Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 15, 2002

Volume 30, Number 22

Two-Week Issue

Tali Farhadian

Daphna Renan

Julie Suk

Soros Fellowships for New Americans

Three Law School students -- Tali Farhadian, Daphna Renan and Julie Suk --have won 2002 Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellowships in a nationwide competition.

The fellowships support graduate study by naturalized citizens, resident aliens or the children of naturalized citizens. Soros Fellows annually receive a $20,000 maintenance stipend, plus half-tuition for up to two years of graduate study at any institution of higher learning in the United States. This year a total of 30 students nationwide were chosen from over 1,000 representing 141 countries of natural origin and hailing from 360 colleges and universities.

Farhadian, Suk and Renan bring the number of Soros Fellows at the Law School to nine.

"I am so proud of Tali, Daphna and Julie," said Yale Law School Dean Anthony T. Kronman. "They bring honor to themselves and to their Law School. Each of them embodies the values of the Soros Fellowship Program and will be, in her own distinctive way, a magnificent ambassador to the world at large on behalf of these values and the Soros Fellowship Program which sustains them."

Brief profiles on the winning students follow:

Tali Farimah Farhadian was born into an Iranian Jewish family in Tehran. In 1979, in the wake of the rise of the revolutionary regime, Farhadian -- then fours years old -- and her family fled to Israel. One year later they settled in Queens, New York, "because we heard that Queens was where immigrants went to live," recalls Farhadian. The family then settled in New Jersey. Graduating with distinction in the humanities from Yale in 1997, she attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, pursuing her master's and doctoral degrees in Oriental studies. Now in her second year at the Law School, Farhadian was the only student invited to speak at the Yale Tercentennial celebration in October. She is fluent in Persian, Hebrew and Arabic and is a member of Yale's Middle East Legal Studies Seminar. She intends to work in the areas of criminal and international law, with special interest in human rights and democracy in the Middle and Near East.

Julie Chi-hye Suk is also a second-year student at the Law School. She was born in Korea and came to the United States as a young child. She grew up in Queens, New York. She received her B.A. summa cum laude in English and French literature at Harvard University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year. She completed her M.Sc. in politics at Oxford University, where she held a Marshall Scholarship. She expects to complete her D.Phil. in 2002 on state recognition of racial and cultural minorities. She is now an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Upon graduation, she will clerk for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She anticipates a career in constitutional litigation and international human rights law.

Daphna Renan was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and came with her parents to live in Los Angeles, California. She received her B.A. in East Asian studies from Yale, where she graduated summa cum laude in 2000 with election to Phi Beta Kappa. She has twice been to China and received fellowships and a prize for her scholarship in the field. Completing her master's degree in international and comparative legal studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, she is now in her first year at the Law School, where her chief interest is in the confluence of international human rights and national civil rights issues.

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans was established in 1997 as a charitable trust of $50 million to assist immigrants and the children of immigrants in furthering their careers through graduate education. The donors, both new Americans themselves, created the trust in gratitude to the United States for the life they and their children have had. All told, 140 fellowships have been awarded.

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

Soros Fellowships for New Americans

American Academy of Arts and Letters Awards

Poll reveals how 'deliberative' discussion can shift public opinion

Men's basketball team concludes record-setting season

Nobel Prize-winning economist James Tobin dies at 84

In Focus: Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology

Silviculturalist Oliver named to Pinchot chair

Berkeley and Yale Divinity Schools renew their affiliation

Erikson and Timmons awarded DeVane Medals

Alumnus describes how engineers 'cook up' new products

Haller and Henrich reappointed as college masters

Levin visits with alumni across the nation and beyond

Exhibit documents volunteers' role in Spanish Civil War

Event explores role of faith, gender in fighting AIDS in Africa

Team develops rules for identifying unseen problems in elderly

Researcher's index assesses mortality risk for elderly patients

Drama School actors gang up for 'Serious Money'

Students' new adaptation of 'The Trial' takes to the stage

Work of architect on view in 'Zaha Hadid Laboratory'

Conference will examine the changing notions of beauty

Panel looks at ethical issues nurses face

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes