Yale College Class of 2018

A few weeks ago, Yale welcomed its next freshman class, the Yale College Class of 2018. Ten members of the Class of 2018 are the children of members of the Class of 1987. On of them is our son.

Being a Freshman at Yale in 2014 is a bit different than being a Freshman at Yale in 1983. It has been an interesting experience to see the Yale experience as a parent and hearing about our son's experience, which has thus far been very different from mine.

I knew things would be different when our son got his rooming information. Included in the information was the phone number for his suite. "What's that for?" he asked. Well, son, in olden times, phones were plugged into the wall. And, there was just one per suite. He seemed perplexed at that thought. They also don't have the need for white boards on the door. If you want to leave a message, just text.

They also have a lot of meetings. Many, many meetings. Meetings about classes, meetings about scheduling, meetings about extracurricular activities, meetings about sex, meetings about drugs, meetings about not being too stressed. Lots of meetings. After a few weeks, the meetings seem to end. I don't remember so many meetings.

Our son has also tackled things I only looked at from the outside. He is in the Glee Club and a singing group -- both very different in experience and expectation than anything I did 25 years ago.

The happiest thing for us so far was going to his first concert, an unbelievable performance of Mahler's Resurrection. I didn't know much about classical music before our son got into it. The music was breathtaking. What was more moving, though, was seeing our son singing. He was with his people -- people who love music as he does, who work at it like he does, and who welcomed our son into their world.

I will report on the experience of a Yale parent from time to time. Would love to hear the reactions of others.

Yale College Class of 1987 Continues its March Towards World Domination

New deans to lead Yale College, the Graduate School, and (for the first time) the FAS

May 21, 2014

From left, Tamar Gendler, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; President Peter Salovey; Jonathan Holloway, dean of Yale College; and Lynn Cooley, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. (Photo by Michael Marsland)

The first incumbent of a newly created deanship to lead the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the newly appointed deans of the Graduate School and Yale College were announced by President Peter Salovey on May 21.

Tamar Gendler has been named the inaugural dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Lynn Cooley will be the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and Jonathan Holloway will serve as the dean of Yale College. Their appointments are effective July 1.

“With the creation of a dean for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the deans of the Graduate School and Yale College will be able to focus more attention on the quality of graduate and undergraduate education, respectively, including academic curriculum and student life,” said Salovey in an email about the appointments.

“Faculty recruitment, appointment, tenure, and promotion will be handled primarily by the dean of FAS. The dean of Yale College will have a key role in leading the expansion of Yale College and the formation of two new residential colleges. The dean of the Graduate School will continue to advance graduate student preparation for scholarly and other professions, as well as focus on the campus experience for graduate students,” the President explained.

Profiles of the three new deans follow:

Tamar Gendler

Tamar Gendler

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Tamar Szabó Gendler is the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy, professor of psychology and cognitive science, and deputy provost for humanities and initiatives.

She received her B.A. in humanities and mathematics and philosophy from Yale College in 1987 and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard in 1996. After a decade teaching first at Syracuse University and then at Cornell University, she returned to Yale as a professor of philosophy and as chair of the Cognitive Science Program. In 2010, she became chair of the Department of Philosophy.

Her work lies at the intersection of philosophy and psychology, and she is the author of “Thought Experiments” (2000) and “Intuition, Imagination and Philosophical Methodology” (2010), and editor or co-editor of “Conceivability and Possibility” (2002), “Perceptual Experience” (2006), “The Elements of Philosophy” (2008), and “The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology” (forthcoming).

Gendler has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship Program in the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies/Ryskamp Fellowship Program, the Collegium Budapest Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Directions Program. In 2013, she was awarded Yale College’s Sidonie Miskimin Clauss ’75 Teaching Prize for Excellence in the Humanities.

Dinner theater can be a death sentence.

Actress Isobel Spice and her best friend Delphi Kramer are thrilled to finally have an opportunity to perform together, even if it’s just a cheesy interactive murder mystery at a judge’s lifetime achievement dinner. But when Isobel’s dramatic death scene is upstaged by a real murder and Delphi is left holding the still-smoking gun, Isobel drops the role of victim and assumes the role of detective. With the help of her precocious brother Percival and her reluctant temp agent James Cooke, Isobel peels back layers of deception to reveal a shocking abuse of power—and no shortage of suspects eager to deliver justice to a man who denied it to so many.