Who Cares What Happens to Bootprints on the Moon? | Michelle Hanlon | TEDxUniversityofMississippi

 Classmate Michelle Hanlon is a space lawyer, that is she specializes in the law of outer space.  

Listen to her recent, super-interesting Ted Talk:

Michael Barr nominated to be Vice Chair in Charge of Supervision of the Federal Reserve

 Classmate Michael Barr has been very busy -- most recently as a Professor at the University of Michigan.  He was just appointed to be Vice Chair of Supervision of the Federal Reserve, a huge job.

Congratulations!

Here is President Biden's announcement, after the break

Kevin Berlin -- new podcast episode

Kevin Berlin is a unique fixture in our class.  In this episode, he tells us about his signature top hat, his work as an artist and his creative response to COVID.

Listen to his podcast here:

Kevin Berlin is an international artist best known for painting, sculpture, and performance. Berlin currently lives in Southampton, New York and Florence, Italy. Berlin, a Yale University Alumnus, studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Shanghai Daily, The Miami Herald, USA Today, MTV, Tokyo Television, BBC Radio and over 40 television stations. Berlin's works are found in collections including Kim Basinger, Luciano Pavarotti, Bill and Hillary Clinton, President George W. Bush, Quincy Jones, Buzz Aldrin, Barton G., HRH Princesse Antonella de Orleans-Bourbon, and Pieter & Marieke Sanders.

For more about Kevin, visit: https://www.kevinberlin.com/

Also, please enjoy one of Kevin's recent videos:  https://youtu.be/BwhKV80vP4s

Here is some examples of Kevin's work:

Carrie Baker-- new podcast episode

 

Carrie's conversation was not what I had expected.  I had read her work and seen her photography, but I was not prepared for the very personal perspective Carrie shared in how she has traveled her path.  Listen.  You will hear about the Yale of the late 1980s, about sexism and misogyny, and about a resilient classmate who has taken on the ideas and people who have stood in her way.  I was inspired.

Carrie has her own website that highlights here work:  https://www.carriebakerphd.com/.  If you visit, don't skip the photography -- her images are very moving.

To listen to the podcase, click here:

Here's a bit about Carrie:

Carrie N. Baker lives, works and writes from Western Massachusetts.

Dr. Baker is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman Chair of American Studies and a Professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College and is a contributing editor at Ms. magazine.. She is an expert on women's rights law and policy, specializing in sexual harassment, sex trafficking, and reproductive rights and justice.

Dr. Baker has a BA (’87) in philosophy from Yale University, a JD (’94) from Emory University School of Law, and an MA (’94) and a Ph.D. (’01) from Emory University’s Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

At Smith College, Dr. Baker has been chair of the Program for the Study of Women and Gender and was a co-founder and former co-director of the Five College Certificate in Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. Baker is affiliated with the American Studies Program, the archives concentration, and the public policy minor.

She has published three books: The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Fighting the US Youth Sex Trade: Gender, Race and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2018), and co-authored Sexual Harassment Law: History, Cases, and Practice (Carolina Academic Press). Her first book was the winner of the National Women's Studies Association 2008 Sara A. Whaley book prize.

In addition, she writes regularly for Ms. magazine and has a monthly column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA). Baker is part of the Scholars Strategy Network, Women’s Media Center SheSource, and is the co-chair of the Ms. Committee of Scholars, which trains scholars to write for the popular media. 

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Yale Reunion Information

Class of 198735th Reunion

We are getting ready!  

Here is the link to the official Reunion website:  https://alumni.yale.edu/reunions/class-1987

MIT reinstates its SAT/ACT requirement

A lot has been written about standardized testing, with some hoping that the SAT/ACT will no longer be required for colleges.  Elite colleges made these tests optional during COVID.  The question is: will that last?  This is an academic question for some, but for those with children who will be applying to college soon, this is a very concrete issue.  

In the current environment, to submit or not submit test scores is a matter of strategy.  Accordingly to the College Board, only 43% of applicants submitted scores in the applications submitted for the first year college students who entered college in 2021.  More importantly, those submitting scores were not random.  As summarized in this Inside Higher Ed article, it looks like:

Reporting was "far higher … among applicants living in more affluent communities, as defined by local median household income in applicants’ local ZIP codes."

Reporting rates "were highest in several Southern and Midwestern states and lowest in several Northeastern and Western states."

Underrepresented minority students and first-generation students were less likely to report than were other students.

While test scores declined for all groups, "more selective member institutions, both public and private, more often received test scores with applications than did less selective colleges."

"Individual applicants sometimes employed different test score reporting strategies across their various applications," the report said. "Specifically, nearly one in four (24 percent) of applicants reported scores in some, but not all, of their applications (up from 4 percent last season)

Given this state of play, it is notable that MIT has announced that it will again require SAT/ACT scores of applicants.  I encourage you to read their entire post to understand their explanation, by clicking here.  

MIT has concluded that, after reviewing data that has not been publicly released, it can better ensure that its admitted students can handle the rigors of their demanding curriculum if they can look at test scores among other criteria.  

Here is a summary of what they had to say:

To briefly summarize a great deal of careful research:  

• our ability to accurately predict student academic success at MIT⁠02 
  is significantly improved by considering standardized testing — especially in mathematics — alongside other factors 
• some standardized exams besides the SAT/ACT can help us evaluate readiness, but access to these other exams is generally more socioeconomically restricted⁠03 relative to the SAT/ACT
• as a result, not having SATs/ACT scores to consider tends to raise socioeconomic barriers to demonstrating readiness for our education,⁠04 relative to having them, given these other inequalities

What do you think?  Should Yale follow MIT?  What does this say for the test-optional era?  Anything?

Margo Pave -- new podcast episode

Margo Pave has been a force since college, committed to justice and building the world in which she wants to live. Part of her journey has included becoming a single mother later in life. Listen in as Margo talks about the joys of raising children and the world she wants to leave them. You will leave the episode inspired and maybe a little exhausted.

 

Tom McNulty -- new podcast episode

 Classmate Tom McNulty had a winding path to the energy business, but has spent most of his life thinking about our nation's energy supply -- how it is used, where it comes from and what the future holds.  During the conversation, Tom kept talking about the climate change "debate," so I asked him what he meant by that.  I was surprised by his answer.  It was thought provoking and important.  Take a listen.  Bring an open mind.  And, think about how Tom's perspectives might inform our the class discussion about climate change and solutions to it.

Laura Ekstrand -- new podcast episode

Listen to Laura Ekstrand's take on things and you'll hear from a classmate who has built a creative community.  She was co-founder of Dreamcatcher Reparatory Theater (now, Vivid Stage) with Janet Sales in 1994. She has her own podcast, Local with Laura Ekstrand, and an impressive body of work, which you can read about on her website: https://www.lauraekstrand.com/

She has appeared at Dreamcatcher in Be Here Now, The Lucky Ones, What Stays; Sister Play; Rapture, Blister Burn; Motherhood Out Loud, and Shakespeare in Vegas, among many others, and is a member of The Flip Side improv comedy troupe. New Jersey Theatre: Bickford Theatre, Passage Theater, 12 Miles West, The Theater Project, Luna Stage, and the Pushcart Players. New York Theatre: Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and New Georges. Film: Fat Ass Zombies; Split Ends, High Art and I Shot Andy Warhol. Television: Hack, Sex And The City, Law & Order, and The Guiding Light. As a director: Dead and Buried, Every Brilliant Thing, The How and the Why, Things Being What They Are, Next Fall, Distracted, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Melancholy Play, Pride’s Crossing, Full Bloom and many others. Podcast directing: The Weirdness and Young Ben Franklin for Gen Z Media. As a playwright: What Stays (with Jason Szamreta), Whatever Will Be, The Neighborhood (Book and Lyrics; Music by Joe Zawila), Brink of Life (Book; Lyrics by Steve Harper; Music by Oliver Lake) and Astonishment, How to be Old: A Beginner’s Guide, and At Ninety-Three (Adaptations). Laura is a private monologue and public speaking coach and holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Laura is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild.