"Quilt of Faiths" finds a home in Yale
chaplain's office
A handmade quilt donated to Yale now graces the
lounge in the Yale chaplain's office, with a message that underscores the Yale
chaplaincy's growing interfaith emphasis. The "Quilt of Faiths,"
whose 12 squares represent different religious traditions, was made by former
missionaries to Japan for a "returned Japan missionary" gathering
held in Seattle in 2005. Hallam Shorrock ’52BD, who spent many years as a
missionary in Japan, had it shipped to Sterling Divinity Quadrangle for the
55th anniversary gathering of the Class of ’52, where he consulted with Dean
Attridge about the quilt's future. Attridge recommended donating it to the Yale
University chaplaincy to enhance interfaith efforts. In a letter to Shorrock
acknowledging the gift, University Chaplain Sharon Kugler called the quilt a
"wonderful tool" for learning about different religious traditions.
Conference tackles immigration issues
The myriad problems associated with the volatile
issue of immigration to the United States are not confined within U.S. borders.
Immigration is intimately linked to the problems in home countries that often
force people to flee in hopes of a better life in the United States. That was
one of the major themes to emerge during a May 1-2 conference at Yale Divinity
School entitled "The Challenge of Immigration: Framing a New American
Conversation," which featured a number of leading thinkers and activists
on the topic -- including, among others, George Rupp ’67BD, president of the
International Rescue Committee. Rupp encouraged stepped-up U.S. foreign assistance
for capacity building in poorer countries. "We have to make investments in
the sending countries if the problems are going to be manageable," said
Rupp, a former president of both Columbia and Rice universities and former dean
of Harvard Divinity School. "More significant investments than we've been
making, but over a longer period of time, could make people do what they really
want to do -- they'd like to stay home."
Miroslav Volf to co-teach course with Tony Blair
Miroslav Volf, the Henry B. Wright Professor of
Theology at Yale Divinity School and director of the Yale Center for Faith and
Culture, will co-teach a course on faith and globalization with former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair during Yale's 2008 fall term, in a YDS/Yale School of
Management collaboration. Volf is a prolific author, and one of his books, Free
of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace, was selected as the Archbishop of
Canterbury's official Lenten study book for 2006. Volf has written of a
"malfunctioning of faith" that "gives inspiration and seeming
legitimacy to people's unconscionable deeds -- from acts of violence and terror
to complacency and inaction before situations of abuse and injustice."
School of Drama
James Bundy, Dean
www.yale.edu/drama
Center will encourage new works for theater
A $2.85 million gift from the Robina Foundation will
establish the Yale Center for New Theatre at the Drama School, which will
substantially increase the Yale Repertory Theatre's annual commissions of new
plays and musicals, facilitate playwrights' residencies at the school, and help
develop a curriculum in writing for musical theater at Yale. It will be
overseen by James Bundy, dean of the Yale School of Drama and artistic director
of the Yale Repertory Theatre, along with Jennifer Kiger, associate artistic
director and director of the Rep's new play program. "The Yale Center for
New Theatre will provide artists with the time and resources to create new
work, and build a larger community of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and
directors promoting professional training in every discipline of the
theater," Bundy said. The gift includes a $600,000 production fund to be
administered by the Yale Center for New Theatre, which will support other
not-for-profit theaters that produce world premiere or second productions of
plays commissioned by the Yale Rep through the center. The Robina Foundation is
a Minnesota-based grantmaking organization that seeks to positively impact
critical social issues by encouraging innovation and supporting transformative
projects of its institutional partners.
Alumni among Tony winners
School of Drama alumni were well represented in the
list of 2008 Tony award winners. Donald Holder ’86MFA won the Tony for best
lighting design of a musical (South Pacific). Michael Yeargan ’73MFA, resident
set designer at the Rep and a member of the faculty in the design department,
won for outstanding scenic design of a musical for South Pacific. (Yeargan won a 2005 Tony in the
same category.) Catherine Zuber ’84CDR took home the Tony for best costume design in a musical
(South Pacific) ;
and director Anna D. Shapiro ’93MFA received a Tony for her work on the
Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County. Other Yale nominations included
Scott Pask ’97MFA for best scenic design of a play; Todd Rosenthal ’93MFA for
set design; and Donald Holder for lighting design of a play. The 62nd annual
Tony Awards were presented in New York on June 15.
School of Engineering & Applied Science
T. Kyle Vanderlick, Dean
www.eng.yale.edu
University creates School of Engineering &
Applied Science
Dean Kyle Vanderlick writes: "It is with
tremendous pride that I provide the School of Engineering & Applied
Science's inaugural contribution to the School Notes supplement in the Yale
Alumni Magazine.
"Yale's new School of Engineering & Applied
Science (SEAS), announced this past April, houses four engineering departments
(biomedical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical), as well as the Department
of Applied Physics. [See "Yale engineering gets a promotion" for the Yale Alumni Magazine report.] The school remains an
integral and seamless part of Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts
& Sciences, which will continue to award undergraduate and graduate
degrees, respectively, in engineering. Engineering will continue to attract
students from the outstanding class of talented students admitted to Yale
College each year.
"Of course, engineering has deep, proud, and
continuous roots at Yale dating back to the Yale (Sheffield) Scientific School
established in 1852. As Yale transformed over the years, so did the
configuration of engineering, which first stood as a School of Engineering in
1932. The reestablishment of the School of Engineering & Applied Science
represents the crescendo of President Levin's 14-year efforts to enhance Yale's
excellence in science and engineering.
"To assure our future as a leading school of
engineering and applied science, the faculty will be grown by more than ten
percent and a new engineering building will be constructed on Hillhouse Avenue.
Additionally, our school status will allow us to collectively develop
innovative curricula for both majors and non-majors; to better provide a
culture of engineering for our students; to grow faculty along strategic research
directions; and to create synergistic partnerships with the many professional
schools of Yale. Our status as a school will also cement the integral role of
engineering in a complete liberal arts education. I hope you will follow our progress
and look for our news and accomplishments in future issues."
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
James Gustave Speth, Dean
www.environment.yale.edu
Chemistry professor honored
The Council of Scientific Society Presidents has
honored chemistry professor Paul Anastas with a Leadership in Science Award for
his role in founding the field of "green chemistry." Anastas, known
as the "father of green chemistry," has worked to develop the field
for over 17 years. He has published nine books and numerous papers on the
subject of science and technology for sustainability, and has received several
awards, including the John Jeyes Medal from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the
H. John Heinz III Award for the Environment, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Joseph Seifter Award -- its highest scientific recognition.
Anastas is also the director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green
Engineering at Yale, whose mission is to advance the science, education, and
implementation of sustainable technologies. His research is focused on the
design of safer chemicals, bio-based polymers, and new methodologies of
chemical synthesis that are more efficient and less hazardous.
Green chemistry, also known as sustainable chemistry,
refers to environmentally friendly chemicals and processes that result in
reduced waste, safer products, and reduced use of energy and resources -- all
improving the competitiveness of chemical manufacturers and their customers.
The Council of Scientific Society Presidents is composed of presidents,
presidents-elect and recent past presidents from about 60 scientific
federations and societies whose combined membership numbers well over 1.4
million scientists and science educators.
Book examines clash of capitalism and the environment
A book by the dean of F&ES argues that the
environment will continue to deteriorate so long as capitalism continues to be
the modern world's economic engine. The Bridge at the Edge of the World:
Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, by Gus Speth ’64, ’67LLB,
describes a non-socialist alternative to capitalism, which includes moving to a
post-growth society and environmentally honest prices, curbing consumerism with
a new ethic of sufficiency, rolling back growing corporate control of American
political life, and addressing the enormous economic insecurity of the average
person.
Speth writes that Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the
dollar value of all goods and services produced by the economy, is a poor gauge
of human well-being or welfare. The book cites studies showing that throughout
the entire period following World War II, as incomes skyrocketed in the United
States and other advanced economies, reported life satisfaction and happiness
levels stagnated or even declined slightly.
Seeing an "emerging environmental tragedy of
unprecedented proportions," Speth has concluded that "today's
environmentalism has not been succeeding." The co-founder of the Natural
Resources Defense Council and former White House adviser calls on environmentalists
to "step outside the system and develop a deeper critique of what is going
on."
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