 (Yale photos)

In all his decades at Yale, at no time was Dean Jonathan Holloway '91MA '95Ph.D. as busy as he was last fall on campus in New Haven.

Wrapping up his first full year as dean of Yale College, Holloway emerged to become a known face of Yale, while listening with concern to student demonstrators, developing plans to improve diversity in all aspects of Yale, devising an approach to address the naming of Calhoun College, promoting a new edition (with his own introduction in the front) of the seminal book (Souls of Black Folk) by scholar W.E.B. DuBois, teaching and doing research in Yale's African American Studies department, and responding to a stream of interview requests from the national media, including the New York Times and the New Yorker. 

In 2016, Holloway will slip away from New Haven for an evening to talk to alumni, when he will speak at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook, Wednesday, Mar. 2 at 6 pm.  His talk will be entitled "Continuing the Tradition of Civic Engagement in Yale College." Alumni and guests are invited and encouraged to register online.

The program is sponsored by YWAA, AYA and the Yale Alumni Association of Greenwich and follows a tradition of Yale leaders speaking to Westchester-area alumni, parents and students about Yale issues and programs.  (Yale president Peter Salovey '86Ph.d. spoke in Greenwich to a ballroom filled with alumni just weeks after his inauguration in Oct., 2013.)

Holloway was a popular master of Calhoun College for nine years before stepping into the deanship of Yale College in July, 2014. He was often called "Dr. J" while presiding over the college and was known to have memorized the name of every student in Calhoun every year. (He is also known to sport a different Yale tie for each day of the week.) "Part of why Calhoun is so cohesive is his force of personality," a student told the Yale Daily News in 2008.  "He is (the college)."

He has served as Chair of the Council of Masters and Chair of the Department of African American Studies.  He received Yale's DeVane award for outstanding scholarship and teaching in 2009 and wrote major reports encouraging Yale to expand the number of residential colleges by two.

Holloway has a resume' similar to those of Salovey and former president Richard Levin '74Ph.D. All three migrated to Yale for graduate school after receiving undergraduate degrees at Stanford. (Holloway, in fact, played football at Stanford.) All three served in senior administration roles at Yale.

In 2015, a favorite moment for him occurred hundreds miles from his office at Yale in Florida. Last July, Holloway, the former football player with no baseball experience, threw out the first pitch at a Miami Marlins game against the New York Yankees. The Yale connection?  The Marlins are owned by Jeffrey Loria '62.  Their president is David Samson, father of current student Hannah Samson '16.

To register for this event, click HOLLOWAY.  The online registration fee is $35.

Alumni College: Intro to Jung

Kendrick Norris '77 MDiv '01 MST will lead a short course on the Psychology of Jung in Rye Mar. 8-Apr. 12

The AYA's Yale Alumni College returns to Westchester this spring, when Yale Divinity School alumnus Kendrick Norris '77 MDiv '01 MST will teach a short course, "An Introduction to the Psychology of Jung," in Rye Mar. 8-Apr. 12, 2016.  Classes are scheduled for Tuesday evenings at 7 pm at the Osborn at 101 Theall Rd.

Kendrick, an expert on the teachings and principles of Carl Jung, also has a Ph.d. from the Graduate Theological Foundation and has worked in pastoral and family counseling at St. Raphael Hospital in New Haven. He is a founding member of the Connecticut Association for Jungian Psychology and a board member of the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology in New York.

Norris' six-week course is an introduction to the theories of Jung with reference to the second half of life.  Jung often said the first half of life is about the development of ego, influenced in part by relationships with parents. The second half is about letting go of egos and is a "time of the soul," a psychological freedom.

Westchester alums interested in attending can register by clicking ALUM-COLLEGE. A $200 fee is required.

In 2015, the Alumni College in Westchester hosted courses on Shakespeare and opera in the fall and sleep disorders last spring.

Debate: Yale vs. Princeton, Nov. 6

Yale and Princeton will square off in the annual Westchester debate competition Nov. 6 in Armonk (YWAA illustration)

In football, Yale will travel to Princeton Nov. 14 in the 138th meeting between the two programs. A week before, in debate, a Princeton team will travel to Westchester Nov. 6 to meet Yale, as the two squads will go head to head at Byram Hills High School in Armonk. Yale won the annual Westchester competition in Tarrytown last year over Princeton and Brown.

The format will be similar to Westchester debates in previous years.  Once the topic is announced, the college teams spar first. Participants will have an opportunity to present arguments and rebut others. Debaters are timed, and the ever-present gong will sound when speakers go on too long. The teams will go back and forth until judges announce a winner (and explain how they reached their decision). This year marks the program's 18th competition.

Six high-school teams, who will be coached by the college debaters, will follow in a similar format. Richard Bradley '86 will once again serve as the moderator for the evening.

High-school teams include those from Byram Hills, Ardsley, Yonkers, Fox Lane, Rye Neck, and the French School. Hackley School won the high-school round last year.  Ardsley, Rye Neck and Yonkers return after having competed in the 2013 competition.

Prizes will be awarded to winning debaters and their schools.  The program is funded in part by the Yale Westchester Nightingale Fund, which honors long-time debate leader and YWAA board member Bill Nightingale '53, who once again returns as a co-Chair of the event and emcee.  Susan Kaminsky '86 is also a co-Chair and event organizer.

Zachary Young '17 and Tony Nguyen '16 represented Yale, when the duo triumphed last year.

The public, especially those interested in hearty, rapid-fire discussion of politics, world affairs and social issues, is invited.  The competition starts at 7:15 pm (12 Tripp Lane, Armonk).

Jennings' Migration Southward

Bruce Jennings '71, YWAA board member and former president (above L, with Yale professor Murray Biggs), is relocating to Nashville, but will coordinate YWAA's Boscobel event (above R) one more time this August (Yale and YWAA photos).

Yale Westchester's annual Boscobel outing heralds the beginning of the end of summer. Always a yearly highlight, always a memorable event, and often an evening that evokes memories of sitting around a thick table in Lindsley-Chit debating Shakespeare themes, Boscobel this year will feature The Winter's Tale (Aug. 23 in Garrison).  Bruce Jennings '71, a YWAA director and former president, once again organized the Yale gathering, arranged for Yale's Shakespeare professor Murray Biggs to return to provide background and inspiration beforehand, and is coddling Westchester alums to join him and the usual attendees for up-front seats.

Unfortunately for Yale Westchester, after the actors spout their last lines on the grounds of the semi-circle stage and after the engaged audience applauds under the spacious tent, Jennings relocates to Nashville.  He is not yet officially retiring, but he and his wife Maggie decided now is the time to join his son and daughter-in-law and become grandparents in what is popularly considered one of the most luring, attractive cities in the South.  A more pleasant, tolerable winter doesn't hurt, too.

Many Yale alumni know him for Boscobel, but Jennings has had other notable responsibilities in a long career and won't retire from those roles, as he heads southward.  He is Director of Bioethics at the Center for Humans and Nature, based in Dobbs Ferry and has held a faculty appointment in ethics at the Yale School of Public Health for 20 years.

The Center is a private research institute that studies ethical and policy questions about the environment and public health. Jennings is editor for and frequent contributor to its e-journal, Minding Nature.  He will remain at the Center and will become an adjunct professor in biomedical ethics and society at Vanderbilt as a new Nashville resident.

Jennings recently co-edited a book on issues and topics related to hospice care: Hospice Ethics: Policy and Practice in Palliative Care. He has written or edited 20 books in bioethics and public policy and published over 150 articles. He is also editor in chief of Bioethics, a publication in its fourth edition that serves as an encyclopedia on related topics.

Along the way, Jennings has also served two terms as a village trustee in Hastings-on-Hudson, his local residence before his planned move to Tennessee. He was YWAA's president from 2007-11 and received a YWAA award for community service in 2005.

As he departs, he and YWAA will ensure the Yale-Boscobel excursions, including the lectures, lunches and picnics with the stunning Hudson River views, will continue in 2016 and beyond.  In recent years, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, the troupe that performs each summer season at Boscobel, staged productions of All's Well That End's Well, King Lear, Hamlet, and Comedy of Errors.  Some have been comedies that sparked shouts and laughter around the tent. Others were tragedies that left theater-goers hushed in silence amid splattering blood and mournful wails.

As coordinator, Jennings each year convinces dozens of alumni and their guests to give Shakespeare one more chance or urges those who are Shakespeare experts to support the HVSF theater group.  And guests, after Biggs' inspiration and guidance, are usually thrilled by the productions. They unravel the winding Shakespeare plots, they laugh loudly at the surprise references to 2015 culture, and they soak in the familiar cadence of Shakespeare language.

A Hastings resident for 33 years (including his six years as a trustee), Jennings wrote to friends and colleagues recently, "We have fond memories and dear friends in Hastings, whom we will never forget."  The chance to continue teaching, writing and editing, while spending more time with his new grandson, was too enticing.

As Jennings ventures to the South, YWAA will keep the popular Boscobel tradition alive, although some, including Jennings himself, speculate he may sneak back to the area for future productions under the big open tent.

To purchase tickets for this year's YWAA-Boscobel event (including the Biggs lecture at the Hastings Center), click THE-WINTER'S-TALE.

YWAA Spring Calendar

This spring, the Spizzwinks(?) return to Westchester, admitted students will attend the annual Bronxville reception before they get to Old Campus, and Yale Day of Service will feature volunteer sites in Westchester and New York City

Thursday, Apr. 16

YWAA and the Yale Westchester Alumni Schools Committee will host the annual reception for admitted students at the Bronxville Field Club at 6 pm. This annual event permits Yale alumni and admissions interviewers to meet and greet the fortunate students from Westchester who were admitted to Yale. Admittees who choose Yale will be in the Class of 2019 when they swarm Old Campus in September.

In Bronxville, students and their parents will also have an opportunity to meet current Yale students, including one or two who are Westchester residents, and a Yale admissions officer. Now that the long, anxious wait is over, they have a chance to ask questions about Yale, Yale experiences and traditions, and the transition they all go through in freshman year.

Last year, 29 Westchester students were admitted to Yale, and most of them attended the reception. William Primps '71 is the Yale Westchester ASC Chair.

Sunday, Apr. 26

The Yale Spizzwinks(?) return to Westchester for YWAA's annual songfest in Scarsdale for a Sunday afternoon concert at The Center@862 at 3 pm. Their Westchester stopover comes between planned trips to South America, Turkey and South Africa this year. The a cappella group will be joined by Scarsdale High School's For Good Measure.

The Spizzwinks(?) also performed in Scarsdale in 2013 before their Far East tour that year. To purchase tickets online, click Events. Or buy tickets at the door. Regina Possavino '01 and B.K. Munguia '75, YWAA board members, have helped organize the event.

Saturday, May 9

Once again, Yale and AYA will sponsor the worldwide Day of Service with service sites from Boston to the Beijing and in Westchester, Manhattan and the Bronx. In years past, YWAA has sponsored volunteer activities all across the county and invites Yale alumni, family and friends to participate again this year (or join for the first time).

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor '79 JD is the Honorary Chair for Day of Service. For more, go to Day-of-Service.  For information about sites in Westchester and New York, click Westchester-NY.

YWAA Songfest, 2015

The Yale Spizzwinks(?) (top) will sing in Scarsdale, Apr. 26 and will be joined by Scarsdale High School's For Good Measure (bottom)

The Yale Spizzwinks (?) have a return engagement to Westchester.  The oldest underclassman a capella group on campus will perform as part of YWAA's Songfest, 2015, Sunday, Apr. 26 at 3 pm at The Center@862 in Scarsdale.  

The Spizzwinks (?) sang at The Center in 2013 before they embarked on a Far East summer tour to China, Thailand and other countries. After that tour, the group released a new album, Never Don't Go.  This year, they will be joined in concert in Westchester by For Good Measure, a group from Scarsdale High School.

The 2014-15 'Winks include 18 freshmen, sophomores and juniors. (Two will join the Whiffenpoofs in 2015-16.)  They have scheduled concerts in South America, Turkey and South Africa this spring and summer. 

There is an explanation for the question mark appending their name.  Over a hundred years ago, shortly after they were formed, a Yale student editor added the mark because he thought the name was misspelled and required checking.  Group members noticed the edit and in the Spizz-like humor of the time then and now decided to keep it as an official suffix to the name.

Scarsdale's For Good Measure was formed by Jessica Chayes during the 2001-02 school term. The group has also sung with college groups from Dartmouth, Binghamton University and Kenyon College.

Tickets for the Apr. 26 concert will be available at www.yalewestchester.org and will also be sold at the door.  Tickets will be priced at $25 for adults, $15 for seniors (over 65), and $10 for students in high school and under. Attendees will have an opportunity to meet the singers and purchase their CDs after the concert. For more information about the concert or tickets, e-mail Regina Possavino '01 at reginapossavino@yahoo.com. 

The Center is located at 862 Scarsdale Ave.  Yale alumni, friends, family and those interested in good music and fun performance are encouraged to attend.

The Spizzwinks(?) hit the road later this year for concerts in South America, Turkey and South Africa. (Spizz photos)

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Dr. Meir Kryger will lecture on sleep problems and more in Rye this spring. (Linkedin photo)

Dr. Meir Kryger of the Yale School of Medicine will present lectures on "The Mystery of Sleep" at weekly sessions from Mar. 9-Apr. 13, 2015, as part of the AYA's Yale Alumni College.  The classes will meet Mondays from 7-8:30 pm at the Osborn in Rye (101 Theall Rd.).  Westchester alumni, family and friends are invited and can register by clicking  ALUM-COLLEGE.   The total fees are $150/person (six sessions).

Dr. Kryger will address topics related to getting enough sleep, various sleep problems, family members with sleep problems, and ways to improve sleep habits. Dr. Kryger, until he arrived at Yale in 2011, spent most of his career at the University of Manitoba. He has an MD degree from McGill, has served as chair and president of the National Sleep Foundation, and is editor of Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine.

Black Holes: Urry to Speak in Scarsdale

In Scarsdale Dec. 9, Yale professor Meg Urry (above) will address topics from black holes and the evolution of the universe to women pursuing careers in science. (Yale photos)

Yale professor Meg Urry, well known for her accomplishments in physics and astronomy and for her leadership in encouraging females to pursue advanced fields in science, will speak in Westchester at the Scarsdale Library, Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 pm.  Yale alumni, friends and those interested in the topic are encouraged to attend.

The presentation is part of the YWAA's lecture series, led by YWAA treasurer Rich Fabrio '76, that brings prominent Yale faculty members to Westchester to speak on current issues and topics or about recent publications or accomplishments. In 2013, Yale professor Paul Bracken spoke to a YWAA and Westchester audience in Scarsdale about his latest book, The Second Nuclear Age.

Urry will talk about black holes, the evolution of the universe, and the questions and answers that are emerging in astrophysics today. She will also provide updates on how women are faring in science in the Ivy League. At Yale, Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy and the Chair of the Physics Department.

Prof. Urry, the first Yale Professor elected head of the American Astronomical Society (7,500 members), has been leading research in black holes and other phenomena that were central to movies like Interstellar. She has been the subject of many articles about issues and challenges for women pursuing science careers, including in the past year in the New York Times and the Yale Alumni Magazine (Apr., 2014). 

She has a B.S. degree in mathematics and physics from Tufts and a Ph.d. in physics from Johns Hopkins and has been at Yale since 2001.

The Scarsdale lecture is free. But Yale alumni and others interested in attending should register by clicking Urry Event to permit organizers to plan appropriately.  The Scarsdale Library is located at 54 Olmsted Rd. in Scarsdale.

Chappaqua's Townsend Wins Rhodes

Matt Townsend '15 (above) had plans to attend medical school after Yale and after his basketball career. But he'll make a first stop in Oxford to study medical anthropology. (Yale Athletics photos)

YALE ATHLETICS

Matt Townsend '15, a Chappaqua resident who starred at Horace Greeley High School in basketball and was valedictorian in his class there, has won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University next year, according to Yale and the Rhodes Trust.

At Yale, Townsend is a senior forward on the basketball team and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  He is majoring in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. He has averaged 6 points/game and 4 rebounds/game, playing as a starter most of the time, in his sophmore and junior seasons, combined.
Townsend's weekend of Nov. 21-23 was hectic, busy, anxiety-filled. He missed two Yale games because he was interviewing in finalist rounds in New York when the team was on the road.  Once interviews were done and he learned he had won the scholarship, he joined the team in Ohio Nov. 23 where the Elis were about to play Kent State in a tournament.  With the Rhodes now secured, Townsend celebrated by leading the team to a 66-59 victory, scoring 12 points.

Yale has started this season at 4-1. It finished last year at 19-14, as Townsend won the Derby Award for academics for the third year in a row.  He was also selected to the Academic All-Ivy team (winter sports) and the Capital One Academic All-America Team.

The team plays NCAA defending champion UConn Dec. 5 in Storrs, Ct.  It won't start Ivy League competition until after the holidays (Jan. 17 at Brown).

At Horace Greeley, Townsend averaged 29 points/game during the 2010-11 season and played with the Graves brothers (Teddy and Earl, III), the sons of Earl Graves, Jr. '84, who many argue is one of Yale's best basketball players ever and one of the best to have played at Scarsdale High School.

At Oxford, Townsend will study medical anthropology and defer attending medical school (his original plans since going to Yale).  Three other students and graduate of Yale also earned Rhodes Scholarships:  Jordan Konell '15, Jane Darby Menton '15, and Gabriel Zucker '12. With four, Yale led the nation in Rhodes Scholarships this fall. Last year, Isabel Beshar '14 of Rye won the scholarship.

Buery Tapped as Deputy Mayor NYC

 Buery '97 Law (Children's Aid Society photo)

WESTCHESTER ALUMNI

New Rochelle resident Richard Buery ' 97 Law was appointed to Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives in New York Feb. 4, as Mayor Bill de Blasio finishes up filling major posts in his new administration. De Blasio created the position to focus on specific social programs the mayor spoke often about during his campaign. It will permit Buery to lead initiatives related to children and families, capitalizing on Buery's experience in the area.

Buery and de Blasio met each other when the two visited Israel on a trip organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

Buery has been the President and CEO of the Children's Aid Society the past four years.  After Yale Law School, Buery decided to devote his career to social services after initial stints as a law clerk for a federal judge and a staff attorney for the Brennan Center for Justice.  While in school (at Harvard as an undergraduate and at Yale in law school), Buery started the Mission Hill Summer Program, a program for children in Boston. After Yale, he also helped found iMentor and Groundwork, non-profit organizations that help families in public housing in New York and that link New York students with professional mentors.

"Richard is a powerful advocate who knows what it takes to lift up working families," De Blasio said at the time of the appointment. "He gets the big picture and will make sure agencies are working together to achieve our biggest priorities."

Buery told the Yale Law School last year, "I knew I did not want to be a lawyer (even while in the Law School at Yale). But I did not have a career plan other than to continue a commitment to social justice." The Children's Aid Society, founded in 1853, provides social services to children of low-income families in New York City and Westchester County. 

"We are going to elevate and reform the way New York supports families," Buery said at the press conference announcing his appointment.

TW

Rye's Beshar Wins Rhodes

Rhodes Winner Beshar (Yale photo)

WESTCHESTER STUDENTS

Right before the Rhodes Trust made official announcements of the 2013 winners of the Rhodes Scholarship, Isabel Beshar '14 of Rye, a finalist, had already prepared not to see her name on the list. She had composed thank-you messages to those who had provided recommendations before she endured a grueling series of interviews. And she was just about ready to send.  "I had drafted e-mails to all my professors thanking them for their help," she told the Journal News of Westchester.

Beshar, however, received a pleasant Thanksgiving Week surprise when she learned she was one of three Yale winners and one of two winners from New York State.  Vinay Nayak '14 and Suzanna Fritzberg '14 were also Yale winners, selected as representatives from Illinois and Washington, respectively. (Paolo Singer from the Bronx and Harvard was the other New York winner.)

"It's been a shock," Beshar told the Yale Daily News. "I keep asking my family if I've been dreaming this. The past few days have been kind of crazy."

Beshar is pursuing double majors at Yale in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and in the history of science and medicine. She plans to attend medical school one day.  For now, she will take a Rhodes detour to Oxford, where she will spend the next two years studying medical anthropology. She has special interests in public health and diabetes in developing countries.

She told the Journal News, "Just to be included was an honor. I did not expect this. I truly did not."

Yale students, including Beshar, spent the summer in Ecuador (Yale photo)

Beshar is the president of the Yale Public Health Coalition and spent last summer in Ecuador with fellow Yale students as part of the Yale-Ecuador HIV Clinic Initiative. She is also a Yale Global Health Initiative fellow.

In Ecuador last summer, she and other Yale students ran an HIV testing clinic in Manglaralto, Ecuador.

In Westchester, Beshar graduated from Rye Country Day in 2010, where she played on the ice hockey and field hockey teams. An injury prevented her from playing varsity field hockey at Yale. 

At Yale, she has written occasional columns on public health and health care for the Yale Daily News, including one where she recounts her own treatment experiences and possible side effects after suffering an ear infection in Ecuador.

The three 2013 Rhodes Scholars from Yale follow a record nine Rhodes winners from Yale in 2012.


TW

Organist Jacobs to Perform in Scarsdale

Paul Jacobs, who studied organ at Yale, will perform a concert at the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale as part of the church's "Celebrate 100!" year-long program. (Felix Broede, Christina Wilton photos)

A New York Times reviewer called organist Paul Jacobs M.Mus. "a brilliant young organist and evangelist for the instrument."  The Washington Post's reviewer described his performances as "smooth, sinuous, flowing and tender." The Post reported, "Those are not adjectives always applied to organ playing, but they fit when Jacobs is the one doing it." Add the Chicago Tribune to the long list of reviewers with exceptional praise:  "One of the most supremely gifted organists of his generation."

And he went to Yale.  Jacobs studied organ under the distinguished organist and music professor Thomas Murray at its School of Music.

Westchester residents, Yale alumni and music devotees throughout the region will have a chance to experience for themselves Jacobs' "brilliance" and "sinuous, flowing" playing, when he performs on the Walker organ at the Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, Sunday, Nov. 17 at 4 pm.

Tickets are available to the general public for $10 by calling the church to reserve at 914-723-3311. (The church is located at 6 Greenacres Ave., Scarsdale.) Some tickets may be available on the day of the concert at the door, although concert planners expect a sell-out.

John T. King  '85 M.Mus. is the church's Minister of Music. He is artistic director and conductor of the New Choral Society in Westchester, as well. He, too, has a Yale degree in organ (and a doctor of musical arts in organ from the Manhattan School of Music).

In the 2013-14 season, Jacobs will play elsewhere in recitals or concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with the San Francisco Symphony. His season concludes next spring with concerts in Carnegie Hall in New York and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic next spring.

In Scarsdale, the event is the Margaret Manley Memorial Organ Concert, one of many highlights during the church's year-long 100th anniversary. 

Jacobs grew up in Washington, Pa.  After attending the Curtis Institute of Music, where he pursued degrees in organ and harpsichord, he went to Yale to study the organ under Murray.  He has been on the faculty at Julliard the past 10 years. When he was named chairman of Julliard's organ department in 2004, he was the youngest ever to have been appointed at that level.

Jacobs (right) and music minister John King '85 MMus (left)

He made history at 23, when he played the entire organ works of Bach in an 18-hour marathon on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death (in 2000).  In 2010, he played the first concert on the restored Kuhn organ at Alice Tully Hall. Also in 2010, he received a Grammy Award, Best Solo Instrumental, for his recording of the Messiaen Livre du Saint Sacrement. It was the first Grammy solo award for an organ performance. Earlier this year, Jacobs was featured on the release of a new album by the Pacific Symphony, "Mount Rushmore."

"His interpretive approach is clear and direct," a reviewer in California wrote in May of a West Coast performance. "Even measured, so that the music appears to unwind of its own accord, its own power."

Jacobs' teacher at Yale, Murray, continues as professor of music and university organist. He plays the Skinner organ at Woolsey Hall, considered one of the most important Romantic organs in the U.S. Both Jacobs and Murray played during the inaugural weekend for new Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. in October.

At the Hitchcock Church, Jacobs will play in its digitally updated sanctuary, constructed after the church's 1986 fire and known for exceptional acoustics. He will play music from Bach, Mozart and Schumann. Concert-goers will be able to meet the artist in a reception after the performance.

The church has hosted many YWAA events over the years, including performances by the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Alumni Chorus, and a capella groups.

The concert, part of the church's "Celebrate 100!" program, will be the final event before its 100th Thanksgiving, 100th Advent, and 100th Christmastide. The church was founded in 1913 by a group of 19 who set up a portable chapel on the corner of Walworth Avenue and Fenimore Road in Scarsdale.

Merrell Clark '57 '70MAR and Lynne Clark have been co-chairs for programs and events marking the anniversary, including a festival weekend, a trip to Israel, a written history and DVD, and a commissioned hymn and anthem.

Click JACOBS to listen to and watch excerpts from recent Jacobs concerts.

TW

The Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale has celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding with year-long events, which includes the Paul Jacobs organ concert, Nov. 17

Debate: Yale vs. Harvard vs. Brown

Last April, high-school debaters took the stage after collegians from Yale, Brown and Harvard debated. Judges (top) conferred to select winners (Kaminsky photos).

The showdown is set. Once again, it's Yale vs. Harvard vs. Brown in the annual debate held in Westchester and sponsored by alumni groups from all three schools.  Yale has not yet faced the Cantabs or Bears in football. Those skirmishes are scheduled for mid-late November at the Yale Bowl. Debate comes first, when students from all three colleges will compete at Blind Brook High School in Rye Brook (840 King St.) Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:15 pm.

Yale, Brown and Harvard alumni, high-school students and debate enthusiasts everywhere are invited to witness the students spar off, as they debate important topics in current events.

The Westchester debate program is now 16 years old. When the competition started, Yale teams debated groups from Harvard and Princeton. Brown eventually replaced Princeton.  The competition this year will feature, as always, debate teams from several high schools in the area, including those from Ardsley, Blind Brook, Hackley, Horace Greeley, Rye Neck and Yonkers.

Ann Gaylin, an associate dean at Brown, will act as moderator and judge.  A representative from Yale's admissions office will join her to present topics, ask questions, and choose winners. The format calls for the college students to take the stage first.  Three high-school debates, featuring the six teams, will follow.  Often the college students coach or assist the high-school teams.

Susan Kaminsky '86, YWAA board member, has been involved in planning this year's competition, along with alumni Leelee Panno (Harvard), Amanda Nash (Brown), and YWAA board members Bill Nightingale '53 and Scott Sherman '72.

YWAA will honor Nightingale, the steady, guiding hand behind the Westchester debate program the past 16 years, at a dinner Friday, Nov. 8 in West Harrison. Alumni supporters and all those interested in seeing spirited square-offs among Yale, Harvard and Brown in the years to come are urged to contribute also to the new Nightingale Debate Fund.

For more about the dinner and fund, coordinated by Merrell Clark '57, '70 MAR, click NIGHTINGALE and YWAA. For more about the debate, click YWAA-DEBATE.

TW

YWAA to Honor Nightingale, Yale Debate

On Nov. 8, YWAA will honor Bill Nightingale '53 (above, with AYA Executive Director Mark Dollhopf '77 and his wife Nancy at Yale events and in his youth) for his contributions to Yale Westchester and the Debate Program. Alumni and debate fans in the region are encouraged to attend the dinner and contribute to a special debate fund.

Mention Yale debate to Bill Nightingale '53, and watch him pour forth with passion. Watch him, too, tend to, care for, and direct with ardor Yale Westchester's annual college and high-school debate event.  Watch him describe with glee and pride the students who prepared hard and participated from each college and area high schools.  Then watch him get going planning and scheduling the next debate the next year, nudging and corralling supporters, alumni, and participants to ensure each event is a success.

Nightingale has been at it for 15 years. The Yale Westchester Debate Program, which annually pits Yale vs. Harvard vs. Brown in a lively debate evening in Westchester, enters its 16th year in 2013. Nightingale--with help from other Yale alumni--has led the program, organized the event, arranged for judges, acted as master of ceremony and encouraged avid participation from Yale, Brown, Harvard, and high-school debaters in the region. 

Nightingale presides over a program that has resulted in fervent debate skirmishes among the rival schools.  College and high-school debaters debate current events and issues and other intriguing topics--often in front of enthusiastic audiences of alumni and friends, parents and classmates of debaters on stage. Invited judges proclaim a winner. There is no secret, however, that Nightingale roots quietly for Yale to win.

YWAA plans to honor Nightingale and his efforts and accomplishments leading the program at a dinner Friday, Nov. 8, 6:30 pm in West Harrison at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel (80 Red West Oak Lane, off I-287).

Yale Westchester alumni and all those who have attended or supported Westchester debate are encouraged to attend. Dinner attendees and supporters of the program are also encouraged to contribute to a separate permanent fund, the new William L. Nightingale Debate Fund, to honor Nightingale and to ensure the program continues in years to come.

For most who know him, Nightingale's service to Yale extends beyond his diligence in debate. The dinner will be an opportunity to toast Nightingale for decades of service to Yale and Yale Westchester.  He has acted as a long-time Class Treasurer for his beloved Yale Class of 1953 (Silliman College, he likes to boast) and has organized annual February reunions in New York for classmates for the past 18 yeas.

He has been secretary of the board of directors of  the Yale Westchester Alumni Association since 1980.  At YWAA, he is always on the front lines planning events, fund-raisers, and alumni activities and is a faithful, front-row attendee at AYA Assembly sessions in New Haven. (He served on the AYA Board of Governors for three years.)

Under Yale's president A. Barlett Giamatt '60, he served on the University Communications Council and Publication Council. He received the Yale Outstanding Service award in 2000.

Many alumni in Westchester know him well for his active leadership in the local Yale Alumni Schools Committee program. He has been involved since 1960.  ASC assists Yale's admissions office in arranging and conducting alumni interviews and encourages admitted students to attend Yale. 

The story has been told often in the past year (and will be told over and over) how he led YWAA's annual fund-raising dinner in Westchester last year and was instrumental in inviting then-provost Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. to be the main speaker.  After Nightingale's polite urgings, Salovey agreed, but realized the Westchester dinner was scheduled on the same day of his interview by the Yale Corporation for the Yale presidency.

After Salovey was appointed president days later, he told an AYA audience of over 300 that while he was waiting to go into the most important interview in his life, he kept looking at his watch often to make sure he wasn't tardy for "Bill's dinner" in Westchester. He arrived in time.

The Nov. 8 dinner that honors Nightingale will feature cabaret singer Angela Cason '83, accompanied by David Pogue '85, known also as the consumer-technology columnist for the New York Times.

In 1990, Nightingale and Cason formed the advertising agency Cason Nightingale, for which he continues as chairman today. It's not a surprise that Nightingale sees to it that the firm regularly hires Yale students as interns and full-time employees.

To purchase tickets for the dinner event and make separate contributions to the new fund, click NIGHTINGALE DEBATE or go to the YWAA site:  www.yalewestchester.org and click "Events." Merrell Clark '57, '70 MAR Chair of the board of directors of YWAA, leads the event.

TW

Landesman Departs for Choate

ASC program director Landesman leaves Yale after 12 years

How often did Marcia Landesman provide a soft shoulder for Yale alumni interviewers to cry on?  How often did she applaud interviewers for their efforts and their colorful, detailed and warm write-ups? And how often did she remind interviewers that, yes, she and the Yale admissions committee read every word they wrote in interview summaries?

As everyone who follows the college game knows, over the past decade, the number of undergraduate applications to Yale has soared toward the heavens--progressing toward a magical 30,000 mark. Year after year, Landesman stepped in to soothe and console Yale interviewers all over Westchester who were flabbergasted when stellar applicants with perfect scores and unblemished records were rejected in the early days of spring.

It was part of the job. Landesman handled it with compassion and concern. Leading Yale's Alumni Schools Committee program across the country and spearheading recruiting in the Westchester area, she understood the frustration of sending a rejection letter to local valedictorians, student-council presidents, and volleyball captains. But she rejoiced in finding a gem among the thousands, the one person in 15 who received an acceptance letter, whose credentials screamed that he or she deserved a spot on Old Campus.

Landesman (Yale photo)

At many Bronxville receptions for Westchester students admitted to Yale, she relished in recounting the singular brilliance and the astounding tales of those who had just gotten in and those who proceeded to eclipse their high-school successes once they arrived in New Haven.

Landesman, an Associate Director of Admissions at Yale for the past 12 years, decided to take a different step this summer. She announced that she was leaving Yale this summer to accept a position as co-director of college guidance at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Ct.  She steps over to the other side to assist 17- and 18-year-olds in the arduous, agonizing annual admissions race.  She totes to Choate bags of experience, filled with advice and counsel on what it takes to win a coveted acceptance e-mail to Yale (and its peer schools)--the one that sings "Bulldog, Bulldog" to the lucky ones accepted. 

Bowen Posner, who has been in the admissions office the past three years, will succeed Landesman as director of the ASC program.

"Leading the ASC has been an honor and privilege," she wrote in a letter last month to Yale interviewers everywhere. "I will certainly miss you." An army of Yale interviewers in Westchester will miss Landesman, her enthusiasm for all things of and about Yale, and her ability to provide comforting words to the Westchester interviewer who interviews the valedictorian and lacrosse captain with a 2400 SAT score, who didn't get that Yale acceptance e-mail.

T.Williams

YWAA Board Members

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Board Members in 2025

Tim Mattison, President and Acting Treasurer

BK Munguia, Vice President
Regina Possavino, Vice President and Assistant Treasurer

Hanna Kim, Secretary

Mordechai Beizer

Tracy Williams

Susan Kaminsky

William Primps

Jane Veron

Peter Santhanam

Steven Snyder

Holland Sullivan

Hanna Kim

David King

Past Presidents
Bruce Jennings
Merrell Clark
Dan Leonard
David King

July, 2013

The Yale Westchester Alumni Association (YWAA) launched a new blog (2013), following the examples of other Yale alumni groups across the country.

The site acts as a "portal" or gateway to the YWAA main site. It will be a lively vehicle to keep Yale alumni in the area abreast of activities, features, events, and people--with a Westchester point of view. It won't replace the YWAA main site, nor will it replicate other Yale sites.

Updated regularly, it will promote upcoming events, provide recaps of recent activities, and present short features, highlights, photos and profiles--all related to Yale, alumni or Westchester. It should add something extra that alumni might not see in official Yale-related sites.

"Blog" may not be the appropriate term, because it won't be a forum or storehouse of polarizing opinion pieces. But "blog" is a convenient platform, permitting frequent updates and covering many topics.

For example, there might be features about Yale Day of Service, a capella groups that come to town, special-interest groups with interesting agenda, fundraising events, debate contests, alumni service projects, admitted students' receptions, book awards, Yale-prof lectures in local venues, sports, or an alumna's concert recital in Rye.

Upcoming posts this summer might focus on admissions processes, concerts at Caramoor, Shakespeare at Boscobel, new Yale president Salovey's visit to Westchester, Westchester athletes on Yale playing fields, or any notable alumni activity. Remember, with a Westchester angle.

While launching, we welcome input and ideas from all in the community of Yale Westchester. We hope to keep it going and keep it relevant and intriguing.

We welcome blog ideas, input and feedback. Contact us at yalewestchesterblog@gmail.com.

 A Message from Tim Mattison '73, YWAA President

The YWAA was founded in 1908 for the principal purpose of providing financial aid for undergraduate students at Yale. Today we still support scholarships, but we also do much more to serve our Westchester community and Yale University.

The YWAA brings Yale to Westchester with concerts, debates, faculty lectures, the Yale Day of Service and support for a Yale summer intern in Westchester.

The YWAA brings Westchester to Yale with 50 Yale Book Awards given annually at Westchester high schools, and more than twenty-five Westchester undergraduates currently at Yale receive financial aid that comes in part from local donations to YWAA. Through the Yale Alumni Schools Committee, we enlist volunteers to meet with undergraduate applicants.

How can you help? We welcome your participation and attendance at all YWAA events and activities. You can also volunteer to share your time and talent. Unfortunately, all of this costs money. Your support makes YWAA possible. All Yale alumni and parents living in Westchester are members of YWAA, whether you make a donation or not. However, YWAA depends upon contributions from the Yale Westchester community for support, and as a 501(c)(3) organization your YWAA contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permissible by law.

To make a donation online, please visit our website www.yalewestchester.org where you may also find more information about our organization and future events. Alternatively you may complete the donation form below and return it with your contribution. Your continuing support is very much appreciated.

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming YWAA event.

Sincerely yours,

Timothy Mattison ‘73
President, YWAA
Dec., 2014

Yale University and the AYA do not endorse and are not responsible for the content of this Web site.