Notes and News – Week of 11-16
ML’s Pieces
Dear Red Lions,
Apologies for this very late Notes and News… it’s been quite a start to the week to say the least!
Even though it has been a very difficult time across the university I feel optimistic by the expressions of care and concern and the willingness of students in the college to ask questions and learn. We have received very enthusiastic responses from across the college for our reading group sessions. The first two sessions focusing on Richard Wright’s The Legacy of Living Jim Crow and Martha Biondi’s The Black Revolution on Campus led to some great discussions around the experiences and legacies of racial exclusion in the U.S. and student activism on campuses in the 1960s and 1970s. The Biondi chapters also gave us a longer sense of the history of ongoing efforts to institutionalize African American studies across college campuses in the U.S. We look forward to the remaining four sessions this week with Thursday’s and Friday’s sessions focusing more on Yale itself. We had to close the form last week because all the sessions are now full. Friday’s session is so popular that Dean and I will each take a group of 18! If you couldn’t make the reading group times this go around, please know that we plan to run these 6 sessions again after Thanksgiving with different time slots.
This week’s “photo of the week” comes from Dr. B and is titled “Robert Schumann Meets the Great Whangdoodle” taken atthis Sunday’s house concert with Prof. Michael Friedmann of the Yale School of Music and violinist Katie Lansdale. Although TD has had house concerts before, I believe this was the first time that there has ever been a special children’s program that preceded the recital. Our generous musicians took Robert Schumann’s “Fantasiestücke” and turned it into a story about how the young Schumann may have lost his favorite pet, a Whangdoodle. Some of you may be familiar with this fanciful character from a Julie Andrews’s children’s book published in 1974. You can see the children of TD and their friends thoroughly enjoying the performance!
We had a wonderful tea this afternoon with Dr. Deqo Mohamed who spoke eloquently of the work the Dr. Hawa Abdi Fundation (DHAF) has accomplished in Somalia since 1983 in the areas of health care, education, and nutrition for thousands of people displaced by war and famine. We only have one more event this week before we head into the Harvard-Yale Game and Thanksgiving break.
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.
December Programs
Looking ahead to after the break, we’ll be in December! While we will have fewer programs as classes wind down, they are some very special programs. So put them on your calendar now!
Tuesday 12/1 Ambassador Alice Wells, “Defeating ISIL – the Challenge of US Diplomacy”
TD is honored to host Alice Wells, the current U.S. Ambassador to Jordan. Ambassador Wells will give a talk on the difficult challenges for U.S. diplomacy in confronting ISIL through the prism of US-Jordanian relations. There will be a dinner afterwards in the Thompson Room. Please go here to sign up for the lottery to have dinner with Ambassador Wells.
Saturday 12/5 7:30-9:30pm TD Goes Ice Skating
Are lions natural born skaters??? We’ll find out when we go on our first-ever college skating trip to New Haven’s Ralph Walker Rink. Just about a mile from campus, this local ice skating rink will be ours for the evening. We’ll have wonderful goodies including hot chocolate and cookies to warm up coming off the ice. The bus will depart from the TD gate at 7:15pm and 7:45pm and return at 9pm and 9:30pm. No sign-up necessary. Just dress warmly and show up at the TD gate to board the bus.
Tuesday 12/8 5:15pm Harkness Tower Tour and Carillon Demonstration with TDers Lynnli Wang ‘ 16 and Jonathan Adler ‘17
Climbing to the top of Harkness Tower and watching the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs ring the bells is on many Yalies’ must-do-before-graduating lists. Our TD carillonneurs, Lynnli and Jonathan, are offering to bring up to 12 TD students up this Tuesday for the evening ring. If you and other TDers want to go, please sign up you and your friends on this form. There is also a place for you to make a song request!
Saturday 12/12 Alvin Ailey in NYC
Attending a performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has been a long-standing and beloved TD tradition. This season’s performance includes a new work, Exodus, by hip-hop choreographer Rennie (Lorenzo) Harris set to gospel and house music along with poetic narration. Also on the program are No Longer Silent set to the music of Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff’s whose work was banned by the Nazis and Grace, one of Ailey’s popular works. More details will be forthcoming when we return from Thanksgiving break.
Without further ado, here is a word from Dean Mahurin…
Áshe,
ML
****
Dean’s Domain
A topical (sort of…) poem by Eliza Griswold, a contemporary writer and journalist.
Flood
I woke to a voice within the room. perhaps.
The room itself: “You’re wasting this life
expecting disappointment.”
I packed my bag in the night
and peered in its leather belly
to count the essentials.
Nothing is essential.
To the east, the flood has begun.
Men call to each other on the water
for the comfort of voices.
Love surprises us.
It ends.
ACADEMICS
Deadlines
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.
TiDbits
For sophomores interested in a career in academia, the Mellon Mays & Edward A. Bouchet Fellowships aim to increase the representation of students of color – and others with a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities – who will pursue PhDs and subsequent careers in academia. The Fellowships are open to Sophomores interested in teaching and research at the college and university level. Those interested are encouraged to attend the upcoming November 17th Information Session at SSS410 from 5-6:30pm. Dinner will be served. For more information contact Dean Saveena Dhall, Program Director (saveena.dhall@yale.edu). Additional information and link to online application can be found athttp://yalecollege.yale.edu/content/edward-bouchet-undergraduate-fellowship-program
Bialogue. Tuesday, November 17, 5:30 pm. 3rd Thursday of the month, Office of LGBTQ Resources, 120 Swing Space / 40A Ashmun St. Join Marija Kamceva (Branford ’15) for a discussion series about nonmonosexual relationships, identities and more. Dinner will be provided - come with your thoughts, questions and ideas!
2016 Yale Playwrights Festival – second 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.
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.
Interested in the Yale-coordinated Domestic and International Internships? In order to apply to these positions you must first complete our program tutorial. Students can access the program tutorial by clicking on the ‘2016 Yale-Coordinated Internship Tutorial & Registration’ document in the Document Library (available under Resources > Document Library) in Symplicity. If you reviewed this document last year you will need to review it once again! Students who complete the tutorial will be able to apply to positions when they are released in Symplicity on the morning of Monday, December 14. The primary application deadline for these positions will be Tuesday, February 2, 2016.
Cider & Cookies Study Abroad Information Session. Tuesday, November 17, 8:30–9:30 pm, Branford-Saybrook Room, Branford College. Join us for hot apple cider and Insomnia Cookies to learn more about studying abroad! Alumni from a variety of regions and program types will be in attendance to speak about their experiences and answer any questions you have in an informal setting. Enter through the doors for the Branford Common Room, right below the dining hall entrance. Look for signs to direct you to the Branford-Saybrook room.
FELLOWSHIPS – see http://www.yale.edu/yalecollege/international/funding/fellowships/