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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. |
Commencement 2007 Click here to read President Levin’s 2007 Baccalaureate Address. Recipients of teaching prizes Robert F. Thompson '55, '65PhD, Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art: the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize. Alicia Schmidt-Camacho, assistant professor of American studies: the Sarai Ribicoff Award for the Encouragement of Teaching in Yale College. Richard Lalli '86MusAD, associate professor (adjunct) of music: the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities. Keith Darden, assistant professor of political science: the Lex Hixon '63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences. Mark A. Johnson, Arthur T. Kemp Professor of Chemistry: the Dylan Hixon '88 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences. William Yu Zhou, senior lector in East Asian languages and literatures: the Richard H. Brodhead Prize for Teaching Excellence by a Lecturer or Lector.
Recipients of honorary degrees Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chair of the humanitarian organization BRAC, whose work has “improved the lives, livelihood, and lifespan of many millions of Bangladeshis, particularly girls and women,” for “dedication to your country and your pioneering work in alleviating poverty and human suffering”: Doctor of Humane Letters. Meyer Howard Abrams, literary critic, who has “the rare capacity to see at once the whole and the parts, explicating both with astonishing clarity,” for works including his masterpiece on English Romanticism, The Mirror and the Lamp, which “stands among the great monuments of modern literary scholarship”: Doctor of Humanities. Emanuel Ax, “internationally acclaimed as one of the world's greatest pianists,” for his “poetic sensitivity, pristine technique, and intelligent interpretation” and for working “tirelessly and passionately as an advocate of new music and music education”: Doctor of Music. John Arthur Ferejohn, the Caroline S. G. Munro Professor in Political Science at Stanford and “one of the preeminent political scientists of our time,” for research on government that has “linked the humanities and the social sciences and, in so doing, given us deeper insight into our political systems”: Doctor of Social Science. Richard Gilder '54, stockbroker and “the most creative of philanthropists,” a collector of American historical documents who has supported the renaissance of Central Park, the renovation of the American Museum of Natural History, and Yale—both on his own and as the leader of a privately invested class fund that yielded $90 million at the class’s 50th reunion: Doctor of Humane Letters. Julie Harris '47Dra, actor and “one of the most accomplished artists in the history of the American theater,” who, in “embodying such remarkable characters as Frankie Addams, Sally Bowles, Joan of Arc, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Emily Dickinson,” has “enriched our understanding of the human condition”: Doctor of Fine Arts. Mary-Claire King, professor of genome sciences and medicine, University of Washington, a “gifted teacher, researcher, and role model” who demonstrated the existence of inherited mutations that cause breast cancer, thus enabling “countless women to receive needed screening, early diagnosis, and preventive care”: Doctor of Medical Sciences. Pius Nkonzo Langa, chief justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, who rose from “the yoke of apartheid” and has worked “as a guarantor of democracy, protecting and defending [his] country’s new constitution and helping to transform the courts from agents of oppression into guardians of justice”: Doctor of Laws. Robert Langer, Institute Professor, MIT, whose “contribution to the field of biomedical engineering is unequaled” and who has pioneered new technologies ranging from transdermal patches to microchips that deliver precise drug doses to “manufactured” muscle and organ tissue: Doctor of Science. Peter Matthiessen '50, naturalist and author, who through his writings has “shown us the beauty of species and the importance of biodiversity" and “chronicled changes in the earth’s landscape, the fragility of life, and the wonder of nature”: Doctor of Letters.
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“I studied Middle Eastern history. I started out in poli sci, and I don’t mean this in any kind of a bad way, but it’s less research, more speculative than history. Charles Hill was my mentor—I’ve taken his classes since freshman year. And John Gaddis, of course. Now I’m going to Texas A&M for graduate school. I have a Pickering Fellowship with the State Department. I’m eventually going to be in the Foreign Service.” |
“We just had the clambake last night, with [design department co-chair] Ming Cho Lee. He throws it every year for the drama school designers. I haven’t slept. Not at all. Just a little bit. “The actors tend to know how to act at these things. But you can always tell the costume designers—once they get their robes off, you can always find them in the crowd. “This lighting? Gorgeous! Just the right amount overcast.” |
“New Haven is absolutely fabulous. I don’t want to leave—I hope to do my post-doc here. I had a chance to go to New York but decided this is the place to be.” “She won the prize for best dissertation. I’m her adviser. My career is nothing without her. I had only two stripes on this gown before I met her.” |
“I won the Richard Dixon Welling Award for Excellence in Drawing. I work with candle smoke—I draw with candle smoke. This is a good school for experimenting. I’m from Arizona, went to Arizona State. My wife and I are staying in the area. We’re going to have our own art studio in West Haven.” |
“The leis came from a friend from Hawaii. His mom brought us all leis. I’ll be staying East, working at a law firm in New York, getting a taste. But I’ll miss all the great restaurants in New Haven.” |
“We tried to get everyone to wear the [aluminum foil] horns on their mortarboards—we’ve got a lot of spirit, a lot of Trumbull [College] pride. I’ll miss Yale a lot. But I’ll be back for the Harvard-Yale game next year.” |
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