Yale Bulletin and Calendar

May 26, 2000Volume 28, Number 33



Sophie Sing Shao was one of the five students who were awarded prizes for superior academic work this year.



Scholastic Prizes

Five students were awarded prizes for superior academic work this year.

Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead presented the honors during Senior Class Day exercises on May 21. The award-winning students carried special banners during the Commencement procession. Their award citations follow.

Paul Buettner Berry

The Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize

The Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize for the senior majoring in the humanities who ranks highest in scholarship is awarded this year to Paul Buettner Berry of Calhoun College.

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the beginning of his senior year, Paul Buettner Berry has accumulated 31 grades of straight A, earned distinction in both the Music and Humanities majors, and graduates summa cum laude.

Mr. Berry has been described as a natural musician and brilliant vocalist, as well as an intellectual with a seemingly limitless ability to absorb and synthesize ideas. A technically superb tenor soloist of both classical and popular choral repertoires, he has performed with virtually every notable choral ensemble in the area. Paul has put his talents as a conductor and music administrator to the service of the Yale Bach Society and the Boys' Choir at the Church of the Redeemer. His teachers uniformly characterize him as one of the best students they have ever taught -- "a true Renaissance person: the liberal arts student of whom we all dream."

In recognition of his combined qualities of sophisticated intellectual acuity and rare musical craft, originality, and intuition, Yale College is proud to award the Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize this year to Paul Buettner Berry.


Michael Leo Frazer

The Arthur Twining Hadley Prize

The Arthur Twining Hadley Prize, which honors the memory of the man who served as President of Yale from 1899 to 1921, is awarded annually to the senior in Yale College majoring in the social sciences who ranks highest in scholarship. This year the Hadley Prize is awarded to Michael Leo Frazer of Davenport College.

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, Michael Leo Frazer has completed his degree with four grades of A- and 33 grades of straight A. As you might expect, he has earned Distinction in the Ethics, Politics, and Economics major, and graduates summa cum laude.

Coming to Yale from New York City, Michael Frazer is widely respected for his elegant mind and sharp wit. An editor and published essayist, Michael has won numerous prizes in public speaking and debate and has also been honored with the C. Wyllis Betts and John H. Curtis Prizes for Literary Criticism and the E. Frances Riggs Award for Excellence in Special Programs in the Humanities.

Michael has served as both chair and secretary of the Independent Party of the Yale Political Union. As he leaves Yale, Michael is on his way to becoming a doctoral candidate in political philosophy.

We are grateful for the effort that Michael Frazer has made to uphold Yale's trademark of excellence, and proud to bestow on him the Arthur Twining Hadley Prize for 2000.


Samuel Sze Ming Ieong

The Russell Henry Chittenden Prize

The Russell Henry Chittenden Prize is awarded annually to that senior in Yale College majoring in the natural sciences or in mathematics who ranks highest in scholarship. This year's prize is awarded to Samuel Sze Ming Ieong of Branford College.

Mr. Ieong graduates summa cum laude, with a combined bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science, having earned Distinction in both this major and the Economics major. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the beginning of his senior year, he has completed 43 course credits at Yale, 40 of them with grades of straight A.

His academic work makes use of both his extraordinary analytic gifts and his equally magnanimous humanistic urges. His senior project in Computer Science provided elegant mathematical solutions to the thorny problems produced by the presence of complicated pairing configurations in RNA known as pseudoknots.

Mr. Ieong has served on the Department of Computer Science's student advisory committee for the past two years, and has been a late- night tutoring resource since his arrival as a freshman. In Branford College he is known for his unerring instincts in bridge, his championship ping pong play, and ever-present humor and warmth.

In recognition of his prodigious intellectual gifts and generous humanity, Yale College is proud to bestow the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize this year upon Samuel Ieong.


Sophie Sing Shao

The Louis Sudler Prize

The Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Arts is awarded this year to Sophie Sing Shao of Davenport College, for outstanding accomplishments in the creative and performing arts.

Sophie Sing Shao is a cellist of international renown who has made significant contributions to the arts here at Yale. Her recitals and symphonic performances reflect an extraordinary purity and beauty of cello sound, fluid and lyrical phrasing, clean intonation, and a thorough understanding of style.

In her four years at Yale, Ms. Shao has amassed a substantial body of work that is as distinguished for its variety as for the quality of its content. Her performances have included concerti with the Yale, Cayuga and Houston Symphony Orchestras, acclaimed cello recitals at Yale and in such distinguished venues as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and New York City's Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, Merkin, and Carnegie Halls, and chamber music with colleagues at Yale, the Lincoln Center Chamber Players II, and such notable musicians as Midori, David Shifrin, and André Previn. Her fellow musicians and critics at the highest level have recognized and extolled her special talents and remarkable artistry.

For her truly extraordinary achievements in music, Yale College is proud to award Sophie Sing Shao the Louis Sudler Prize for excellence in the arts.


Brian Normand Lizotte

The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize

The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize is awarded to that "senior who, through the combination of intellectual achievement, character, and personality, shall be adjudged by the faculty to have done the most for Yale by inspiring in his or her classmates an admiration and love for the best traditions of high scholarship." This year the Snow Prize is awarded to Brian Normand Lizotte of Morse College.

Brian Normand Lizotte was elected to Phi Beta Kappa at the beginning of his senior year. In earning the combined bachelor's and master's degree in Psychology, he has completed 40 credits, including 35 grades of A and 3 of A-, and is graduating summa cum laude with Distinction in the major.

One of his professors has described him as "the most intelligent, talented and enthusiastic undergraduate" who has worked in his lab in 14 years. Brian has excelled in his graduate-level courses ranging from Data Analysis to Childhood Development.

Brian began his freshman year with the kind of energy he has sustained throughout his Yale career, committing himself both to his studies and his passion for children's theater. In his time here he has performed with the Yale Children's Theater and served on its Executive Board. He has led workshops in acting and writing in various New Haven elementary schools, and this year he directed an original musical adaptation of "James and the Giant Peach." The result was impressive and enchanting, and revealed a distinct understanding of what appeals to children.

Next year Brian will teach high school mathematics and psychology at the Groton School in Massachusetts and plans to continue his work with children in the classroom and in the theater.

In recognition of his remarkable academic record and in celebration of his many talents, Yale College takes great pleasure in conferring the Alpheus Henry Snow Prize upon Brian Normand Lizotte.


C O M M E N C E M E N T2 0 0 0

Introduction

Baccalaureate Address

Honorary Degrees

Senior Class Day

Teaching Prizes

Scholastic Prizes

Roosevelt L. Thompson Prize

Athletic Awards

David Everett Chantler Prize

Other Student Awards and Honors

Wilbur Cross Medals


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

Yale celebrates 299th Commencement

Fellowship winners to pursue summer study across the globe

Yale helps the new 'Amistad' set sail on its educational mission

Festival Time: Celebrations of art, music and culture at Yale, city sites

Environmental leaders to join school's faculty

Conservation leaders named McCluskey Fellows

Alumni return to campus to celebrate reunions

Researcher links unexplained car accidents and heart irregularities

Center's family celebration will mark Cancer Survivors Day

Family Festival to celebrate Yale Art Gallery exhibitions

Students will teach in China, Hong Kong

Movie theaters 'pitch in' to raise funds for Yale pediatric programs

Edmund Gordon is honored for his achievements

'Feminist humor maven' will speak at campaign school

Symposium will pay tribute to Dr. Marvin Sears

Fair will highlight continuing education

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