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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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Sandra Day O'Connor and Edward Albee were among those granted degrees this year on a sunny commencement day. Amid the festivities, we heard from a few of the other 3,511—and from Yale’s president. (Click here to read President Levin’s 2006 Baccalaureate Address.)
More parting words for graduates Robert A. M. Stern '65MArch One of the architectural lessons of 9/11/01 is that modernity is not everywhere appreciated. Provincialism abounds in the world and sometimes it can be very destructive. But provincialism … needs to be understood as a desperate cry to preserve cultural distinctions, to preserve individuality. Architects cannot ignore provincialism, any more than they can reject modernity. Marie Borroff You may find my definition of gaiety a bit eccentric. I mean by it the capacity to take pleasure in the continuous inundation of the individual human consciousness by change in a world beyond our control—something like the pleasure of standing in the ocean and laughing as the big icy waves break over our heads. … It belongs … to those old enough to have seen misfortune and endured affliction and yet retained their zest for life.
Recipients of honorary degrees Edward Albee, playwright, whose works “have captured the complexity of modern life and given it voice in unforgettable characters” and “explore the dark side of our existence, probe our modern disillusionment, and attack the false values that have corroded society”: Doctor of Letters. Peter Brown, the Philip and Beulah Rollins Professor of History at Princeton, who, “with scholarship of breathtaking range and deep insight, rediscovered 'late antiquity,' with its dramatic transformation of Judaism, the rise of Christianity, the emergence of Islam, and the creation of the Roman law”: Doctor of Humanities. Zaha Hadid, architect and the first woman to win the Pritzker Architectural Prize, for work that “transcends convention by drawing the qualities of a particular site into the building itself”: Doctor of Fine Arts. Moshe Idel, Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, whose scholarship has “radically changed the long-dominant vision of Jewish mysticism” and provided “insight into the religious impulses of humanity at large”: Doctor of Divinity. Sandra Day O'Connor, former U.S. Supreme Court justice, whose “judicial pragmatism has helped to keep the law a living thing, evolving and changing as the world changes, serving society well”: Doctor of Laws. John E. Pepper Jr. '60, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, former Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation, and former vice president of the university, a “quintessential servant leader” who “created a culture that respected all and required their best”: Doctor of Humane Letters. Peter H. Raven, Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University, and director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, whose career has focused on “studying and preserving biodiversity, protecting the environment, and understanding the interrelatedness and co-evolution of plants, animals, and insects”: Doctor of Science. Nancy Sabin Wexler, the Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology at Columbia and president of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, whose research “unlocked the mystery of the tragic disorder known as Huntington’s disease”: Doctor of Medical Sciences.
Recipients of teaching prizes Troy Cross, Assistant Professor of Philosophy: the Sarai Ribicoff Award for the Encouragement of Teaching in Yale College. William Summers, Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and the History of Medicine and Science: the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize. Vladimir Alexandrov, the B. E. Bensinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures: the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities. Benjamin Polak, Professor of Economics and Management: the Lex Hixon Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences. Mitch Smooke, the Strathcona Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics: the Dylan Hixon Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences. Maria Crocetti, Senior Lector in Spanish and Portuguese: the Richard H. Brodhead Prize for Teaching Excellence by a Lecturer or Lector. |
I do cultural anthropology. I’m really interested in languages and tried to travel as much as I could. I ended up going to Morocco, Egypt, Switzerland, Jamaica, Belize, Brazil on Yale fellowships. I’m applying to graduate school this summer, and I’m hoping to go to Brazil in the spring to do research. I’ve had a wonderful experience and I’m really looking forward to maintaining the friendships that I’ve fostered here. |
I’m relieved that I made it in seven years. It was hard, the last year in particular, trying to get the dissertation done on time. There’s a March 15 deadline, and if you don’t make that deadline you have to stay on for the summer and graduate in the winter—and you don’t want to do that. I finished my dissertation on March 15. Yale exceeded my expectations academically, and I’ve made so many great friends here. |
It’s been a great honor to go here. The faculty has been wonderful. The placements have been wonderful, from Yale–New Haven Hospital to high schools in the area. The most valuable thing I learned was patience: patience for families and working with them and not putting my own expectations first for how people should behave in terms of their health care—to work with the families based on their goals and expectations. |
My sister gave me the lei—it’s kind of a tradition in our family. I’m originally from Japan, and my family lives in San Diego right now. I’m going to go to medical school here, so I’m staying another four years. I’m an EMT; we cover club sports here like rugby and ice hockey. I’ve been lucky. I’ve done ice bags and band-aids, but that’s about it. I have a great set of suitemates; we’re going to be driving back all the way to Seattle this summer. |
I wouldn’t trade these four years for anything in the world, and I’m really sad to go. Yale is a one-of-a-kind place. I was on the baseball team, and those guys are like brothers to me. We did real well this year—we had the third-best record in program history. Eventually I want to get involved with federal law enforcement, but for the time being, I’ve coached a lot and I enjoy teaching younger children, so that’s what’s steering me toward teaching next year. |
I’ve been here a year. Yale hits you like a tidal wave and you finally bob back to the surface and you’re fine. The Divinity School has had a really rough ride of late, but I think it’s more than righted itself, and I think there’s more of a spirit of where do we go from here and how can we be a better, stronger school. I can’t think of a day when I’ve walked into class and didn’t want to be there. |
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