Notes and News – Week of November 10, 2015

November 10, 2015

Notes and News – Week of 11-9

ML’s Pieces

Dear Red Lions,

Last week, I wrote “We are gliding into a much quieter week and we should all be able to catch our breath and get back to focusing hard on our work!” It is hard to believe how much has transpired on campus since then.  As I have noted in my emails to the college and conversations in the TD Dining Hall I take my charge as the intellectual, cultural, and social leader of TD very seriously and will do all that I am able to make Timothy Dwight the best college possible.  

After an exhausting week, I hope you all had some time for quiet reflection.  This week’s “photo of the week” is from Dr. B and it is titled “Our Golden Gingko.”  From the moment my family moved into the college, I have found great joy and solace under the large branches of our gorgeous gingko tree.  Its distinctively delicate fan-like leaves are an important symbol and feature of our college courtyard.  The gingko, over the ages, has served as an important symbol of “peace, hope, and vitality.”  For more than a century, our beloved gingko has withstood turbulent winds and storms including Hurricane Sandy.  I like to believe that the golden warmth that radiates today is a reminder of the possibilities for community renewal and endurance.  If you were out at the Solidarity March this afternoon, you would have begun to feel community healing underway.  

As I mentioned in my letter to the community on Sunday, we will begin to start our TD reading group this week.  We will have a total of 6 sessions led either by Dean Mahurin or myself before the Thanksgiving break.  The reading group sessions will take place during the lunch period on the following days: 


Thursday 11/12 
Friday 11/13         
Tuesday 11/17 
Wednesday 11/18 
Thursday 11/19
Friday 11/20                     

So please mark your calendars.  We’ll try to get the Google form out by tomorrow and post links to the readings at least 48 hours in advance. 
Aside from the reading group, we do have some great events planned this week:

Tuesday 11/10 4:30pm “The Enigma of Arrival: My Life Trajectory as a Conflict Journalist,” Master’s Tea with Journalist Rahul Pandita 

Rahul Pandita is currently the Yale World Fellow affiliated with TD for this year.  Based in New Delhi, he has reported extensively from various conflict zones and wars in Iraq, India, and Sri Lanka.  He has authored several books and his bestselling work, Our Moon Has Blood Clots: A Memoir of a Lost Home in Kashmir, has just been turned into a screenplay with the renowned Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod.  

Friday 11/13 7:30-9:30pm Game Night is Back! 

We have heard from so many of you who have missed our board game night.  We are finally back.  And we are ready to bust out our “party-size” Tellestrations that can include up to 12 players.  So be ready!

Sunday 11/15 3pm Recital with YSM Prof. Michael Friedmann and violinist Katie Lansdale 

Please join us for a wonderful program of Schumann, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.  Our performers have also graciously agreed to do a special children’s program starting at 2:15pm.  So if you want to also see adorable kids learning about classical music, please come!  We’ll have hot apple cider and cookies.

Looking ahead to next week, we have some special events to put on your calendar! 

Monday 11/16 4:30 Master’s Tea with Dr. Deqo Mohamed

Dr. Deqo Mohamed is the CEO of the  Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation (DHAF) which she runs with her sister and mother, Dr. Hawa Abdi, in Somalia. www.Dhaf.org  DHAF is an extraordinary grassroots effort to bring medical aid to the region that has earned Dr. Hawa (or “Mama  Hawa,” as she is known) various international prizes and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.  This event is co-sponsored by the Student Partnerships for Global Health (Sarah’s org), Yale Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), and Yale Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development (YAAPD).

Wednesday 11/18 4:30 Master’s Tea with Pulitzer-Nominee Susan Choi

Susan Choi is an award-winning author of four novels.  Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize.  Her third novel, A Person of Interest, was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award.  In 2010 she was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W.G. Sebald Award.  She will be reading and discussing her most recent novel, My Education, which received a 2014 Lammy Award. 

Without further ado, here is a word from Dean Mahurin…

Áshe,
ML

****
 

Dean’s Domain

From The Autobiography of Malcolm X:

“The college session sometimes ran two to four hours – they often ran overtime.  Challenges, queries, and criticisms were fired at me by the usually objective and always alive and searching minds of undergraduate and graduate students, and their faculties.  The college sessions never failed to be exhilarating.  They never failed in helping me to further my own education… It was like being on a battlefield – with intellectual and philosophical bullets.  It was exciting battling with ideas.”

D’AUTRE

Women in Science graduate school panel. Are you considering applying for graduate school? Would you like to learn more about the application process from taking the GREs to interview weekends? If so, you are in luck! Women in Science at Yale (WISAY) is holding a panel on how to apply to graduate school on Monday November 9th at 7:00 PM in the Becton seminar room. To get to the Becton seminar room, enter Dunham (10 Hillhouse) and walk down the first set of steps toward Davies Auditorium. The Becton seminar room is on the left side of the landing (MC035). Graduate student panelists from a variety of science and engineering disciplines will answer any questions you have on this daunting but greatly rewarding journey. Please RSVP and submit your questions here!
 
Please join Women’s Leadership Initiative for a special event with keynote speaker Gloria Feldt onNovember 10th at 5:30 (location TBD). Gloria is currently the founder and president of Take the Lead, an international organization at the forefront of the gender equality movement. The organization propels women to take their fair share of leadership positions by 2025, and Gloria speaks extensively to women about how to navigate work and social situations. She is also the former president of Planned Parenthood. As Planned Parenthood is currently featured heavily in the news, her unique background as well as her impressive accomplishments make her a leading voice in the discussion about women’s rights. She is a New York Times best-selling author, and her books (including No Excuses, and The War on Choice: The Right Wing Attack on Women’s Rights and how to Fight Back) are read throughout the world.  Food will be provided at the event.
 
2016 Yale Playwrights’ Festival – Call for Scripts. Please submit your one-act and/or full-length script(s) in progress for consideration for the fourteenth annual Yale Playwrights Festival, to be held March 4-5 in a series of public readings in the Whitney Theater. We are looking for unpublished, previously unproduced works in progress. Your script can be any length. But it should be far enough along to benefit from the mentorship of working writers in and out of Yale and then from a rehearsed reading in front of an audience. Deadline for scripts: Monday, November 30, 2015, by 4 pm, Theater Studies office, 220 York, Room 102
 
The Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS) is currently accepting essay submissions for our upcoming winter issue until Friday, November 13th. Please send any submissions to yris@yira.org. YRIS seeks interesting, diverse, and compelling scholarship on international questions broadly understood: the relations between countries, trends or challenges of transnational or global scope, and the interaction of people and ideas from different countries. We accept essays of all lengths, usually anywhere between 4 to 20 pages. See our website for more information. 
ACADEMICS

Deadlines
 
November 13             Last day to convert from the Cr/D/Fail option to a letter grade in a full term course.
                                    Last day to withdraw from a course offered in the second half of the term without the course appearing on your transcript.
 
December 4               Last day to convert from the Credit/D/Fail option to a letter grade in a course offered in the second half of the term.    
 
December 11              Classes end at 5:30 pm; reading period begins.
Last day to withdraw from a full-term course or a course offered in the second half of the term.
 
December 16                         Reading period ends.
Deadline for all course assignments, other than papers and term projects.
 
December 17             Final exams begin at 9 am.

December 22             Examinations end at 5:30 pm.
Deadline for all term papers and projects.      
 

Academic Events for Freshmen and Sophomores

November 9               Architecture Major Applications due by 5pm

November 10             Fellowships for Freshmen and Sophomores info session at 3pm

November 11              Environmental Studies Major info session at 3pm

November 12             Biology Majors joint info session at 2:45am
East Asian Studies and East Asian Languages & Literatures Major Info Session at 12pm
Linguistics Major info session at 3:30pm
 

November 15             Humanities in Action (HIA) workshop for current and potential majors at 1pm

November 17                         History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health info session at 3:30pm
Humanities Major and “City of Rome” course info session at 5:30pm
 
November 18             Environmental Studies info lunch at 12:30pm

 

CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Yale World Fellows & Barry Fellows: Insights into Independent Research and Internships
Thursday, November 19, 4:00–6:00 pm, GM Room, Horchow Hall, 55 Hillhouse Avenue
 
Are you considering independent research or an international internship in summer 2016? Join several Yale World Fellows and undergraduate recipients of the Thomas C. Barry Travel Fellowship as they offer advice and discuss their personal experiences in successfully pursuing and completing international research and internship opportunities. A panel discussion will cover topics ranging from career and academic pursuits to making the most of an independent research or internship project. After the panel (4:00–5:00 pm) stay for a reception (5:00–6:00 pm) to ask questions!
 
Center for International and Professional Experience (CIPE) Summer Opportunities Fair
Friday, November 20, 2015, 2:30 – 4:00 pm, Silliman Dining Hall
 
Explore your options for summer and beyond! Learn about internship, study, and funding opportunities in the US and abroad. Chat with staff and student alumni from the Office of Career Strategy, Study Abroad, Yale in London, Yale Summer Session, and Fellowship Programs to find the experiences that are right for you.
 
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” International Alumni Panel
Saturday, November 7, 2:30pm-4:30pm, OISS 421 Temple Street
 
Careers, Life and Yale (CLY)-Humanities in Action Career Workshops Lessons…From, With, and For Yalies
Sunday, November 15, 1:00pm-5:00pm, Whitney Humanities Center
Want insights from amazing alums with fascinating careers that began with Yale degrees in the humanities? Want to learn from them – in a panel format followed by small, themed workshops – in an elegant on-campus setting? With a networking reception to top it off? Register here for our 2nd annual Humanities in Action (HIA) workshop on Sunday, November 15th(1-5pm). The registration deadline is November 9th. For students with a passion for the humanities, our November 15th HIA workshops offer a special opportunity: an afternoon deep dive into a humanities-oriented career think-tank. At our HIA workshops, Yale College and G&P students will learn, debate and brainstorm side-by-side with like-minded, humanities-loving alumni/ae who will describe their career path challenges, and career/life-lessons-learned.  Our session kicks-off on Sunday afternoon (11/15) at 1pm with a plenary alumni panel discussion and Q&A followed by smaller, themed, alumni/ae-led workshops. Students and alums will then come back together from the workshops for a networking reception. Our HIA panel and workshops will be truly interactive. Humanities-loving students and alums will grapple with tough questions relating to how careers unfold. Attendees will interact with recent (and not-so-recent) alumni/ae with real-life experiences far beyond Yale’s campus. Afterwards, when the reception is done, via the Careers, Life, and Yale blog attendees can sustain dialogues and share thoughts with the rest of Yale.
 
Register for EACE Road Trips to the Real World
A series of employer site visits during the winter break in January.  Register soon as spots fill up quickly.
 
Group Advising Session: Summer Study Abroad in France and Francophone Africa
Thursday, November 12, 2015, 4:00–5:00 pm, LC 204
Space is limited to 10 students. Register to attend this event.

FELLOWSHIPS – see http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/international/funding/fellowships/