Tag Archive: Academics

  1. Two science professors receive tenure

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    A committee voted to grant tenure to two science professors Thursday afternoon, bringing the total number of tenure appointments this year to nine. Eight of these have been in the sciences or social sciences.

    Richard Yang (left), an associate professor of computer science, and Jun Korenaga (right), an associate professor of geology and geophysics, received tenure at a meeting of the Board of Permanent Officers, a body composed of the full professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Korenaga became a full professor, while Yang will retain his title of associate professor.

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  2. Building volcanoes to save a lecturer

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    Students gathered on Cross Campus yesterday to show support for a chemistry lecturer who is about to lose her job.

    Above, Blessing Aghaulor ’12 signs a petition asking that the lecturer, Iona Black, remain employed by the University. Meanwhile, Leon Noel ’10 pours baking soda into a homemade-volcano, while Travis Long ’10 looks on.

    Long said Black told him several weeks ago that she would be let go as of June 30, because, as Long recalled her saying, her impact on campus was not sufficient.

    “Yale without her would be a darker place,” Noel said.

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  3. Bass Library to open 24 hours this weekend

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    Yalies who prefer the underground to their college libraries will once again have the opportunity to hole up in Bass Library for a solid 65 hours as exams approach, as the Yale University Library announced today that Bass will remain open from 10 a.m. on Saturday to 3 a.m. Tuesday.

    Associate University Librarian Danuta Nitecki said that the 24-hour schedule is once again “an experiment” and that the library will revisit the issue again next year to determine whether to make it an annual event. The Bass Library first offered 24-hour access during exams last spring but Nitecki said that reports of students bringing food, tents and even alcohol into the library caused concern among administrators.

    Beyond student behavior, however, Nitecki said that finding custodial staff and security to work through the night can prove difficult, and in a time of tightening budgets, securing funding to pay staff for overtime was a challenge leading up to this year’s exam period.

  4. Thirteen seniors win Fulbrights

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    Thirteen Yale seniors have been offered Fulbright Scholarships this year, the Office of Fellowship Programs announced today.

    The Fulbright is the largest American program of its kind offering opportunities to study, research and teach abroad.  At this time last year, 11 Yalies had been awarded Fulbright Scholarships.

    This year’s winners will travel to 10 different countries. Decisions from Egypt, Syria and Macau are still pending, said Director of Fellowship Programs Linda DeLaurentis.

    Full list of winners after the jump.

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  5. Your newest 2 a.m. coffee fix

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    Good news for overworked, overstressed, undercaffeinated Elis: Blue State Coffee on Wall Street will keep its doors open 24 hours per day during reading week, according to the store’s co-owner, Andrew Ruben ’11.  (Click here for a News video report about the coffee shop’s opening earlier this semester.)

    Blue State will not close its doors Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and instead remain open overnight, Ruben said.  Full operating schedule after the jump.

    No word yet on whether the Bass Library will remain open on a 24/7 basis.  The Web site for the Yale University Library still says that extra operating hours during reading week and exams are still to be determined.

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  6. Fadiman 1, Kindle 0

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    Anne Fadiman, Yale’s Francis writer in residence, loves books.

    One of her two published essay collections, “Ex Libris” (Latin: from books), includes advice on the handling of books: Read them in bed, write in their margins, and, yes, feel free to let crumbs wander between their pages. On the back cover of “Ex Libris,” Fadiman declares that she “once found herself poring over a 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in her apartment that she had not read at least twice.”

    But, judging by Fadiman’s comments in a New York Times article today, she is not a fan of the Amazon Kindle, which the company calls a “wireless reading device.”

    “There’s a little box on Amazon that reads ‘Tell the publisher I’d like to read this book on Kindle,’ ” Fadiman told The Times. “I hope no one tells the publisher.”

    (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  7. Putting a price on Larry Summers

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    Maybe you’ve wondered: How much would it cost to bring in a former Harvard president to give a big-time guest lecture in SSS 114?

    Now we have an answer: $10,000, according to financial records released by the White House earlier this month.

    Former Harvard President and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who is now President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, collected more than $2.7 million in speaking fees from investment banking firms (including $35,000 from Merrill Lynch and $135,000 from Goldman Sachs), universities and other organizations since leaving Harvard, according to the White House documents.

    And one of these universities was Yale, where Summers presented two talks as part of the Arthur M. Okun Lecture Series in April 2008 for the comparatively small honorarium of $10,000.  (You can watch them here and here.)

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  8. Your worst senior essay nightmare

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    If writing a senior essay weren’t stressful enough, for Andrew Delman ’09, the situation just got worse.

    A geology and geophysics major in Pierson College, Delman believes he lost his external hard drive at around 11:30 p.m. Monday night in Connecticut Hall. The black Seagate FreeAgent drive contains the most updated version of his thesis, including many of the figures, images and maps necessary for his presentation, which focuses on modeling coastal erosion.

    Most of the data saved on the drive is otherwise unrecoverable unless he finds the device. While the final project is due April 29, a draft is due this week.

    “Turning in a draft is going to be impossible unless I find the drive,” Delman said, adding that even making the final deadline is going to be a struggle. “I don’t know. If I work day and night it may be done in time.”

    If you have any information on the whereabouts of the hard drive, Delman can be reached at andrew.delman@yale.edu.

  9. Shingate con artist back on the streets

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    Another day, another development in the strange saga of Shin Jeong-ah, the disgraced Korean art curator who was convicted of forging a doctorate from Yale. The 37-year-old Shin was granted bail and released from prison today after about 18 months behind bars (the paparazzi were waiting for her and snapped the picture above). Reports the Korea Times:

    A Seoul court said that there was no particular reason to reject the grant of bail to her, and she will face a fresh trial on April 23 after the country’s top court ordered a lower court to review the case.

    Bombarded with questions from reporters, Shin, wearing a cap and with her head down, did not make any comment and got in a Lexus sedan and was driven away.

    (Not up-to-date on Shingate?  Read our exhaustive coverage of Shin’s downfall, her trial and the $50 million lawsuit filed by her former employer, Dongguk University, against Yale, which at one point mistakenly indicated that Shin had actually gone to Yale.)

  11. Professor Blair readies for his return

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    Tony Blair leaves the Yale Law School after teaching his seminar in October. (Eva Galvan/Staff Photographer)

    Yale will begin accepting applications on Wednesday for the fall “Faith & Globalization” seminar to be co-taught by Divinity School professor Miroslav Volf and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to a University official. Competition for the 25 spots in their seminar this fall was fierce, as hundreds of students from Yale College and the graduate and professional schools vied for admission.