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Commencement 2008
On a weekend that included words from Tony Blair and
honors for Paul McCartney, another crop of Yalies lined up for their degrees.
July/August 2008
"The School of Architecture is a lot of fun, and
there's a lot of exciting stuff going on here all the time. For my design
studio, the professor flew in from Germany seven or eight times over the course
of the semester. It was a treat to have him. I'm going home for a little while
to rest and then to New York. I'm excited to be done!"
Whitney Kraus
Greensboro, North Carolina
MArch, School of Architecture
"My senior essay was about the Rwandan Genocide. I
took two classes on that -- probably two of the best classes I took. I played
hockey here, and I'm playing professional hockey in Germany next year, probably
for the Hamburg Freezers."
Jean-Francois Boucher
Montreal
BA, Political Science
Yale College
"I gave a commencement talk yesterday. I'm very proud
of all of them. I've been to commencements pretty steadily since 1965. This one
stacked up very well. I thought the honorary degrees were good. A good mix of
serious people, accomplished people. They can hold their own up there. Today is
a very peaceful day."
Jonathan Spence
Sterling Professor of History
"I'm going to be a neurology resident at Yale-New
Haven Hospital next year. Today is a special day, great weather. I actually
never thought this day would come. It was a long journey, but it was fun. Amy
was on my committee."
Kumar Narayanan
Seattle
MD/PhD
School of Medicine/Graduate School
"His thesis was about the pre-frontal cortex and the
ability to wait. Including waiting for both an MD and a PhD!"
Amy Arnsten
Professor of Neurobiology
"You come here and visit and everyone's smart, and
everyone's nice, and everyone's doing something interesting. I was on the
ballroom dance team. I got to the final round a couple of times, but never
placed. So, alas. But it's still really impressive at weddings.
Lisa Bernard
San Jose, California
BA, Applied Physics
Yale College
"I was on the kendo team for one brief year. It was a
good year. I got beat up several times, but it was awesome when I was doing it.
I was in the band, too."
Dan Nagler
Boston
BA, English
Yale College
"I have two scarves: this one is to recognize our
African heritage, and this one is from my fraternity. Because it's a Christian
fraternity, it offers the opportunity to stand for fellowship in a very
spiritual sense. It really helped me in terms of building my faith. What
brought me to Yale? Honestly, they did the best job wooing me! And when I saw
Yale's website, I just thought I would like a place like Yale. I'm going to
Columbia to pursue an MFA in creative writing. I hate the weather here, to be
honest with you, but I think I'll get used to it after about ten years."
Christopher John Williams
Signal Hill, Tobago
BA, Economics
Yale College
"I study cross-cultural encounters, so my
dissertation was on [American] Indian slavery and the colonial southeast. I
already have a job: I'm at the University of North Florida, which is great. My
dad got his PhD at Yale in 1970, my mom in 1976. I always liked that my mother
was in the sciences and my father was in the humanities, so they played with
the expected gender roles. My daughter Sabine is here, too. She's two, and
she's very smart."
Denise Ileana Bossy
Jacksonville, Florida
PhD, History
Graduate School
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