Yale college

School Notes: Yale College
September/October 2014

Pericles Lewis | http://yalecollege.yale.edu

Alumna receives national award

Architect and arts educator Billie Tsien ’71, together with writer Maxine Hong Kingston, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to receive the 2013 National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor given for achievements in the arts. President Obama presented the medals during a ceremony at the White House in July. Tsien has designed buildings for cultural and educational institutions, among them the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. In 2007, she was inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Recent graduate named Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellow

Jarred Phillips ’14 is among the first 50 Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellows. The program recruits both recent graduates and career changers with strong STEM backgrounds and prepares them specifically to teach in high-need secondary schools. Fellows commit to teach for three years in urban and rural New Jersey schools that most need strong STEM teachers. Founded in 1945 to prepare college professors, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation today offers a broad range of fellowships to address national needs, including the education of teachers and school leaders.

Consultant to serve on US Civil Rights Commission

President Obama announced in July his intent to nominate Karen K. Narasaki ’80 (DC) to the US Commission on Civil Rights. An independent civil and human rights consultant, Narasaki was previously the president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center from 1995 to 2012. She was the Washington representative for the Japanese American Citizens League from 1992 to 1994 and was a corporate attorney at Perkins Coie from 1986 to 1991. She is currently chair of the Asian American Diversity Advisory Council for Comcast/NBCU and cochair of the Asian American Advisory Council for Nielsen.

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