Reunion Season, 2019

If it's late May, early June at Yale, it's reunion season in New Haven. Flocks of alumni return to campus, sometimes to check on the state of Yale, sometimes to relive what occurred decades ago. Often to pretend to be 21 again.

In 2019, it was the year of reunions for the Nines and Fours, classes from 1954 (and before!) to 2014. Classmates flooded New Haven in two successive weekends and took over residential colleges, where Yale Alumni Association (yes, what many still refer to as "AYA") officials helped arranged non-stop activity, which now includes seminars, TED talks, and open houses at cultural houses. Old Whiffenpoofs reunite to croon to cheerful audiences at Woolsey. Old Yale Daily News editors ponder the state of journalism. Bright College Years (with waving white handkerchiefs) is sung throughout the weekend in tents and in dining halls.

During reunions and after graduation, the campus is often polished, clean, and well-decorated with flower beds and blue-and-white alumni signage.  While traditional reunion spot Commons is under reconstruction, alumni have new buildings to check out--including the two new residential colleges Franklin and Pauli Murray up Science Hill and the new home for the School of Management.

For just a few hours on a spring weekend (where weather in New Haven finally cooperated this year), alumni forget it's 2019 and feel like 21 again.

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. 

Lighten Leadership Luncheon, 2016

The annual Janifer Lighten '83 Leadership Luncheon will be held in Larchmont, June 12. (YBAA photos)

The Janifer Lighten '83 2016 Leadership Luncheon, which pays tribute to the late YWAA board member and Yale alumni leader, is scheduled for Saturday, June 12 at Larchmont Shore Club (1 Oak Bluff Ave.), 12-4 pm, in Larchmont.  Besides commemorating Lighten's community contributions, the third-annual luncheon highlights the accomplishments of local high-school students and benefits the Boys & Girls Club of New Rochelle.

Lighten, at the time of her death from cancer in Feb., 2012, was the president of the Yale Black Alumni Association. She was also a prominent community-services leader in Westchester.  Married to William Lighten '86, she was the mother of four children, all of whom attended or are current students at Yale.

Lighten was a past recipient of the Yale Outstanding Service Award for her service in Westchester.

Contact the Club at 914-235-3736 for tickets, sponsorships and more details about the event.

Holloway: Civic Engagement at Yale

Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway '95 Ph.D. talked to alumni in Rye Brook, Mar. 2, about campus events and about the Yale Civic Leadership Conference (YWAA photos)

Events on the campus at Yale last fall attracted national attention and could have reached a combustion point, as factions of students fought to get their voices heard. Fortunately they didn't. Speaking to an alumni group from YWAA and Yale Greenwich, Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway '95 Ph.D. didn't avoid addressing what was surely on the minds of many alumni. He welcomed and handled questions with ease and candor.

But he insisted on highlighting a promising new program on campus regarding civic engagement. Thanks in part to time and leadership of alumnus Eric Liu '90, CEO of Citizen University, the Yale Civic Leadership Initiative was formed last year to give students a forum to address civic and community issues and learn how to become effective leaders in the community.

What started as an idea and a discussion by Liu and Holloway has taken off.  In January, the Initiative held its second conference of workshops, idea sharing, and leadership, open to Yale undergraduates.  On a Saturday for a whole day, when most would have preferred to sleep in, 120 students arrived early in the morning to take buses to West Campus to participate. 

Impressed by the students' resolve to commit to something new and important, Holloway said students sacrificed the day to devote to discussions and planning to improve civic engagement and agree to disagree in a civil way. They seized the day and proved students from different backgrounds and political interests could find common ground for the common good.

After a fall semester remembered for flared emotions and national media chronicling high-pitched dialogue among professors, deans, and student groups, Holloway said sessions like that of Civic Leadership Conference prove students want the best for all. So engaged have many become that students gladly accepted Holloway's challenge to assume greater roles in the Initiative in the periods to come.

Detroit city official Richard Tao '10,  film producer Lynn Novick '83, and former student leader and New Haven activist Caroline Smith '14 were Yale alumni speakers at the Conference.

The national media  have wandered away from Cross Campus, and Holloway and President Peter Salovey '86 Ph.D have been attentive to follow-up and have returned to the business of managing complex university affairs. Other institutions, he acknowledged, have invited him and Yale officials to speak to understand how Yale wound up last fall on an upbeat note.

Prominent on the New Haven agenda these days, Holloway said, is preparing for the opening of the two new residential colleges in 2017, the names for which will be announced in the weeks to come.  New colleges mean hiring new staff and even luring some off-campus students back to campus by allowing them to live in an elegant new setting, which promises attractive amenities.

Holloway's agenda is crammed, he admitted, far more than he thought when he accepted the Yale College post. Often the events of the moment or a crisis of the week sets his schedule each day.

The "core of Yale" is still there, he assured Westchester and Greenwich alums.  What makes Yale Yale is still there.  But a more diverse Yale with global roots and community-engaged students makes Yale better.

Alumni College: Spring "Blue Book"

Even Alumni College has its own version of the Yale Blue Book for this spring's courses (Yale photos)

Most Yale alumni, of all classes, remember grabbing for the Yale "Blue Book," as soon as it was published and made available to undergraduates.  A favorite Yale ritual was to curl up, find space alone and explore the hundreds of courses Yale planned to offer during a school year.  Some students gathered for informal "Blue Book" parties.  Most made notes, dog-eared dozens of pages, and tried to do the near impossible:  pick the five, six, or seven courses from among about two-dozen favorites to launch the two weeks of "shopping period."

Alumni agree, too, that studying course descriptions of such course titles as the "English Literary Tradition," "Calculus of Several Variables," "Democracy and its Critics," or "Daily Themes" thrust students into the mood for starting a semester of classes after a break ended.

(Yale's light-blue course catalogue has been presented online for years now, but students have regularly requested printed hard copies to thumb through and make notes or just have as a keepsake.)

AYA and its Alumni College program have announced AYA's version of the Blue Book, this spring's courses that will be offered to alumni in this region and around the country.  It isn't as stock-piled as the familiar Blue Book, but the courses offered by Yale professors or Yale graduates replicate some of the most popular topics that are taught in New Haven today or at other institutions.

Courses offered within an hour's drive (or two) of Westchester are listed below. Most courses meet weekly during evenings for several weeks. (Registration and fees are required.)  Alumni are encouraged to explore (in the same way they plowed through a Blue Book!) and consider enrollment. If we can't return to Yale and if we certainly can't go back in time, then a pinch of Yale's academic heft comes to the New York region.

Click AYA-ALUMNI-COLLEGE to register.

An Introduction to the Psychology of C.G. Jung:  Kendrick Morris '77 MDiv '01 MST , an expert on Jung and highly regarded minister and psychologist in Connecticut, will present Jung's teachings on how to live effectively and happily in the second half of a life. Jung claimed older adults, with different perspectives and life demands, can find ways to have richer lives.  The course will be offered Mar. 8-Apr. 7, Tuesdays (7 pm) in Rye.

How to Read a Photograph:  In Princeton, Michael Jennings '76 MA, who teaches at Princeton, will present an introduction to the history of photography and help participants in his class interpret photographs and study some of the best known photographers, including Walker Evans and Garry Winogrand.  Topics will cover "reality effect" and emulsion-based vs. digital photography. The course is scheduled for Mar. 24-Apr. 28, Thursday evenings.

Cuba's Economic and Cultural Transformation:  In Philadelphia, Enrico Sacerio-Gari' '78 Ph.D. will teach an overview of Cuba's history and recent current events.  Topics will include the economic embargo, Obama's re-engagement, and case studies in economics and culture.  Sacerio-Gari' teaches Hispanic Studies at Bryn Mawr.  The course will be held Wednesday evenings, Mar.16-Apr. 20.

The Composer's Voice:  In Greenwich, Libby Van Cleve '92 DMA is director of the Yale Music School's Oral History of American Music.  This spring, her course will permit participants to listen to taped interviews of well-known composers, who explain important aspects of their works. The class will study the words and works of Duke Ellington, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives '98, and John Cage. Van Cleve, an accomplished oboist, will hold classes Mar. 23-Apr. 27, Wednesday evenings.

Fiction, the Monstrous, and the Limits of the Human:  In Manhattan, Gordon Turnbull '86 Ph.D., who at one time was the course director of the aforementioned "English Literary Tradition" course taught at Yale, will lead a seminar in literature studying such classics from the past 60 years as Lord of the Flies, The Day of the Triffids, Never Let Me Go, and The Left Hand of Darkness. The course, Part II from a fall course, will be offered Mar. 7-Apr. 11, Mondays.

What Is a Classic?  In Manhattan, Michael Holquist '68 Ph.D., a Yale professor emeritus in Comparative Literature, will teach a selection of familiar classics (The Iliad and Crime and Punishment, e.g.) and lead discussions of what makes a work of literature a "classic" and how should "classics" be defined today.  The course will be scheduled for Mondays, Mar. 7-Apr. 18.

Hearing Voices:  Modern Poets in Disguise:  In Manhattan, Paul Kane '90 Ph.D., a Vassar professor in English, will show how major poets, including T.S. Eliot, use voices other than their own to express themselves.  Class participants will read Eliot, Yeats, Frost and Pound and use a method of purposeful "slow reading."  The class will meet Mondays, Mar. 8-Apr. 18.

South Africa:  White Supremacy and the Roots of Apartheid:  In New Haven, Harvey Feinberg '60 will teach the development of apartheid in South Africa, when it was established in 1948, how it was extreme, how impactful it was on black life, and how it can be compared to periods in U.S. history.  Classes will be held Mar. 8-Apr. 12, Tuesdays. 

Opera in Cinema:  In New Haven, Judith Malafronte of the Yale School of Music will teach an introduction to opera, focusing on productions from the Metropolitan Opera Company (live transmissions) and the process of putting on an opera (libretto, dramaturgy, casting, language and rehearsal). Malafronte also taught an Alumni College on opera in Rye last year.  The course will meet Wednesdays Mar. 9-Apr. 27.

Drawing the Human Figure:  In New Haven, Lisa Helgrave '85 MFA will use live models and permit class participants to improve drawing skills and explore form, proportion, structure, volume and composition.  The course will meet Thursday afternoons Mar. 10-Apr. 21.

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.

Save the Date: Day of Service, 2015

Sonia Sotomayor '79JD (L, top) will act as Honorary Chair of Day of Service, 2015.  Mt. Vernon students from Holmes Elementary School (bottom) were hosts to Yale alumni who made career presentations at Day of Service, 2014. (Yale, YWAA photos)

Yale has announced this year's annual Yale Day of Service, 2015, where alumni around the world will spend a Saturday (or a planned weekend) volunteering and performing community service.  Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor  '79JD will act as global Honorary Chair.  Day of Service is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2015. In 2014, over 4,000 Yale volunteers in 20 countries gave up a Spring Saturday to work on projects from the West Coast to the Far East. Lisa Chapman '81MBA is the global Chair of Day of Service.

At home, YWAA will again coordinate activities for alumni and their friends and families in Westchester and will announce projects and service sites soon.

Last year, YWAA coordinators led four sites in the area. Volunteers spent the day cleaning and sprucing up a community garden in Scarsdale, spent a Friday discussing careers to students at a Mt. Vernon school, made a butterfly garden and cleaned up the entry at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, and cleaned and performed administrative functions at an animal shelter in Briarcliff Manor. Volunteers included Westchester and other New York-area alumni, family members, others in the community and a handful of newly admitted students.

Johnny's Support For Yale

John J. Lee, Jr. '58, '59 MEng. appeared on Sports Illustrated's cover 58 years ago this week: "No one loved Yale more or served it better." (Yale, SI photos)

There's a story about Yale basketball great Johnny Lee '58, '59 MEng. when he was considering where to play in college while he was still in high school. It's an account that made it into a recent history of the ACC basketball conference. The book is about other colleges with luminous basketball traditions along the Atlantic seaboard, not about Yale. But Yale squeezed itself into this story.

He and another New York City player were being recruited by schools around the country. Lee had been a star forward at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall. Reports from that time say he had 65 scholarship offers. When he and the player happened to drive through Wilmington, Del., they passed the site of the large company DuPont.  Johnny's mother, urging him to go to Yale, the story is told, said the CEO of DuPont will likely come from Yale, "not Carolina."

The other player eventually enrolled at North Carolina (and helped lead his team to a national championship). Johnny went to Yale, set records in New Haven that are standards for excellence for Yale players today, and became a CEO of not one, but a few, companies. And today Yale men's and women's basketball players compete in a recently renovated Gothic arena on a court named for him, the "John L. Lee, Jr. Amphitheater."

It was 58 years ago this week when Lee's face graced the cover of Sports Illustrated; he was that good. The magazine called him "the next great Ivy League scholar-athlete."

The magazine was in its infancy, growing, but circulated nationally and seeking to find a popular identity in big-time sports. Still, to be anointed a cover boy on a glossy publication distributed into mailboxes from East to West Coast was a sportsman's dream, a blazing honor then, as it is today. (Did it help that the magazine fell under the auspices of Time, Inc., then under the direction of founder Henry Luce '20?)

Lee's exploits on the court were legendary, astonishing by even the level of basketball play in 2015. In a game against Oregon State, he made 21 of 21 free throws.  Twice against Harvard, he scored over 40 points. Yale records show he scored 1,493 total varsity points, was an all-America selection, and averaged 20.3 points/game in three seasons, third best in Yale career history. (Scarsdale native Butch Graves '84 holds the career record at Yale for most points with 2,050 points, something he accomplished over four seasons.)

Yale men's basketball has had its downs and ups and downs since Lee graduated. The team won the Ivy championship his junior year and lost to eventual champion North Carolina in the 1957 NCAA tournament. It has returned to the tournament only once (1962) since his playing days.

Every time a Yale team flirts with an above-par season or scares Penn or Princeton (or Harvard, these days) in a run for an Ivy League title, basketball pundits and experts in the region compare that Yale team against the successes of Lee's teams at Yale.  (The 2015 team, 13-6 this year and leading the Ivy League, has been on an upswing the past two years, highlighted by its stunning upset over defending NCAA champion UConn last December. Chappaqua native Matt Townsend '15 is winding up his senior season on the squad.)

When he finished his Yale playing days, Lee was selected by the New York Knicks in the NBA in a draft that featured NBA legends Elgin Baylor and Hal Greer. Lee was chosen 19th overall that year (Baylor, second). Baylor became one of the best NBA players in history. Lee walked away without bothering to suit up in an NBA game. He had other plans, many of which directed him back to Yale.

Ignoring professional basketball, he took the next step to return to Yale to earn a master's in chemical engineering after his undergraduate degree in the same. At Yale as a highly regarded basketball star and scoring ace, standing 6-3, he was "Johnny." Yale Daily News accounts of the time are filled with stories of "Johnny scoring 23," "Johnny leading the Elis to victory," and "Johnny winning yet another award."

After Yale, he was better known as "John."
 

Yale basketball teams play their home games in the John  Lee, Jr. Amphitheater. Lee helped spearhead its renovation in 1996. (Yale photos)

In later years, during periods when he was running companies, big and small, Lee, a Westchester (Larchmont) resident, was a prominent Yale supporter in ways that few could keep up with. "No one loved Yale better or served it more," Richard Levin '74 Ph.D., former Yale president, said around the time the amphitheater was renamed for him and he was leading the "...and for Yale" campaign to raise a billion dollars.

Many knew Lee to be one of Yale's best leaders ever in fundraising. He chaired the successful $1.75-billion campaign in the late 1990's (reaching fundraising heights no university had touched before), served as a trustee fellow on the Yale Corporation, and contributed, participated, and volunteered in ways no Yale president, AYA official, trustee, faculty member or classmate can fully account for. He was involved in the alumni groups for engineering graduates and basketball players and participated in admissions interviews with the Alumni Schools Committee.

He contributed funds, as well, to help endow a professorship in engineering and to support the men's and women's basketball programs.

Yale rewarded him with his fair share of medals and citations. In 1989, he received Yale's highest award for service, the Yale Medal. In 1996, Yale named the building wing for him, the amphitheater space in Payne Whitney, in his honor after he helped in badly needed renovation. 

Three of his four children followed him by attending and graduating from Yale. 

In business, he was at the top of the helm, as Chair, CEO or COO, for a series of energy companies, including Barber Oil Corp., Phibro Resource Corp., Tosco Corp., Hexcel Corp., and his own Lee Development Corp. In 1977 at Yale, he received an award as a distinguished engineering alumnus.

Somewhere in this lengthy list of athletic, academic and professional achievements, there's a noteworthy Westchester tie. It makes sense that his Yale engagement would include the region and neighborhoods surrounding him. At the YWAA Scholarship Banquet in Oct., 2000, Lee served as Vice Chair under Honorary Chair George Pataki '67, then governor of New York.

Merrell Clark '57, '70MAR, president of YWAA at the time, sat with Lee at the banquet and said recently, "(Lee was) active in Westchester in several ways, mostly in helping entrepreneurs get some traction and especially in making loans and grants to students who needed financial support, whether Yale-bound or not."

Lee served his alma mater in multiple leadership and voluntary roles, but he still felt indebted to Yale. He pledged a percentage of his annual income to Yale. He earmarked many of his gifts for financial aid, grateful for the opportunity Yale afforded him when he was a Brooklyn student relying on aid in choosing Yale and turning down 64 other offers.

Clark said, "(John) was larger than life in many, many ways. I was lucky to have him accept my invitation and to be near him at the Scholarship Banquet."

Shortly after the banquet, Lee was diagnosed with kidney cancer, an unexpected illness that took his life a short time later.  He died in May, 2001, at 64.  "John Lee, An Athlete at Yale Who Chose Industry Over Knicks," read the headline above his obituary in the New York Times.

"When I attended the memorial service, the church was packed," Clark recalled.  "The Whiffenpoofs participated."

Clark added, "He tried to help anyone who came to him for help, and he especially cared about students on financial aid, as he had been himself."

Presidential adviser, author and TV commentator David Gergen '63 was the speaker at the 2001 Scholarship Banquet the following year. YWAA awarded its Yale Outstanding Service Award to Lee posthumously. Lee's widow Gayle accepted the award on his behalf and spoke to the attendees. "She was terrific," Clark said. "Very inspiring."

Before the banquet, Clark and Lee's widow Gayle had met to decide to make a memorial gift to YWAA for scholarships to Westchester students attending Yale. "I insisted that the award be given in her name, as well, as they were always together and he would have wanted it that way." She wrote a large check for what is now the Gayle and John Lee Educational Trust. Others in their family made contributions, too.  Today the fund continues to award annual gifts for financial aid each year to Westchester students.

All thanks to "Johnny," who once sank 41 in a game against Harvard and had his portrait on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as a whole nation learned about his standout play.

Lee (L, above) chats with Susan King at the 2000 YWAA Scholarship Dinner.  David Gergen '63 and Merrell Clark '57, 70MAR join Gayle Lee at the 2001 YWAA Dinner.  (YWAA photos)

Murray Biggs AYA Theater

Yale professor Murray Biggs, well known to Yale Westchester audiences for his Boscobel Shakespeare lectures, announces his 2015 schedule of AYA Theater around the country. (YWAA photos)

To Yale Westchester alumni, Yale professor Murray Biggs is best known for his lecture series before YWAA's annual Shakespeare outing at Boscobel. His pre-performance presentations are a Yale-Westchester tradition. This past summer, he lectured on Othello before alumni and other arts patrons saw the performance by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. 

Biggs, now a special lecturer for the AYA in English and Theater Studies, recently announced his featured events and lectures in the upcoming year. 

Biggs will speak at a first-time theater weekend in San Diego Feb., 2015. On Feb. 13, Biggs will introduce the Alice Childress African-American class, Trouble in Mind, at the Moxie Theater in San Diego. The next day, Feb. 14, he will lecture before an evening production of Sons of the Prophet (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2012) at the Cygnet Theatre in Old Town, San Diego. On Feb. 15, he will introduce You Can't Take It With You at Lamb's Players on Coronado Island.

(The charge for this program is $725/person, $875/single occupancy ($450/person for those not requiring hotel arrangements). To secure a place, alumni interested will need to make a $175 deposit by Nov. 24. Those interested in the programs, the lectures, and the package should contact Biggs at murray.biggs@yale.edu. (Checks should be payable to Education Theater Weekends, 36 Morse Street, Hamden, CT 065517)).

In May, Biggs heads to Montgomery, Ala., for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He will introduce the production of The Importance of Being Earnest on May 8. On May 9, he will review the performance of the prior night and give a pre-performance talk on As You Like It. On May 10, he will introduce the matinee of King Lear. (The charge for double occupancy at the Renaissance Marriott in the historic district is $725/person, and $875 for single occupancy; for those not requiring hotel accommodation, $450/person.)

In July, Biggs' journey will take him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival July 23-26 in the beautiful small town of Ashland. This is the country’s premier Shakespeare theatre, celebrating its 80th season. On July 23, Biggs will speak to alumni audiences before performance of two of Shakespeare’s master works, Antony and Cleopatra and Much Ado About Nothing, and a more recently reclaimed late piece, Pericles (prophetically lauded by T. S. Eliot).

Each morning at the historic downtown Ashland Springs Hotel (three minutes’ walk from all three theatres, one of them an outdoor Elizabethan reconstruction), Biggs will introduce the play of the day and lead a group discussion of the previous day’s performance. The town itself, at 2,000 feet, is bracketed by the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains just north of the California border off I-5. It boasts an ideal dry summer climate.

(The charge for the weekend is $1,215/person double occupancy and $1,485 single. For those not requiring hotel accommodation, it is $885 a head. A non-refundable deposit of $250 per person is due by Feb. 15 to secure a place on the program, with balance due by May 1. Checks should be made out to Educational Theater Weekends and mailed to 36 Morse St, Hamden, CT 06517. All payments will be acknowledged by e-mail. E-mail Biggs at murray.biggs@yale.edu; 203-432-0391).

Biggs heads to Southern Ontario in Canada Aug. 6-14. This program runs Thursday through the following Thursday at the twin Festivals in Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, home of the most accomplished stage productions in North America. For this 25th consecutive year of the flagship theater program, on schedule will be the usual stimulating mix of Shakespeare at Stratford and modern works at the Shaw Festival in Niagara. The Festivals operate seven theaters.

In Stratford, the following will be performed:  Hamlet with Jonathan Goad; The Taming of the Shrew with Canada’s favorite stage (and real-life) couple, Deborah Hay and Ben Carlson; Ben Jonson’s Jacobean cash comedy The Alchemist; and the recent Canadian piece, Possible Worlds. Also available will be Carousel and The Sound of Music (Stratford being famous for its musicals).

In Niagara the likely slate consists of two surefire Bernard Shaw comedies, Pygmalion and You Never Can Tell; Henrik Ibsen’s vivid rarity, The Lady from the Sea; contemporary British Caryl Churchill’s most effective play, Top Girls; and the little-known one-act by J.M. Barrie, The Twelve-Pound Look.

There’s still room on this program, the first half of which will be set at the sparklingly renovated Parlour Inn in pleasantly walkable downtown Stratford, the second at the elegant Queen’s Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Stratford Festival is home to the premier Shakespeare theater productions on the continent, the Shaw to their equivalent in modern work. Niagara-on-the-Lake, the former colonial capital of Upper Canada and beautifully maintained, is a half-hour drive from Niagara Falls. With its unique climate, the Niagara Peninsula also boasts several world-class vineyards.

To sign up, click Yale Ed Travel. and click on “theater” under “programs” by type.

For any questions about details and schedules for any of the 2015 packages, e-mail Biggs at the above address.

YaleWomen: Gender Rules

(Yale Twitter photos)

In a landmark conference in New Haven, YaleWomen, the national alumni group, and the Yale Women Faculty Forum presented a succession of panel events, "Gender Rules," Nov. 1, sparking discussions about women, equality and opportunity in the workplace, in academia, in law and in business. Eve Rice '73, YWAA board member, is national Vice Chair of YaleWomen, which has 18 chapters globally.

Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. (below, L) and vice president Linda Lorimar '77 JD (above, R) spoke during the day.  The conference took place at the new Evans Hall at the Yale School of Management. Lorimar led a session on "Making Gender Diversity a Reality." Salovey addressed current topics related to diversity at Yale.

"Asking the right questions is fundamental to finding the right solutions," Rice wrote on the group's website, leading up to the conference. "Although women have long had entree into careers in business, law and medicine, why are women CEO's and women in C-Suites such a rarity? And what happened to all the potential managing partners and department chairs?"

The Saturday sessions included: "Taking Stock:  Where Are We in 2014?" moderated by Yale political-science professor Frances Rosenbluth and "A System of Law: Gender and Equal Rights" moderated by Emily Bazelon '93 '00 JD, a senior editor at Slate.  Another session focused on "Educating Women Who Can Create the Change We Need."

Salovey reported that women make up 30% of members of the Yale Corporation, 27% of deans, and 50% of college masters.  "Good, but could be better."

Media Summit Out West

(Yale Twitter photos)

AYA's first ever Social Media Summit was so successful earlier this year that AYA, Yale Communications, SA@Yale (the group that leads AYA's social-media initiatives) and other alumni representatives scheduled a second one in 2014. This time the Summit headed west. 

Zynga, the gaming company, hosted Yale alumni and social-media experts in downtown San Francisco, Oct. 25. Alumni from organizations around the country spent an entire Saturday, once again (as they did in New York in January) sharing best practices, lessons learned and clever ways to connect and keep alumni engaged via social media. Or find ways to get alumni hip and comfortable with all matters related to Twitter, Google, Facebook, Storify, Tumblr, and Linkedin--in a Yale way.

New Yale College Dean Jonathan Hollaway '95 Ph.d. (above, L), a special guest, spoke at summit gathering.

Reunion Weekend, 2014

Yale Whiffenpoofs, from the Classes of '49 to '99, took the stage at Woolsey Hall (top)during the first weekend of reunions in New Haven (YWAA photos)

YALE REUNIONS, 2014

The moment when graduating students and parents cry one last set of tears and scatter toward new life phases, Yale disassembles the big stage on Old Campus and prepares for successive weekends of reunions. This year, the classes of the Nines and Fours returned to New Haven for another attempt to recreate bright college years. Old cliques reform, and stories are retold or reshaped.  'Hounies band together.  Former Daily News editors recall anxious all-nighters. Old football players rehash one more time a Harvard-Yale game on a cold field.  

JE is still the popular target of inter-college taunts. Science Hill is still thought to be too far from Cross Campus. Many exclaim they could never get admitted today with admit rates so imperceptibly low. Most can't believe what tuition rates have climbed to. Old Whiffs lead classes in a resounding rendition of Bright College Years.  Yet to the glee of all, old buildings, now spruced up for another few decades, still stand and conjure precious memories. 

This year Yale classes of the Nines and Fours gathered. Above, the Class of '49 was headquartered in JE College, the Class of '79 in Timothy Dwight, the Class of '84 in Davenport, the Class of '94 in Siliman, and the Class of '99 in Branford.

Twelve members of the Whiffenpoofs '79 (above, L) performed for members of all reunion classes in Woolsey Hall. (YWAA photos)

Tweeting for Yale

The Yale Alumni Social Media Summit included special guests, experts, and lots of idea-sharing.  Dexter Upshaw '06, Teddy Goff '07, and Zeke Miller '11 (top left) discussed their experiences in digital and social media.  AYA Executive Director Mark Dollhopf (bottom left) summarized the day.(YWAA photos)

Twitter handles. Website domains. Twitter followers. Facebook groups. Blog postings. Facebook likes. Youtube subscribers. Website hits. Digital campaigns. YouTube production. Snapchat, Linkedin, Tumblr, Google-plus, Vine, Flickr, Vimeo, Instagram, and Pinterest. Hoot suite. Whew.

About a hundred Yale alumni from around the country (including some YWAA board members) joined sessions Jan. 25 at a Yale Alumni Social Media Summit, hosted by the Ogilvy Mather advertising firm in Manhattan.  What works? They asked themselves. What doesn't? They explored. What's novel and what's next? How does Yale do it? How is it possible to keep up with the jargon, multiple social-media channels, and the dwindling attention span of users?

Alumni guests, social-media experts, club leaders and shared-interest-group heads gathered to share best practices and make sense of the rush of social-media offerings. Summit participants debated how alumni groups can exploit this social-media thing to encourage alumni across the globe to communicate, stay engaged with Yale and--in the words of some speakers--"inspire," "serve communities," and "give back."  Alumni from San Diego to Boston, from the medical school to Berkeley College, and from the Yale Daily News to the Whiffenpoofs devoted an entire Saturday to the event.

AYA sponsored and directed the summit, along with the Yale Alumni Fund and Yale's Office of Public Affairs.  Michael Morand '87 '93 MDiv, Yale's deputy chief communications officer, presided over most sessions, set the tone for the day, and gathered a mountain of new ideas to take back to New Haven to share with other alumni groups. 

Alumni from younger classes gladly explained jargon to older alumni and hinted at what's next on the Internet horizon. Alumni from older classes proved they had long ago moved from flip phones to smartphones, boasting they knew more about Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin than what those from recent classes expected. 

Dana Astmann from the Yale School of Music showed off its colorful, digital opera campaign ("Opera is the new black," it states.)  Maura Scanlon from the newly refurbished Art Gallery demonstrated how it used Facebook to show clever new ways of presenting the gallery's old exhibits to encourage greater attendance.  

Mark Dunn '07, an assistant director of admissions, demonstrated how the admissions office had used YouTube, Tumblr blogs, and slick websites to get prospective students excited and interested in Yale. The admissions office was a reluctant user of Facebook years ago, he said. Nowadays its marketing campaign embraces and uses it to show off Yale's Gothic setting and the electric atmosphere of everyday life at Yale.

Mark Dunn '07 (top left) explained how the Yale admissions office has evolved in its attitude toward social media to attract top prospects to apply.

John Boak '70, an experienced professional in arts and graphics, showed the warm, colorful designs of the Colorado Yale Association's website. Tim Harkness '87 spoke about how he tapped Twitter, Facebook and blogs to attract large followings for Feb Club, Yale's winter-time tradition of revelry and distraction, and the Class of 1987's blog, which features a constant flow of amusing Yale updates.  Jennifer Din '10 presented YaleWomen's website and its coverage of last year's Global Conference in Washington, D.C.

A panel featured alumni experienced in digital campaigns beyond the confines of Phelps Gate:  Teddy Goff '07 directed President Obama's digital campaign during the 2012 reelection. Zeke Miller '11 from Time magazine, covering the election, used Twitter to report political stories. Dexter Upshaw '06 now manages digital media at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Goff recounted stories from the campaign and the ways it used Twitter and Facebook to tell a different Obama story, the second time around. Upshaw explained how the Apollo now permits its audience to use iPhones to vote for favorite artists during the theater's amateur-night contest.

Mark Dolphoff '77, AYA Executive Director, was delighted by the full day of discussion and idea- sharing. This is about prodding alumni not just to donate and participate, but to "inspire, become engaged and serve." He also promised that "we're going to do this again."

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Benjamin Gonzalez '09 (top) presented his break-out group's list of challenges many alumni groups face in using social media. Dana Astmann and Maura Scanlon (bottom) showed what has worked at the Music School and the Art Gallery.

Tim Harkness's '87 presentation capsulized what has worked and not worked in social media for Feb Club and the Class of 1987.

An AYA Swarm in New Haven

AYA Assembly events included a gala dinner to award the Yale Medal, sessions where Yale officials spoke to alumni delegates, and The 130th Harvard-Yale Game (Yale Twitter photos)

An AYA dinner, reception and session

Yale alumni, by the hundreds and from around the world, convened in New Haven Nov. 21-23 for the annual AYA Assembly. They swept through the campus, attending meetings, conferences, and special luncheons. Alumni delegates represented classes, clubs, cities, countries, and special-interest groups.  The Assembly affords alumni a three-day, in-depth peek of many aspects of Yale--residential colleges, Woodbridge Hall, graduate and professional schools, academic disciplines, Science Hill, West Campus and even favorite after-hours haunts such as Mory's and Yorkside. When they weren't examining the current workings and activities of Yale, Assembly delegates tackled a detailed alumni agenda from strategic planning to regional organizing.

Yale alumni being Yale alumni, they all itch to deliver ample input, ideas and a collective voice from alumni in other regions. 

This year's Assembly, the 73rd, turned its attention on the first day to New Haven, celebrating its 375th birthday.  AYA organized sessions for alumni to learn about current challenges and progress of the city, now under the leadership of new mayor Toni Harp '78 ARC. Some took tours of New Haven neighborhoods and heard more about  the city's latest attractions and developments.

AYA leaders, Mark Dollhopf '77 (Executive Director) and Jimmy Lu '77 (Chair of the AYA board), presided over most sessions, panel discussions and dinners.  Westchester representatives at the assembly included YWAA officers and appointed board members.


On the second day, Alumni groups met to share best practices in leading Yale alumni nationally and internationally.   The Assembly, until recent years, often met twice a year, but now convenes in larger numbers each November.

Former president Richard Levin '74 Ph.d. and his wife Jane Levin '75 Ph.d. were among the six winners of the Yale Medal for Service, awarded by the AYA.

YWAA Pays Tribute to Nightingale

Yale alumni and friends gathered to pay tribute to Bill Nightingale '53 and his years of service to Yale.  Top, Merrell Clark '57, Nancy and Bill Nightingale, and AYA Executive Director Mark Dollhopf '77 at the dinner, Nov. 8, in Harrison. (Mattison photos)

This was Bill Nightingale's '53 night.  In fact, it would turn out to be a Bill Nightingale kind of night.  It had punditry, puns, and presents.  It had toasts, tunes and tributes. It featured reflections and remembrances. 

And it had Bill having the first word and a word or two in the middle--in between a dinner entree and dessert.  But not quite the last word.  His admirers, colleagues and fellow Yale alumni seized the podium and had the most words in paying tribute to his 60-plus years of service to Yale.

The special night was the William L. Nightingale Standing Ovation Dinner in Harrison, Nov. 8 at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel.  A primary goal was to raise funds for a new Nightingale Debate Fund to support Nightingale's cherished Westchester debate program.  YWAA board secretary Nightingale, by all accounts, conceived of the the program, willed it into existence and molded it into the annual contest pitting Yale's debate team vs. squads from Harvard and Brown.  High-school teams participate, too, as college debaters coach the high-school students. The new fund ensures the debate program will continue as a Westchester tradition for years to come and permits organizers to honor debate standouts with awards and scholarships.

YWAA Chair Merrell Clark '57 '70 MAR, organized the dinner. He was assisted by co-Chairs (and YWAA board members) Susan Kaminsky '86 and Scott Sherman '72, who have helped Nightingale organize the debates in recent years. Clark announced that the group will meet its fund-raising goal, thanks to generous contributions from Westchester alumni.

The special night was also a festive occasion to honor Nightingale for all he has done for Yale since his days as an undergraduate in Yale's Silliman College, a Yale he can recount with delightful stories and uncanny detail. Since his bright college years and with eagerness to give back to Yale and with a firmness to thrust Yale to even greater heights, Nightingale has assumed almost every alumni leadership role within his grasp.

At the dinner, Mark Dollhopf '77, AYA Executive Director (top, left), said Nightingale was a role model for leadership for young alumni.

Name it, and he has participated, guided, or given--from serving as a Class of '53 officer and an AYA Board-of-Governors member to leading reunions, admissions interviews, and fund-raising activities. From attending Yale-Harvard football games to hiring recent Yale graduates as interns and full-time employees. From applauding Yale a capella groups from his front-row perch to phoning every single administrator in the AYA office in New Haven until he got the response he needed.

Clark proclaimed this would not be an evening of regurgitating lines from Nightingale's lengthy resume'.  This was an evening of tributes, toasts, and telling stories about what makes Nightingale tick (and chuckle, roar and rave) and what special traits he has for marshaling armies of Yale alumni to join his bandwagon of getting Yale things done. Clark, as dinner emcee, set the rules and promised the night would unfurl as a Bill kind of night--filled with fun, humor, and fondness for Bill's critique of what Yale needs to do in every way to stay ahead of Harvard.

No prepared speeches, no index cards, and no laboriously rehearsed statements, Clark ordered.  Just speak from the heart, make us laugh, and tell us a tale that shows us how Bill keeps Yale on its toes everyday.

Eve Rice '73, YWAA board member, read a message from Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d.:  "It is especially fitting that we share a last name," Salovey wrote. "Salovey means Nightingale in Russian! And the nightingale, of course, has a sweet, usually nocturnal, song...I appreciate the knowledge that together we can 'sing' for the greater good of our shared alma mater!"

"Whenever Bill calls," YWAA vice president B.K. Munguia '75 said, "I try to say yes.  He's so much fun. He only asks for what he gives--100-fold."  She added, "The best decision he made was to marry Nancy (Bill's wife of 59 years, who has joined and assisted him in hundreds of Yale projects)."

Susan Kaminsky '86, who worked with Nightingale on the YWAA fund-raising dinner last year and with the debate program, described his "warmth and humor." Whenever they chat in person or on the phone, she said, aware of her work involving animal shelter and care at the Westchester SPCA, "Bill never fails to mentions animals to me. He asks about them in every conversation."

Past YWAA president Bruce Jennings '71 reminded the audience of Bill's "propensity to make puns." He laughed, "The less said about that, the better." Jennings acknowledged how Nightingale is a "persistent critic and commentator at AYA functions" and how he "held Yale and AYA's feet to the fire."  Jennings remarked how Nightingale "illuminates" and maintains warm relationships with all of whom he is in contact.

"Bill is great at running events," described Scott Sherman '72, YWAA board member. "I'm a lawyer.  I can't run events.  It's an honor to watch him get people to do things." Referring to Nightingale's 53 years as a leader in alumni interviews for area Yale applicants, Sherman described him as "my ASC  'handler'," the one who calls the shots from behind the scenes in arranging for dozens and dozens of interviews.

Tim Mattison '73 with his wife Eve Rice '73 (top, left) explained how Nightingale nudged him to become president of YWAA.

YWAA chair Clark remembered when Nightingale called to suggest the idea of starting the debate program.  "I thought he was nuts," Clark laughed. But Bill pressed on and nurtured that "crazy idea" into the thriving program it is today.  Over time, Clark said, "I was very impressed by the students.  There was always excitement in the room in the way I've never seen."  Fifteen years later, he said, "Bill's crazy idea" lives on.

Tim Mattison '73, YWAA president, said, "Let me tell you about Bill's evening phone call to draft me to be president." He explained the clever ploy.  Nightingale had initially talked to Mattison's wife, Eve Rice '73.  After she declined the role because of other duties, Nightingale asked to speak to Tim and persuaded him (or instructed him?) to step up.  Mattison was eventually elected president, knowing  his wife was really the first choice and aware that he couldn't turn down Nightingale's plea. 

"If we want to inspire young alumni," Mark Dollhopf '77, AYA Executive Director, said, "then hold out the leadership examples of Bill Nightingale."  Dollhopf explained "success metrics" (participation numbers) don't make an alumni group successful. Alumni should reconnect, become engaged and have impact. "But reconnect for what?" he asked.  "How is the community affected (by the engagement of Yale alumni)? Bill Nightingale, you're a role model for that."

A Bill kind of night always winds up with music and song, especially joyous, melodious show tunes. His colleague at their advertising firm (Cason Nightingale), singer Angela Cason '83, and  singer/pianist David Pogue '85 performed selections from Jerome Kern, including a rendition of Kern's "Bill."  For a culminating, hanky-waving "Bright College Years," Dollhopf and Regina Possavino '01 joined them to lead Yale's alma mater.


For any Bill Nightingale kind of night, despite Clark's rules, Bill must have the last word. Or at least the last batch of words or the last laugh. When few were looking, Nightingale slipped toward the podium to tell Yale stories and to share his fondness for the Yale seal, the enduring symbol with the inscription "Lux et Veritas."

Bill remembered trips to the library back in sophomore year in New Haven where there seemed to be "less lux, and more veritas." The room lighting was always dull and dim--not conducive to studying history or literature. At a place that celebrates so grandly "light and truth," Bill said, "I had to bring my own lamps" to the reading room.

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Bill Nightingale '73 (top, left) is joined by debate and dinner co-Chairs Scott Sherman '72 and Susan Kaminsky '86. (Mattison photos)

Guests at the Nightingale dinner included Angela Casson '83 and David Pogue (top, left), who sang and played favorite show tunes as a tribute to Nightingale. (Mattison photos)

AYA: A Tribute to Yale's Home Town

AYA ASSEMBLY

The Association of Yale Alumni Assembly (AYA) will examine the challenges and recent years of progress in Yale's home town, New Haven, Nov. 21-23. Selected YWAA board members will serve as Westchester's delegates. (Yale photo)

Once again Yale alumni delegates from all corners of the world, representing all classes, regions, schools and special interest groups, will head to New Haven for the 73rd AYA Assembly, Nov. 21-23.  The Assembly permits over 150 alumni representatives, including a handful of at-large delegates, to convene on campus and confer on alumni topics and issues. While sharing best practices among alumni groups and sharing views from the voices of alumni around the globe, they also learn more about what is happening on campus. Delegates meet and discuss some Yale issues with university officials and sometimes members of the Yale Corporation.

YWAA, as usual, will send delegates (selected board members) to New Haven as representatives of Yale-Westchester.

The AYA Board of Governors, now under the leadership of Chair Jimmy Lu '77, presides over three days of sessions, which this year culminate with an alumni tent gathering at the Alumni Village before the 130th Harvard-Game at the Yale Bowl.  Executive Director Mark Dollhopf '77 leads the busy AYA team that coordinates the activities, dinners, receptions, committee meetings, and panel discussions. Dollhopf also reviews AYA's strategic plan with delegates, emcees a spirited debate on AYA's vision and purpose and hands out awards to alumni groups that deserve attention for special service, achievements or projects.

This year's theme pays tribute to Yale's home town, New Haven, which itself is marking a 375th birthday. Each Assembly has a theme that shines on a particular or special aspect of Yale.  In recent years, the Assembly has focused on alumni initiatives in community service and the Yale Medical School.  It has encouraged the formation of special-interest groups, including, for example, alumni groups interested in Hollywood or alumni who are veterans.

The Assembly, until a few years ago, was held twice a year--in the spring and fall. The Assembly is now a once-a-year event in late November (to the disappointment of some, who relished the twice-a-year treks to New Haven to check on Woodbridge Hall affairs). The calendar, nonetheless, is a busy one for alumni who fly in from Europe or Asia or make the 60-minute drive from Westchester.

With the emphasis on New Haven, the schedule includes discussion sessions on its history, recent economic development, the Yale student's relationship with the city, and a bus tour of areas of New Haven beyond Yale neighborhoods.

The annual Yale Medal Dinner is held the first evening. Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.d. will address alumni delegates at a lunch meeting on the second day.


HUNT TO PRESENT 
HART PROJECT IN CHAPPAQUA

Peekskill resident Melinda Hunt '85 MFA, who spearheads the Hart Island Project that pays tribute to those buried, unclaimed, in New York's Hart Island in the Bronx, will lead a discussion of the project at the Chappaqua Library Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 pm.There will also be a screening of her film, "Hart Island: An American Cemetery."

Melinda Hunt '85 MFA (NY Daily News)

She helped produce the film to chronicle the group's decades-long efforts to produce an online registry of those buried at Hart Island, a potter's field in the Bronx. Those buried include infants, unknown victims of crime, and victims of disease. Hunt started the project 22 years ago.

The presentation is co-sponsored by the Westchester Historical Society.  For more details about the lecture, click HART-CHAPPAQUA.

For more about Hunt's Hart activities, which now include a published book and art exhibitions where she, as artist, depicts the lost souls of those buried on the island, click HART-YWAA.

This week (Oct. 30, 2013), she writes on the opinion pages of the New York Times, "The time has come to rethink operations on Hart Island." The cemetery and the burial of unclaimed bodies are operated by the New York Department of Correction. Hunt has pushed for the cemetery to fall under the auspices of the Department of Parks and Recreation and wants it to be managed as a groomed, green city park in the way other potter's fields in the past have been transformed into green spaces (including Bryant Park in Manhattan).

Her latest goal, she writes for the Times, is for the city to migrate from hidden, untended burial grounds at Hart Island toward "restoring and reclaiming the landscape for public access and moving away from unseemly mass burials." The City Council is now reviewing a bill to transfer the operation to the Parks unit. Visitors to Hart Island, she hopes, will have an idyllic view of Long Island Sound.

New York Times editorial writer Francis X. Clines paid tribute to her perseverance when he wrote in Sept., 2013, of her efforts to challenge "the city's bureaucracy to open up its secret books" on the city's "nobodies, collected and ferried over to the island...."

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(Click HART ISLAND to read another Nov. 17 New York Times account of the Hart Island Project and Hunt's leading advocate efforts.)