town-gown ties
Twelve individuals were honored for their work strengthening town-gown unity at the annual Elm Ivy Awards ceremony on May 2 in Woolsey Hall.
President Richard C. Levin and New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. presented the awards, which were established at Yale in 1979 by Fenmore Seton, Yale Class of 1938, and his wife, Phyllis. The awards evolved from the Elm and Ivy Fund, also created by the Setons, which identifies and honors individuals from New Haven and Yale whose work enhances understanding and cooperation between the two. The award derives its name from the fact that New Haven is nicknamed the "Elm City," and Yale is an "Ivy League" university.
Elm Awards are given to adults in the New Haven community. Ivy Awards are given to Yale staff, faculty and students.
This year's honorees are:
Gerald Clark, president of the Greater New Haven Business and Professional Association, the city's oldest African-American professional association. A longtime leader in the Dixwell neighborhood, Clark heads a center that provides small and minority-owned businesses with training, education and support. He has helped build bridges between the Dixwell neighborhood and the Yale community and to champion minority participation in economic development along the Dixwell Avenue corridor.
Claire Criscuolo, founder and owner of Claire's Corner Copia and longtime civic activist. With her husband Frank, Criscuolo operates the longest-running, family-owned vegetarian restaurant in the nation. Criscuolo also shares her talents with organizations devoted to young people and health care; has been a catalyst for New Haven's growing organic food movement; and has sponsored numerous Yale student organizations with donations of food and advertisement.
Daniel Diaz, founder of Arte Inc., and former president of the board of Junta for Progressive Action. Diaz helped turn Junta into a revitalized center that serves thousands each year and has created partnerships with students and staff from Yale, including the Peabody Museum's annual Fiesta Latina. With pro bono help from the Law School, Diaz and his partner David Greco founded the non-profit Arte Inc., which uses art to bridge cultural divides.
Sean Glass '03, Miles Lasater '01 and Mark Volchek '00, founders of Higher One and the Yale Entrepreneurial Society (YES). The three were still students when they founded Higher One, a company that provides banking and financial services to students and universities. It now employs 41 people in New Haven and serves over 100,000 students at 21 universities. As students, they also founded YES, which awards seed money to support startups, many of which set up headquarters in New Haven.
Doris Dumas, clinical practice specialist in the Department of Anesthesiology. A Yale employee for 10 years, Dumas is an officer of the Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP, the largest branch of the civil rights organization in New England. She also helps connect Yale and the broader community. This year, she helped organize the Martin Luther King Celebration at the Wexler Grant School and worked with the Peabody Museum to support Yale's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
Victoria Nolan, managing director of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the School of Drama. During her 12 years at Yale, Nolan has overseen the creation of such community outreach initiatives as the Dwight-Edgewood Project, in which drama students and neighborhood young people collaborate on theatrical endeavors; and the WillPower program, which introduces schoolchildren to Shakespeare's works. She is also a leader of the Arts Industry Coalition, which unites city arts institutions.
Ainissa Ramirez, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Cited as one of the world's top 100 young innovators by Technology Review magazine, Ramirez is a staunch advocate for improving the quality of science education and is dedicated to changing the public's understanding of science by finding ways to get lay audiences excited about science. This year, she established a program called Science Saturdays, which offers lectures by Yale researchers designed for the general public.
Thomas Whitaker, professor emeritus of English and the Frederick W. Hilles Professor Emeritus of Theater Studies. For the past 25 years, Whitaker has been an active participant in the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, in which University faculty help city schoolteachers develop curriculum units and hone their teaching skills. He has led 13 seminars and, as a member and co-chair of the institute's advisory council and executive committee, helped recruit other Yale faculty as seminar leaders. He also serves on the editorial board of the institute's national journal On Common Ground.
Jonathan Farmer, Class of 2005, director of the Ulysses S. Grant Program. Farmer has spent the last two summers working in New Haven on behalf of the city's youth. As a President's Public Service Fellow, he designed and implemented children's programs at the New Haven Reads Free Community Book Bank. Last summer, he served as director of the U.S. Grant Program, in which Yale undergraduates help city students acquire the academic preparation and skills they will need to enter and succeed in college.
Baolu Lan, Class of 2006, tutor and student coordinator of America Reads. Lan is a native of China whose family imigrated to the United States when she was six years old. During her first semester as a Yale freshman, she became a tutor for America Reads, a program in which students from the University serve as literacy tutors in the New Haven Public Schools. At the end of that year, she was hired as the program's youngest co-coordinator. She served in that role for the past two years and will continue next year.
T H I S
Elm Awards
Ivy Awards
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Team creates blood test for 'silent killer'
University marks 100 years of 'Pomp and Circumstance'
Yale scientist featured in new stamp series
Twelve honored for strengthening town-gown ties
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPSTwo appointed to Sterling chairs
R. Howard Bloch: French and Medieval Studies
Ian Shapiro: Political science and YCIASRomano named Ruebhausen Professor
Waxman is appointed to Flaherty chair
Dr. State has been designated Harris Assistant Professor . . .
Krauss named to second term at Silliman
Researchers discover virus' potential to target and kill deadly brain tumor
Yale professors endow teaching and research fund in the history of science
Study shows, when it comes to fish genitalia, size has pros and cons
Two Yale scientists honored with election to the NAS
Six Yale affiliates elected fellows of scholarly society
Beijing conference explored Chinese constitutionalism
New scholarship will help nurture future activist ministers
Yale-IBM computer facility formally dedicated
REUNIONSAlumni will gather for talks, tours and other special events
Library exhibit celebrates the accomplishments of the Class of '55
Medical school reunions feature talks on cutting-edge research
Yale launches research on lung cancer . . .
Workshop will explore technology's power to capture . . .
Show features artist's colorful depictions of 'Northern Shores'
Glen Micalizio wins Beckman Young Investigator award . . .
IN MEMORIAMBenjamin Mordecai: Drama school teacher and Broadway producer
Memorial service to honor South African historian Leonard Thompson
Campus Notes
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