Comcast to Broadcast Popular Yale Talks

Recent talks at Yale University by renowned surgeon and Yale trustee Dr. Ben Carson and Mel Martinez, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, will be broadcast this week on Comcast.

Carson’s talk will air on Wednesday, April 24 at 10 p.m. and be rebroadcast in that time slot for several weeks. Martinez’s talk will air Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. and also be rebroadcast in that time slot for several weeks. Both talks will be broadcast on Comcast Channel 28, which is Citizen’s Television. Comcast serves New Haven, Hamden and West Haven.

Carson was at Yale recently to speak to several thousand schoolchildren and their families in Woolsey Hall. The students heard the inspiring story of how Carson rose from urban poverty and disadvantage to become the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Carson told the students that a turning point in his life came when his mother made him read two books a week and write book reports about them. A 1973 graduate of Yale College who was elected to Yale’s board of trustees in 1997, Carson also told the students the gripping story of a 29-hour operation he performed in South Africa to separate twins joined at the head.

Martinez, who spoke recently at Luce Hall, recalled how he and 14,000 other children fled to America as part of a Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Pedro Pan in 1962. Catholic charitable groups provided Martinez, who was alone and spoke virtually no English, a temporary home at two youth facilities. He was reunited with his family in Orlando in 1966. Martinez graduated from Florida State University College of Law in 1973. During his 25 years of law practice in Orlando, he was actively involved in community activities. He served as vice president of the Board of Catholic Charities of the Orlando Diocese and has a deep appreciation for the work of faith-based social service agencies going back to his arrival in America almost 40 years ago.