| Yale Reunion Giving Volunteer Newsletter
| |
| Greetings from the Director
| |
The leaves on the trees are turning, and one sees more scarves than shorts on a stroll through Old Campus. Autumn may be the earth’s way of preparing for winter, but this year, it feels like a beginning. For the first time in eighteen months, all four undergraduate classes are on campus, and their joy rings through the air like the carillon from Harkness Tower. I hope you will enjoy seeing and reading about their experiences below.
We celebrated another beginning this month as well: the public launch of For Humanity, Yale's ambitious $7 billion campaign that seeks to improve the lives of others around the world by harnessing the knowledge, learning, and innovation taking place at the university. Reunion gift volunteers will play a special part in this groundbreaking endeavor, which will be featured in the next issue of this newsletter.
In Reunion Giving, our gift campaigns are just starting to get underway, with plans for in-person celebrations over three weekends next spring. In the meantime, our volunteers will have the opportunity to hear about slices of Yale from several members of its academic, staff, or volunteer communities. All conversations will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on the following dates:
- November 16, 2021 - David Skelly, Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History; Frank R. Oastler Professor of Ecology; Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- December 16, 2021 - Lynn Andrewsen, Senior Director for Engagement and Campaign Initiatives and Thomas Barry '66 and Parminder Singh '06, For Humanity campaign committee volunteers
- January 19, 2022 - David Wilkinson, Executive Director, Tobin Center for Economic Policy and Steven Berry, David Swensen Professor of Economics; Jeffrey Talpins Faculty Director of the Tobin Center for Economic Policy
- February 15, 2022 - Alison Cole, Senior Associate Dean for Development, External Affairs, and Special Projects, Yale College
- March 16, 2022 - Garth Ross, Executive Director, Yale Schwarzman Center
With so much happening, we have an exciting year ahead. I look forward to sharing some of it with you.
Chris Seager
Director, Reunion Giving
| |
| Yale Welcomes Class of 2025 to Campus
| |
 |
Photo credit: Dan Renzetti/OPAC
|
| In a return to pageantry and optimism for the year ahead, Opening Assembly took place outdoors on August 28th on Cross Campus. In his speech, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun cited Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from most of her events in last summer’s Olympics and urged members of the Class of 2025 to take similar care of themselves and one another in order to learn and “teach each other new ways of understanding.” President Salovey echoed this by emphasizing that students can only improve a world that’s on fire when they improve themselves.
Welcome, Class of 2025. We can’t wait to see what you do next.
| |
| Mykah Puryear DeMeulenaere '23
| |
Mykah is a junior in Silliman College majoring in Psychology. We asked her to share her reflections as a Yale student during the pandemic and her return to campus this fall.
What have you enjoyed most about being back on campus?
I think what I have enjoyed the most about being back on campus has been the little things: running into someone (especially someone I haven’t seen since before the pandemic), being able to eat in the dining halls again, walking to a classroom instead of just flipping open my laptop. Campus just feels so much more open now, and I’ve really enjoyed that after so much time in lockdown.
| |
| YALE'S RESIDENTIAL COLLEGES
| |
Celebrating Traditions and Finding New Ways to Connect
| |
This fall, Yale College welcomed the Class of 2025 as the largest incoming class in Yale’s history. After a year of remote learning for many, students’ sense of excitement for being back together in person to live and learn on campus is clear. Though things might look a little different as residential college life has adapted to the “new normal”, students have found creative new ways to stay connected and enjoy their time together.
The power of place one feels when being on Yale’s campus – and the sense of community and comradery that goes with it – is stronger than ever. In this spirit, we look forward to welcoming back our alumni celebrating reunions this year to reconnect with the campus and with one another, but in the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy seeing students doing the same. Read more....
| |
 |
Timothy Dwight’s first-ever live, outdoor Community Night featuring Simone Koch Costa TD ’22 lighting up the courtyard with her jump rope routine. Photo by Demi Lee TD ’24
| |
| | |
|
|
|
|
