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School Notes School of Architecture More applications, lower acceptance rate The number of applications to the School of Architecture for the 2009-2010 academic year jumped by 23 percent over last year’s figures. Dean Robert A. M. Stern '65MArch attributes the surge to three factors: the increased attention the school has garnered from the restoration of Paul Rudolph Hall; the school’s good reputation; and the poor state of the economy. "Students who may have tried to get a job between college and graduate school, or those who are working and thinking of coming back for advanced training but were about to be laid off, may have accelerated their [education] plans," Stern said, adding with a smile, "I’d like to take full credit for it, but I think this is a trend, not just at Yale." The school has admitted just 141 of the 989 applicants, or 14 percent, the lowest admission rate in the school’s history. Symposium focuses on eclectic architect A symposium held at the school May 9-10 examined the work of James Stirling, an influential architect and winner of the 1981 Pritzker Prize, who taught at Yale in 1959 and from 1966 to 1984. Stirling had a reputation as an eclectic practitioner who reinterpreted Modernism and other previous theories to become one of the most influential architects of the later twentieth century. Some critics insisted that Stirling "didn’t have a coherent theory, but was a master of manipulating forms," said Professor Emmanuel Petit, one of the symposium organizers. "His non-insistence on theory may be one of the reasons we have to look at Stirling again; he felt free to mingle theories whenever they were useful to what he was doing at the moment." An exhibition of Stirling’s work will be on view this fall at the Yale Center for British Art. Roman holiday Thirty students midway through their training spent four weeks in Rome from May 12 to June 12 for the school’s annual intensive workshop, "Rome: Continuity and Change," in which they studied examples from the entire history of architecture, from antiquity to the present. Archeologists and historians of Rome presented in-depth lectures and on-site guided tours. "The seminar examines historical continuity and change as well as the ways in which and the reasons why some elements and approaches were maintained over time and others abandoned," wrote Professor Emeritus Alexander Purves '58, '65MArch, in a summary of the workshop experience. Purves and lecturer Stephen Harby led the trip. The students' experience during the workshop has been described as "draw, draw, draw," as they focus on buildings, landscapes, and gardens, both within and outside the city. "The course is guided by the conviction that an essential part of an architect’s formation is the first-hand experience of a broad range of buildings and places of all periods and styles," Purves wrote. But they also took time to enjoy lectures, concerts, and urban life in general in Rome.
School of Art Art alums at commencement The university awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree to sculptor Richard Serra '62BFA, '64MFA, at the 308th commencement in May. The degree citation reads in part: "Your focus on process does not end in your studio, but extends to the viewer’s mind and movement. In sculpture that is massive in scale, intimate in involvement, and delicate in balance, you use materials, time, and space to make art that challenges, disorients, and surprises." In a separate ceremony during commencement weekend, the School of Art welcomed painter Lisa Yuskavage '86MFA as its commencement speaker. Summer exhibitions by faculty Jessica Stockholder '85MFA, professor and director of graduate studies in sculpture, is the featured artist in this summer’s Mad. Sq. Art exhibition in New York City’s Madison Square Park. Flooded Chambers Maid is a site-specific multimedia installation that features a colorful, 1,300-square-foot arrow-shaped platform sprawling across the northern end of the park’s Oval Lawn. Mad. Sq. Art is the free gallery without walls presented by the Madison Square Park Conservancy in the historic 6.2-acre park. Flooded Chambers Maid is on view through August 15. Also in New York City this summer is an exhibition of photographs by Tod Papageorge, Walker Evans Professor and director of graduate studies in photography. American Sports, 1970 or, How We Spent the War in Vietnam is a display of more than 40 gelatin silver prints from photographs that Papageorge took on travels around the United States in 1970 when he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to "document as clearly and as completely as possible the phenomenon of professional sport in America." American Sports 1970 is on view at the Pace/MacGill Gallery through August 28.
Yale College Seminar explores "The Mediated City” In spring 2009, a new undergraduate course introduced Yale College students to the many ways that cities are represented and understood. Drawing on the fields of television/film, writing, urban planning and renewal, mapping, and architectural preservation, the interdisciplinary seminar was supplemented by a series of evening lectures and other special events with leaders in each field. These events, which were open to the wider university and New Haven communities, included a conversation with David Milch '66 (whose television productions include NYPD Blue and Deadwood) and a panel discussion on "Promoting the City," with urban development experts Bruce Alexander '65 and Alex Garvin '62, '67MArch. The Mediated City was funded by the Poorvu Family Fund for Academic Innovation, which promotes interdisciplinary teaching and courses in Yale College through the support of faculty and curriculum development. In New York City, a Yale farm in miniature Visitors to Parsons the New School for Design this spring had the opportunity to witness sustainable farming on a small scale in Manhattan, thanks to a display created in collaboration with the Yale Sustainable Food Project. The exhibit—a model, growing garden—was designed as a part of Into the Open: Positioning Practice, which was the official U.S. pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia before being displayed at the New School’s Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. The Yale Farm exhibit included a wide variety of vegetables, demonstrating the beauty and educational power of school gardens and showcasing Yale’s innovative work on this front. The exhibition also included instructions for visitors on how to create their own small-scale gardens at home. Writing center hosts annual Hersey lecture Each year, the Yale College Writing Center invites a distinguished writer to deliver the annual John Hersey Lecture. The spring 2009 talk, "The Art of Seduction: Evolution, Sex, and the Public," was part of Yale’s yearlong celebration of Charles Darwin—the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. Olivia Judson, a research fellow in biology at Imperial College, London, and a weekly columnist for the Science section of the New York Times, gave the lecture, in which she outlined her approach for teaching science to a sometimes skeptical public audience. Stephen Stearns '67, the Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, introduced Judson’s talk, commending her work for its combination of popular appeal and scientific rigor. Established by members of the Class of 1936, the Hersey Lecture honors Professor John Hersey '36. Hersey won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel A Bell for Adano and published more than two dozen fiction and nonfiction books. In 1965, Professor Hersey became master of Pierson College; he taught writing at Yale from then until 1984.
Divinity School Two YDS graduates named to presidential advisory council Sharon E. Watkins '84MDiv, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Fred Davie '82MDiv, president of Public/Private Ventures, have been named to President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The YDS alumni are among 25 faith and community leaders appointed to the council. The council is envisioned as a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith-based, that are looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities. Scholar in Christian art awarded Guggenheim Jaime Lara '90STM, lecturer in Christian art and architecture at the Institute of Sacred Music and YDS, has been named a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for next year. Lara, whose recent research has focused on the Andes and the iconography of St. Francis that developed there in the sixteenth century, has chosen as his fellowship topic Flying Francis: Catastrophes, Insurrections, and Art in the Colonial Andes. "By graphically presenting St. Francis as the bellicose Angel of the Apocalypse, the Franciscans were able to assert their unique privileges, chastise their rivals, and rechannel native agitation," said Lara. "The iconography that I have documented and photographed has no precedent in European art, but rather is exclusive to Latin America.” Spring issue of Reflections prompts call for renewed anti-nuclear engagement by churches Publication of the spring issue of Reflections magazine prompted National Council of Churches general secretary Michael Kinnamon to call "with urgency" for renewed engagement by the churches in efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. Kinnamon made his remarks at a May 12 New York City reception launching the spring issue, which is devoted entirely to the subject of faith and nuclear weapons. Pointing to "the call found in the pages of this magazine," Kinnamon said, "This evening I pledge to you to raise this call with urgency within the National Council of Churches community, beginning this weekend with our governing board, and toward that end I’ve asked that a box of the journals be shipped and given out to all of the leaders of the National Council governing board." With 35 member communions representing some 45 million adherents nationwide, the NCC is the country’s preeminent ecumenical organization. Harold W. Attridge named first Henry L. Slack Dean The Yale Corporation at its April meeting confirmed the appointment of Harold W. Attridge as the first Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean of Yale Divinity School. The new endowed deanship was created through a $5 million gift from Robert L. McNeil Jr. '36, honoring his grandfather, an 1877 graduate of the Divinity School. Henry Levi Slack is remembered as an influential minister in Connecticut and a leader of the Congregational Church. Attridge, currently serving his second term as dean, said, "Naming the deanship in memory of the Reverend Henry L. Slack, who devoted his life to pastoral ministry, reminds us of the core mission of the school, to educate the dedicated pastors who will lead the church in the next generation.”
School of Drama Drama alumna receives Pulitzer Prize for Drama Playwright Lynn Nottage '98MFA, lecturer in playwriting at Yale School of Drama, has been awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Ruined. The play, which received its world premiere in a co-production with the Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club, was cited by the Pulitzer committee as "a searing drama set in chaotic Congo that compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness." A 2007 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ms. Nottage is also the author of Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; and other plays. A new name for the New Theater The New Theater, the 200-seat state-of-the-art performance venue at 1156 Chapel Street, was renamed the Frederick Iseman Theater in a rededication ceremony on May 30. The theater, located in Holcombe T. Green Hall, has been in operation since the 2000 dedication of that building, and has housed a variety of theatrical and dance productions, including the school’s annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays and some Yale Rep productions. The renaming of Yale’s premier "black-box" theater is in recognition of a gift from Frederick Iseman '74, a graduate of Yale College. This marks "the first named performance space in the history of Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre, and represents Mr. Iseman’s passionate support of theater and the performing arts here at Yale and around the world," said Yale School of Drama dean and artistic director James Bundy '95. At the theater’s dedication Iseman said he is "honored" to have his name affiliated with the drama school, "which strives continuously to achieve work that is lasting, influential, transcendent, and sublime.” Drama alumnus wins Tony award Derek McLane '84MFA won a 2009 Tony Award for best scenic design of a play, for his work on 33 Variations. Michael Yeargan '73MFA, professor (adjunct) of design, was nominated in the same category for his designs in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Other Yale nominations included Jane Greenwood, professor (adjunct) of design, for best costume design of a play in Waiting for Godot; and Scott Pask '97MFA, for best scenic design of a musical in Pal Joey. The 63rd annual Tony Awards were presented in New York on June 7.
School of Engineering & Applied Science Improving drug delivery Biomedical engineers Mark Saltzman and Michael Levene are working on new imaging techniques that "see" the movement of molecules in the brains of living animals, enabling them to track how drugs move to their target areas under different conditions. This study, funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, will be the first to correlate molecular movement within the local brain architecture. "Our novel deep-brain techniques will monitor real-time cellular events that regulate localized drug movement—like binding and uptake of drugs into cells," said Saltzman, the Goizueta Foundation Professor and chair of biomedical engineering. "We anticipate that our results will provide the basis for the design of new approaches for drug delivery in patients with Parkinson’s disease.” Tarek Fahmy, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and Joseph Craft, professor of medicine and immunobiology and chief of rheumatology, are working together on developing a nanoparticle therapy that targets pathogenic immune cells in patients with lupus. The biodegradable nanoparticles, which are safe for use in humans, will be loaded with the drug mycophenolic acid and blockading agents that target renegade immune system cells that malfunction and attack different parts of the body. "We have promising preliminary data showing that this targeted combination delivery of drugs to T cells is a more effective and potent form of specific therapy than use of a free drug," said Fahmy. A three-year $300,000 award from the Lupus Research Institute is supporting this work. The color of bird feathers Some of the most stunning colors in nature are not created by pigments, but are instead the result of light scattering by nanoscale structures. The vivid blues observed in the feathers of bluebirds and blue jays are one such example; under an electron microscope, these structures look like sponges with air bubbles. Now an interdisciplinary team of Yale engineers, physicists, and evolutionary biologists has taken a step toward uncovering how these structures form, and has found that the color-producing structures in feathers appear to self-assemble in much the same manner as materials undergoing phase separation. Bubbles of water form in a protein-rich soup inside the living cell and are replaced with air as the feather grows, creating a structure similar to that of beer foam or a sponge. This research has important implications for the role color plays in birds' plumage, as the color produced depends entirely on the precise size and shape of these nanostructures. But Eric Dufresne '96, lead author of the paper, is also interested in the potential technological applications of the finding. "We have found that nature elegantly self-assembles intricate optical structures in bird feathers. We are now mimicking this approach to make a new generation of optical materials in the lab," said Dufresne, the John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Physics. The research appeared online in the journal Soft Matter.
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Most polluted ecosystems recoverable Most polluted or damaged ecosystems worldwide can recover within a lifetime if societies commit to their cleanup or restoration, according to an analysis of 240 independent studies by researchers at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Their findings appeared in the June edition of the journal PLoS ONE. The Yale researchers found that forest ecosystems recovered in 42 years on average, while ocean bottoms recovered in less than 10 years. When examined by disturbance type, ecosystems undergoing multiple, interacting disturbances recovered in 56 years, and those affected by either invasive species, mining, oil spills, or trawling recovered in as little as five years. Most ecosystems took longer to recover from human-induced disturbances than from natural events such as hurricanes. "The damages to these ecosystems are pretty serious," said Oswald Schmitz, an ecology professor at the environment school and co-author of the analysis with Yale PhD student Holly Jones. "But the message is that if societies choose to become sustainable, ecosystems will recover. It isn’t hopeless.” The Yale analysis focuses on seven ecosystem types, including marine, forest, terrestrial, freshwater, and brackish, and addresses recovery from major anthropogenic disturbances—agriculture, deforestation, eutrophication, invasive species, logging, mining, oil spills, overfishing, power plants, and trawling—and from the interactions of those disturbances. Major natural disturbances, including hurricanes and cyclones, are also accounted for in the analysis. The researchers analyzed data derived from peer-reviewed studies conducted over the past century that examined the recovery of large ecosystems following the cessation of a disturbance. The studies measured 94 variables that were grouped into three categories: ecosystem function, animal community, and plant community. Geographer named Leopold Fellow Karen Seto, associate professor in the urban environment, is one of 19 environmental researchers from across North America to be awarded Leopold Leadership fellowships for 2009. Seto’s research is on the dynamics of urban land-use change, with a particular emphasis on urban development in China. She is co-chair of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change Project of the UN’s International Human Dimensions Programme, and is a recipient of the NASA New Investigator Program Award, the NSF Career Award, and a National Geographic Society research grant. The fellows are chosen for outstanding scholarship, leadership, and an interest in communicating science beyond traditional academic audiences. Based at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, the Leopold Leadership Program was founded in 1998 to help academic scientists make their research accessible to decision makers.
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Welcome, newest alumni! Commencement 2009 was a festive two-day occasion for the Graduate School. At convocation on Sunday, academic prizes were awarded, and three faculty members were honored for outstanding mentorship: Professors Elliott Visconsi, English; Patrick Vaccaro, chemistry; and Scott Boorman, sociology. Provost (and former dean of Yale College and the Graduate School) Peter Salovey '86PhD delivered a thoughtful and witty speech. University commencement on Old Campus was followed by the Graduate School’s diploma ceremony in Woolsey Hall on Monday afternoon, where 223 PhD degrees were awarded. An additional 153 doctorates had been granted in December, bringing the total of new Yale PhDs for the year to 376. Combining spring and fall semesters, 337 MPhil, 271 MA, and 171 MS degrees were awarded this year. Encouraging graduate education This summer, for the 15th time, the Yale Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program will bring a group of 19 highly qualified undergraduates to campus for an eight-week taste of graduate school. The program aims to familiarize students, especially underrepresented minority students, with the kind of work they can expect to do in graduate school and after earning a PhD. Participants are immersed in an academic setting and, guided by a faculty mentor, pursue individual research and participate in workshops and panel discussions. Students in the natural sciences learn advanced laboratory methods, while those in the humanities and social sciences have access to the considerable archival resources of Yale’s libraries. Yale covers the cost of room and board as well as travel, and provides a stipend to each participant. All SURF students give a final presentation to their peers, submit a written paper, and attend the Leadership Alliance National Symposium to present their research. Writing better The campus may be quiet over the summer, but the Graduate Writing Center stays open for business. Under the direction of Elena Kallestinova, tutors regularly meet with students to provide feedback on their writing, workshops teach "Writing Clearly for Non-native English Speakers," and the popular Dissertation Boot Camp provides an interruption-free marathon for students in the writing phase of their dissertations. For the past year, the center has helped graduate students fulfill their writing requirements and become better academic writers by offering individual consultations with tutors, interactive programs, dissertation support groups, peer review writing groups, and panels with invited speakers. Four McDougal Graduate Writing Fellows and four tutors worked in the center with Kallestinova this year, assisting about 960 students.
Law School Yale law professor receives Colombian honor Sterling Professor of Law Owen Fiss has been awarded La distincion Socrates (The Socrates Distinction) by the Universidad de los Andes law faculty in Bogota, Colombia. This is the highest honor granted by the law school’s faculty to a national or international law professor in recognition of lifetime achievement in teaching and scholarship. Professor Fiss was recognized for his contributions in the fields of constitutional law and jurisprudence. Universidad de los Andes dean Eduardo Cifuentes Munoz presented the award to Professor Fiss in Bogota on April 28. He called Fiss "one of the most influential constitutionalists in the contemporary world" whose works "have great resonance in the United States and in other legal systems." Professor Fiss teaches procedure, legal theory, and constitutional law at Yale Law School and also directs extensive law school programs in Latin America and the Middle East. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Liberalism Divided, The Irony of Free Speech, A Community of Equals, and The Law as it Could Be, all of which have been translated into Spanish and other foreign languages. Legal scholar elected to American Academy Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law John J. Donohue III '86PhD has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Donohue is an economist/lawyer who has used large-scale statistical studies to estimate the impact of law and public policy in a wide range of areas. His "signal accomplishments include path-breaking empirical analyses in a broad range of policy areas, from crime control to employment discrimination to civil rights," said Yale Law School acting dean Kate Stith. "His election to the American Academy is high recognition of his scholarly preeminence.” William & Mary Law honors Yale law professor William & Mary Law School awarded Professor John H. Langbein its 2008-09 Marshall-Wythe Medallion on April 2. The medallion is the highest honor given by the law school faculty and recognizes outstanding leaders from the bench, bar, and academia. Langbein is Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. A legal historian and leading American authority on trust, probate, pension, and investment law, he teaches and writes in the fields of Anglo-American and European legal history, modern comparative law, trust and estate law, and pension and employee benefit law. In presenting the award, William & Mary law dean Lynda Butler said Langbein is known as "a superb teacher, making difficult and complex subjects come to life for the student," and noted that his contributions as a law reformer have had "a profound impact on American law.”
School of Management School opens search for new dean Yale president Richard C. Levin has announced the formation of a committee to begin the search for a new dean for the Yale School of Management. Current dean Sharon Oster will step down at the end of the 2009-2010 school year and return to her role as a senior member of the SOM faculty. Levin has appointed James Baron, the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management and professor of sociology, to head the search committee, which includes seven other faculty members. He also created an alumni advisory board to be chaired by senior fellow of the corporation Roland W. Betts '68 and including Charles D. Ellis '59, Ellis B. Jones '79MPPM, Linda A. Mason '80MBA, Edward J. McKinley '79MPPM, Ranjani Hopkins Nagaswami '86MBA, and George U. Wyper '84MBA. Suggestions and comments may be sent to deansearch@som.yale.edu. SOM faculty detail research This spring, Dean Sharon Oster launched a new speaker series in which SOM faculty will present their latest work and its impact on the world of management. The series is designed to provide SOM students with a view into faculty research efforts that they might not normally encounter in the MBA classroom. Three professors presented research this past semester, with Keith Chen focusing on his provocative reevaluation of decades' worth of work on cognitive dissonance; Martijn Cremers detailing his work on whether active fund managers produce better returns; and Oliver Rutz explaining the mechanics and benefits of search engine advertising. Also this spring, two papers by SOM faculty illuminated key aspects of the current economy. Hongjun Yan, assistant professor of finance, and doctoral candidate Steven Malliaris released research explaining how the investment decisions of hedge fund managers are often influenced by concerns about their reputations, often leading to more-conservative investment decisions and implying that future growth in the industry could be much slower than past growth. Also, Lisa Kahn, assistant professor of economics, released a study showing how graduating in a bad economy has a long-lasting negative effect on wages. See "When the Bad Times Roll" for a Yale Alumni Magazine report on Kahn’s research. New issue of Qn magazine explores value of globalization Globalization is a much-debated topic, especially in the middle of a global economic downturn. Q5, the latest issue of the SOM magazine, explores the key issues surrounding globalization: the benefits of cheap goods versus the costs of rapid industrialization; how the economic crisis is threatening global relationships built over 30 years; the dramatic impact on culture of a rapidly shrinking world; and a deconstruction of how a brand goes global in the current age. The magazine also features an interview with former British prime minister Tony Blair about how values are critical to maximizing the benefits of globalization, a continuation of the conversation he began through his Faith and Globalization seminar last fall at Yale. Read the issue or request a print copy at qn.som.yale.edu.
School of Medicine Yale neuroscientist to receive VA’s highest scientific honor Neurologist Stephen G. Waxman was awarded the William S. Middleton Award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Middleton Award is the VA’s highest scientific honor and includes a cash prize and an award of $150,000 in research support. Waxman is the director of the Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, a collaboration of Yale, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the United Spinal Association. He was honored for his research on spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and painful nerve injuries. His research focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies that will restore functions such as sensation and the ability to walk after spinal cord, nerve, and brain injury. Waxman, who has served as chair of neurology since 1986, is transitioning to a full-time role as director of Yale’s research center at the West Haven campus of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Reconnecting with downtown An ambitious plan to "create a footprint for what happens to New Haven over the next 15 years" will connect the medical school with downtown as it restores a street grid that doubles the size of the city’s central business district. The linchpin of the plan is the removal of the Oak Street Connector, also known as the Route 34 East highway, which isolated the medical school from the downtown area. "This is one of the most exciting projects for the medical school," said Dean Robert Alpern, who added at a news conference to unveil the project that he was "ecstatic" at the prospect of the school being part of downtown. Reconfiguring the public infrastructure is expected to cost about $45 million and will be paid for through a combination of federal, state, and private development funding. Engineering work for this phase of the project has already begun. Ten years of looking at art An innovative tutorial designed to sharpen the observational skills of future physicians is a decade old and still attracting attention. The exercise, which is mandatory for all first-year med students, is a collaboration between the medical school and the Yale Center for British Art. Students study selected paintings and take a visual inventory of what they see. They then try to draw conclusions about what’s happening in the painting. The exercise, developed by dermatology professor Irwin M. Braverman '55MD and Linda Friedlaender, curator at the Yale Center for British Art, has proven so successful that more than 20 other medical schools have replicated it. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a nearly 10 percent improvement in the observational skills of students who had gone through the training.
School of Music Applications and yield surge This year’s admissions resulted in an unusually high yield of 78 percent, with ten studios—cello, clarinet, composition, conducting, flute, guitar, harp, oboe, trombone, and opera—enrolling 100 percent of admitted students. Admissions were extremely competitive, with 1,270 applications (5 percent higher than the previous year) and an admission rate of 8.4 percent. The incoming class is a diverse group of 100 exceptional musicians coming from 58 undergraduate institutions. International students, representing 21 countries from across the globe, comprise half the incoming class. Thomson focus of Norfolk festival Yale’s summer school of music, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, opened its doors on Saturday, June 20, with the internationally renowned Sejong Soloists, directed by violin professor Hyo Kang, and pianist Robert Blocker. A highlight of the season will be a gala performance by soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish on Saturday, August 8. This year, the festival turns the spotlight on composer and cultural critic Virgil Thomson, with performances of Thomson’s music in several festival programs as well as a lecture by Anthony Tommasini '70, '71MusM, chief music critic for the New York Times and author of Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle. Norfolk recently unveiled its new website: www.norfolkmusic.org. Yale in New York celebrates Goodman The school is looking forward to a third season of Yale in New York, under the artistic direction of David Shifrin. The opener on September 26 in Zankel Hall is a celebration of Benny Goodman’s classical legacy. Part of the week-long Benny Goodman Centenary Celebration at Yale, the program will feature music commissioned by Goodman from Bartok, Poulenc, Copland, and others, performed by faculty, alumni, and current students. Later performances feature music by Prokofiev and Penderecki, and a tribute to Yale’s Oral History of American Music project, which includes music by such composers as Charles Ives, Duke Ellington, and Steve Reich, and interviews from the OHAM archives.
School of Nursing 2009 YSN creative writing awards Over 200 people attended the school’s 2009 Creative Writing Awards, held at the Omni New Haven Hotel on April 28. This annual event is a celebration of "Yale nurses writing nursing"; the awards encourage nursing students to articulate what it is that they do, see, feel, and provide to their patients, families, and communities. This year’s keynote speaker was author Anna Quindlen, who has written five novels and six nonfiction books, and was only the third woman in the history of the New York Times to write a regular column for its influential Op-Ed page when she began the nationally syndicated "Public and Private," for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. Quindlen currently writes the "My Turn" column every other week in Newsweek. Congratulations to this year’s Creative Writing Award winners: Brandon Ko '10, studying to become a pediatric nurse practitioner; Elizabeth Holt '11, planning to be a women’s health nurse practitioner; and Rachel Newton '13, a burn nurse pursuing the school’s dual program in advanced psychiatric nursing/divinity. View the CWA slide show, hear Quindlen’s talk, and read the winning entries at http://nursing.yale.edu/Students/CreativeWriting. New Haven mayor delivers Bellos Lecture New Haven’s mayor, John DeStefano Jr., delivered the annual Sybil Palmer Bellos lecture on April 15. The mayor’s talk, "The Health Implications of Common Exposure to Violence in New Haven," centered on the role of health care for Connecticut’s neediest residents. Mayor DeStefano described patterns of mental illness and criminal behavior that exist within families, so that a cycle is created across generations. He is seeking to tailor a set of interventions to change these behaviors, so that criminal offenders might go on to make positive contributions to the community and to their families. DeStefano said that New Haven’s size makes it "the best place to start constructing new models and new expectations.” Alumnus awarded Fulbright scholarship Recent graduate Mark Lazenby '09MSN has been awarded a Fulbright postdoctoral research scholarship for the academic year 2009-2010. Lazenby, who holds a master’s in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a PhD in philosophy of religion from Boston University, has studied both the Islamic religion and the psychosocial aspects of cancer. At YSN his degree specialty was in oncology. Lazenby states that the role of religion and spirituality for people with cancer has been well documented, but Arab-speaking patients are hardly represented. The Fulbright will allow Lazenby to spend six months in Jordan researching the spiritual well-being of cancer patients in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He will look for a "common language" among religious cancer patients of all parts of the world. For more, see http://nursing.yale.edu/News/Features/lazenby_feature.html.
School of Public Health Study explores effects of exercise on women’s cancer A public health researcher is studying whether physical activity can affect ovarian and breast cancer prognosis and survivorship. Melinda L. Irwin, associate professor in the division of chronic disease epidemiology, believes that a regular exercise regimen—coordinated with other forms of traditional treatment such as chemotherapy—can potentially have a significant effect on survival, recovery, and overall mental and physical health. She received nearly $7 million in combined grants from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the two-pronged research. The first study will focus on women who have completed treatment for Stage I-III ovarian cancer. The second study will investigate whether an exercise program can improve a number of negative side effects associated with the hormone therapies that are given to women recovering from breast cancer. Beliefs about the causes of obesity predict support for government intervention With obesity becoming an increasing public health concern in the United States, new research has found that an individual’s personal beliefs about the causes of weight problems are a reliable indicator of whether they will support public policies designed to combat what some see as an epidemic. The research determined that people who view growing rates of obesity as due primarily to bad individual choices are less likely to back a range of potential public health responses, such as changing school lunch programs, food labeling, or imposing taxes on junk food. Conversely, those who see growing rates of obesity as primarily the consequence of external factors such as public manipulation by the food and beverage industry or the lack of healthy, affordable food in certain neighborhoods are more likely to back government intervention in the form of new health policies and programs, said Colleen L. Barry, assistant professor in the division of health policy and administration and the study’s lead author. YSPH trains delegates from China’s Food and Drug Administration Building on the success of last year’s program with the China State Food and Drug Administration (sFDA), a second sFDA delegation visited the Yale School of Public Health in April for training in the regulation of medical devices. Robert Makuch '77PbhSp, '77PhD, professor in the division of biostatistics, led efforts to initiate the new training program. The delegation members, who are being trained as future leaders of the sFDA, included directors and associate directors of province sFDA offices and senior members from the central Beijing sFDA. "We have a strong relationship with China," said Dean Paul Cleary, "and we're thinking deeply about policy and regulation as a key component of protecting and promoting health all over the world." The training program also featured a day-long session with senior members of the U.S. FDA. |
Note to Readers The Yale Alumni Magazine carries this supplement in every issue for news from Yale’s graduate and professional schools and Yale College. This supplement is underwritten by the university and is not produced by the magazine staff but provided by the schools. |
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