Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 23-30, 1999Volume 28, Number 1



While some Yale students were studying and working around the globe, others spent their summer in New Haven. Yale junior Allison Westfahl worked on a project to create a catalog of the Elm City's artistic luminaries. Sophomore Wayne Titus learned about the city's creative side while working for the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.



The world was a classroom for Yale students this summer

While they may have found ways to fit a little relaxation into their vacations, most Yale students did not spend the summer of 1999 reclining in the backyard hammock or lolling by the pool.

Many were busy gaining experience in their hoped-for professions or traveling for the sake of scholarship. Laboratories, corporations, law offices, news outlets and Wall Street firms teemed with ambitious Yalies this summer, while such far-away countries as Mongolia, Bolivia, Italy, Hungary and Botswana played host to adventurous Elis eager to push back the frontiers of knowledge.

Sandra Goodson at Undergraduate Career Services (UCS), a student services officer who helps facilitate student employment during and beyond the college years, notes that many major corporations recruit students for summer employment just as they do for regular long-term placement. Canon and Proctor & Gamble are the most active corporate recruiters on the Yale campus, she says, with J. Crew and the Washington Post also notable for providing students with career-track summer jobs.

Some Yale students found gainful employment overseas with the help of the British Universities of North America Club. "BUNAC helps get work permits for places like London and Ireland in everything from pubs to law firms," Goodson says.

Still others competed for posts in the nonprofit sector. Among the most sought-after placements, says Goodson, were with the Hole in the Wall Gang, the camp founded by Paul Newman for children with life-threatening illnesses; Exploration Summer, an agency that matches students with teaching positions in private school summer programs; and Wediko, a camp for youngsters with special needs.

A number of students were able to pursue special projects this summer with financial support from fellowships sponsored by Yale and other organizations, according to Linda DeLaurentis, whose province at UCS is summer fellowships. This year, for example, funds from the John Heinz Government Service Fellowships enabled Bailey Hand '00 of Morse College to undertake an internship with the U.S. Department of State in Moscow, and Mishaela Duran '00 of Branford College to teach juvenile offenders at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.

Other Yale students receiving fellowships this summer included Albert Chen '00 of Berkeley College, who had an editorial internship with Sports Illustrated, and Sarah Parcak '01 of Timothy Dwight College, who used her Dorot Foundation Travel Grant to participate in an archaeological dig at Tel Tanninim, Israel. On the lighter side, thanks to one of the summer fellowships awarded from the UCS office, Ramsi Woodcock '00 of Calhoun College spent his vacation in Japan studying the world of Japanese comics.

Even if they weren't breathing the archival dust of the Bibilioteca Nationale in Rome or sitting in front of a computer monitor at Smith Barney, some Yalies found imaginative and creative ways to spend their summers gainfully. The following is a look at just a few of those students.


Siddhartha Shukla '00 of Davenport College spent the summer surrounded by glamour while working in the Milan office of fashion designer Donna Karan.

This is the second summer Shukla is working for "DK." His persistence was instrumental in netting him the position. In the spring of his sophomore year he sent his c.v., a cover letter and a writing sample to several fashion houses. When that failed to elicit any response, he began calling the enterprises himself.

"The P.R. director of Donna Karan men's collection was amazed that a Yale student would want to spend a summer in a fashion house, and he offered me a position," says Shukla.

An anthropology and English major, Shukla turned out to be the only intern in the New York office that summer. His job included managing the collection closet and helping to organize fall fashion shows. An added bonus, he says, was his frequent contact with Donna Karan, the original.

Back at Yale, Shukla began an intensive course in Italian, with hopes of netting a second internship with DK in Milan. After overcoming the many hurdles raised by the Italian bureaucracy, Shukla landed another coveted DK stint this summer in the city he describes as "the global epicenter of fashion."


Inside the Stewart empire

If Milan is the scene of cutting-edge fashion in the garment industry, the offices of Martha Stewart Living, where Brian Neff '00 of Morse College worked this summer, is the equivalent in the world of home fashions.

The Martha Stewart empire includes a monthly magazine, a bridal quarterly, a daily television show, a radio segment, a syndicated newspaper column, a line of books and a mail-order catalog business. Neff worked as a production assistant on the television show, with duties ranging from logistical planning and clerical work to editing footage and writing scripts.

"I am very interested in what goes into producing a television show and I am considering pursuing a career in this field," he says, "especially after having spent the summer there."


Teaching a culture about AIDS

Ari Shapiro '00 of Davenport College spent his summer far from the world of fashion runways and hand-stenciled wallpaper. Under a travel grant from Yale, Shapiro spent the summer in Israel taking part in an HIV education program for Ethiopian immigrants.

"Ethiopian experience doesn't allow for the notion of being 'asymptomatic,'" he notes, adding that part of the educational effort there involves convincing people who look and feel healthy that they might be harboring a deadly virus. This is particularly challenging, he notes, because of the stigma associated with HIV carriers, which is much greater than in most Western communities.

The educational program Shapiro was involved with also focused on ways of reducing the health risks posed by the Ethiopians' deeply rooted traditions. For example, because bloodletting is a common Ethiopian practice, he says, the program attempted to educate traditional healers about the risk of HIV contraction through improperly sterilized bloodletting tools.


An Elm City education

While some students were traveling around the globe, others found interesting and gainful summer employment right here in New Haven.

Wayne Titus '02 of Ezra Stiles College got a chance to learn about the arts scene in New Haven from the inside out while working as a Presidential Public Service Fellow at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. His responsibilities encompassed everything from helping with the annual International Festival of Arts and Ideas to working with regional/ cultural planner Nan Birdwhistle.

"It was great working in the trenches," beams Titus. "The experience has given me the opportunity to see New Haven. I've been to places I never even knew existed."


In search of Elm City luminaries

Allison Westfahl '01 of Trumbull College also worked on a project that put her in touch with New Haven artists.

The project, a catalog of artistic luminaries who have lived in New Haven over the past 50 years, is the brainchild of community leader and arts activist Cheever Tyler '59. This "gallery," as Tyler calls the illustrated directory, is meant to bolster community interest in the arts. "My job was to find out who these people are," says Westfahl. Ferreting out creative residents past and present was more difficult than she originally expected, she admits. While some, such as author Thornton Wilder, are well known, others are more difficult to identify, she says. In fact, just researching area architects alone took her the greater part of the summer.

Westfahl, who grew up on a farm in Haven, Kansas, and ran a "show sheep" breeding business as a high school student, is also a musician. Her summer experience has had a definite impact on her future plans. "I don't want to be a performer," she says. "Especially now that I'm doing research on artists."


'A raw editorial experience'

Although Mike Barbaro '02 of Davenport College knows New Haven well, having been raised in a nearby suburb, he learned a great deal more about the Elm City this summer while working as a reporter for the New Haven Register.

His journalistic post gave Barbaro a chance to cover a wide range of news events and meet citizens from every strata of society. "I got raw, editorial experience," he says, noting that, although he was given no editorial training, his stories frequently made the Register's front page.

More important, Barbaro says, the job gave him hands-on practice in the profession for which he feels such a passion, as well as an exciting way to spend a summer vacation.

-- By Dorie Baker


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

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Translating Shakespeare into sign language was a lesson in the art of communication

'Alternative' therapies not favored over conventional medical care, says survey

Robert Blocker to continue as dean of the School of Music

Mary E. Miller is new master of Saybrook College

Array of appointments announced at Graduate School

Emeritus Faculty

In the News

Women under 50 at greater risk of dying from heart attacks than are men

The world was a classroom for Yale students this summer

Center's creative use of computers aids medical research

Exhibits at Beinecke Library celebrate the pioneering spirit

Stanford-Yale forum will boost junior faculty's skills in legal scholarship

Psychopharmocologist Dr. Robert Byck dies; discovered properties of MSG, THC

Awards support research and outreach programs at Yale Cancer Center

Program on Nonprofit Organizations names new leaders

Hydrogeology expert joins School of Forestry

Yale Rep's coming season features broad spectrum of plays

Correction: Fourth scholar-athlete identified

Campus Notes


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