The Shades of Yale, an a cappella group devoted to songs of the African diaspora, closes every concert with a medley arrangement of the traditional spirituals “Amen” and “We Shall Overcome.” Alumni who are in the audience join in the song, particularly...
New York Times assistant managing editor Monica Drake ’94 B.A. made history in 2018 when she became the first black woman on the paper’s masthead. She had joined the paper in 1998 as an intern, later becoming a copy editor, Culture Desk writer, and senior...
When Jesse Washington ’92 B.A. was a student at Yale in the late 1980s, he witnessed African-American men ascending to new positions of power in sports.
Among them was John Thompson Jr., coach of Georgetown University’s basketball team, the first African-...
Mina Kimes ’07 B.A. never intended to become a sports commentator, but always considered herself a fan. By default she rooted for her dad’s favorite teams — the Seahawks and Supersonics — and eventually developed into a full-fledged fan, even getting an “...
How do we respond when something terrible happens? For actor Obi Ndefo ’94 B.A., ’97 M.F.A., the answer was: “Grab onto whatever I can.”
Last August, Ndefo, known best for playing Bodie Wells on the TV drama “Dawson’s Creek” and Jaffa rebel Rak'nor on “...
When Demi Knight Clark decided to launch She Built This City, a social venture that aims to create pathways for women into manufacturing and construction careers, the cause was personal.
She’d been working for 20 years in executive leadership roles in...
It’s been several weeks since Kim Hershman ’88 B.A., ’92 J.D. first learned the story of Shawn Pleasants ’89 B.A., a Yale alumnus living homeless on the streets of Los Angeles, and took action.
At first, Hershman was moved to tears by the story on CNN...
Yale Athletics Director Vicky Chun said leading a panel with Lisa Brummel ’81 B.A. and Virginia “Ginny” Gilder ’80 B.A. — co-owners of the WNBA team the Seattle Storm — was like “being a chocolate lover and getting to meet Willy Wonka,” she told the...
President Peter Salovey ’86 Ph.D. opened the Nov. 21 Dean’s Panel on Leadership at the Alumni Assembly in Sprague Hall by acknowledging Yale’s role in cultivating leaders and stating that such leaders have never been more necessary. “The world needs...
While she was growing up in Los Angeles, Marina Marmolejo ’19 M.P.H. says the problem of homelessness seemed too big to address in a meaningful way. But when she came to New Haven to attend Yale School of Public Health and began working with local...