More than 100 Yalies joined the Yale Daily News during the fall 2021 semester. They reported on faculty research and calls for police reform, photographed football players and climate protesters, removed hundreds of Oxford commas on the copy desk and edited hours of podcast recordings. Today, they will begin producing content as staffers for the Oldest College Daily.
47 staff members will join the University, City, Scitech and Arts desks as associate beat reporters, delivering weekly stories on specific areas ranging from criminal justice to sustainability. Four reporters will cover Yale’s varsity teams on the sports desk; 11 will contribute creative writing, long-form journalism and commentary to WKND, the News’ Friday supplement; 23 will edit and write for the News’ magazine and five staffers will craft persuasive pieces for Opinion. Dozens more join the News’ multimedia and production desks as staff photographers, copy editors, illustrators, videographers, podcasters and members of the production and design team.
You’ll begin seeing our newest staffers’ work on our website and in print starting this week — but first, some introductions:
UNIVERSITY
Evan Gorelick will cover faculty and academics alongside beat reporter Isaac Yu. Gorelick and Yu will report on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senate, Yale’s various academic programs and major policies that impact faculty.
Alex Ye and Zach Morris will cover the endowment, Yale’s ongoing “For Humanity” capital campaign and major donations to the University.
William Porayouw will cover international affairs at Yale. Porayouw will report on the University’s global strategy, especially in light of the recent and controversial closure of Yale-NUS College, alongside diplomatic visits to Yale’s campus and study abroad programing.
Sarah Cook will cover Yale’s deans and vice presidents as well as explore Yale’s University-wide priorities and initiatives.
Alessia Degraeve will cover student culture. Degraeve will explore what is unique about the Yale student experience in 2022, from the student body’s political ideologies to social media trends.
Carter Dewees will cover the Yale College Council and student government. Dewees will report on YCC events and initiatives alongside the council’s spring elections.
Olivia Lombardo will cover campus politics, including political developments on campus, the Yale Political Union, political speaker events and student activism.
Yeji Kim and Michael Paz will cover the Asian American Cultural Center, the Native American Cultural Center and La Casa Cultural. Kim and Paz will report on events, initiatives and activism within the three houses.
Anika Seth will cover STEM at Yale. Seth will explore the capital campaign’s focus on the sciences, as well as any initiatives developing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Isabel Maney will cover sustainability on campus. Maney will report on the University’s three-pronged sustainability plan and investigate Yale’s progress toward its environmental goals.
Paloma Vigil will cover religious communities. Vigil’s coverage will include a variety of religious organizations on campus, including the Chaplain’s Office, the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, the Muslim Student Association and Saint Thomas Moore Church.
Lucas Gimbel will cover alumni affairs. Gimbel will report on the Yale Alumni Association alongside major accomplishments and controversies among University alumni.
Tigerlily Hopson will cover diversity and inclusion at Yale. Hopson will track efforts to improve equity and inclusion within Yale’s faculty and student groups, focusing on gender, sexuality, race and class.
Caroline Chen will cover Dwight Hall. Chen will cover Yalies participating in service both on and off campus, as well as community service oriented events and initiatives at Yale.
Gavin Guerrette will cover faculty scholarship and breakthroughs. Guerrette will focus on research among Yale’s faculty outside of STEM.
Michael Ndubisi will cover accessibility at Yale. Nbudisi will track efforts to improve accessibility on campus, as well as general advocacy initiatives for those with disabilities among students and the Student Accessibility Services department.
CITY
Khuan-Yu Hall will cover local businesses, unions and the economy. Hall will report on the opening and closure of local establishments, the fiscal state of New Haven and business policy.
Brian Zhang and Nathaniel Rosenberg will cover housing and homelessness. Zhang and Rosenberg will examine new housing developments, urban development, zoning and affordable housing policy and the city’s efforts to mitigate homelessness.
Keenan Miller will cover transportation. Miller will report on local infrastructure developments, conversations surrounding traffic safety and the expansion of Tweed-New Haven Airport.
Rachel Shin will cover nonprofits and social services. Shin will explore local organizations working to provide essential services across the city, from food banks to employment centers.
Hannah Qu and Sophie Sonnenfeld will cover Cops and Courts. Qu and Sonnenfeld’s coverage will include the New Haven Police Department’s search for stable leadership and calls for the abolition of the Yale Police Department.
Sadie Bograd will cover City Hall. Bograd will join beat reporter Sylvan Lebrun as the two chronicle Mayor Justin Elicker’s administration, legislation crafted in the Board of Alders chambers and the day-to-day of local politics.
Pia Baldwin Edwards will cover state politics. Baldwin Edwards will report on the Connecticut General Assembly’s 2022 legislative session, highlighting specific policies that will impact residents of the greater New Haven area.
Megan Vaz will cover Yale-New Haven relations. Vaz will join beat reporter Sai Rayala in reporting on interactions between Yale and the city, especially in the wake of a vast town-gown agreement announced in November.
Dante Motley will cover Black communities in New Haven and at Yale. Motley will cover local activism, policies and initiatives impacting the city’s Black population, as well as Yale’s Afro-American Cultural Center.
Joaquin Fernandez-Duque will cover Latino communities in New Haven. Fernandez-Duque’s coverage will include local groups including Unidad Latina en Acción.
Jabez Choi and Yash Roy will cover education and youth services. Choi and Roy will provide updates on happenings within the New Haven Public Schools system, education policy across the Elm City and Connecticut and local teachers’ unions.
Charlotte Hughes will cover climate and the environment. Hughes will work alongside beat reporter Anastasia Hufham on coverage of local climate change activism and city policies surrounding the environment.
Sarah Feng will cover local health. Feng will report on the city’s response to COVID-19 amid the recent rise of the Omicron variant, as well as policies and initiatives based out of Maritza Bond’s health department.
SCITECH
Hamera Shabbir will cover the Yale School of the Environment. Shabbir will report on environmental research and initiatives based out of the school. Shabbir also covers golf and fencing on the sports desk.
Valentina Simon will cover astronomy, computer science and engineering. Simon’s coverage will include reporting on academics, faculty and research across the three departments.
Manas Sharma will cover the School of Medicine. Sharma will join beat reporter Mai Chen in reporting on medical research and the medical school administration.
Simona Hausleitner and Natalie Makableh will cover the Yale School of Public Health. Hausleitner and Makableh will work alongside beat reporter Aislinn Kinsella as the three report on research, academics and administrative news within the School of Public Health.
Brian Zhang and Sophie Wang will cover COVID-19 and Yale New Haven Health. Zhang and Wang will report on the Yale New Haven Health System’s battle against COVID-19 as hospital staff face challenges brought on by the Omicron variant.
Selin Nalbantoglu and Elizabeth Watson will cover breakthrough research. Nalbantoglu and Watson’s reporting will include coverage of research emerging in Yale’s biology departments and the psychology department.
Jon Andre Sabio Parrilla will cover science and social justice. Sabio Parrilla will report stories at the intersection of STEM and the humanities, investigating race in medicine, social justice activism in scientific spaces and more.
Brandon Wu will cover relations between the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health. Wu will cover both schools’ administrations and the complicated relationship between the two, especially in the wake of calls for autonomy within SPH.
ARTS
Ruth Lee will cover film and literature. Lee will cover talks and events related to film, literature and poetry as well as faculty news within those departments.
Kayla Yup will cover museums and visual art. Yup will explore new exhibitions and art installations across Yale’s art galleries, as well as visual art developed across the city of New Haven.
Tiffany Yuno will cover theater and performing arts. Yuno will report on campus productions, the Yale Dramat, Schwarzman Center events, the School of Drama and campus dance groups.
SPORTS
Rosa Braceras and Spencer King will cover women’s hockey.
Andrew Cramer will cover women’s basketball.
Billy Kline will cover track and field.
WEEKEND
Iris Tsouris, Abigail Dixon, Suraj Singareddy, Emily Peng, Ruth Lee, Isabel Kalb, Mahesh Agarwal, Laura Zeng, Jessai Flores, Eda Aker and Anabel Moore will join WKND this spring, contributing longform journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism and more for the News’ weekly Friday supplement.
OPINION
Jean Wang, Jack McCordick, Shi Wen Yeo, Isa Dominguez and Elijah Boles will join Opinion as staff members. Wang, McCordick, Boles, Yeo and Dominguez will write biweekly columns this spring.
MAGAZINE
Abigail Sylvor Greenberg and Oliver Guinan will join Magazine staff as Managing Editors.
Ana Padilla Castellanos, Idone Rhodes, Dante Motley, Sean Pergola, Isa Dominguez, Samhitha Josyula, Sarah Feng, Margot Lee and Zack Hauptman will join as Associate Editors.
Yasmine Chokrane, Abigail Dixon, Anabel Moore, Irene Colombo, Wilhelmina Graff, Audrey Kolker, Emily Peng, Kylie Volavongsa, Sophia Groff, Ruth Lee, Gavin Guerrette, Du Nghiem, Zelda Barnz, Isaac Monks, Suraj Singareddy, Madelyn Dawson, Hannah Mark, Anne Gross, Ariel Kim, Cindy Kuang, Sophie Dauerman and Collyn Robinson will join as staff writers.
PRODUCTION, DESIGN & SOCIAL MEDIA
Chris De Santis, Sophie Sonnenfeld, Yash Roy, Chen Lin and Anika Seth will lay out the News’ print newspaper each week as members of the Production and Design team.
Tri Ho, Laura Zeng, Sarah Cook, Natalie Makableh and Charlotte Hughes will help operate the News’ Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts as social media staffers.
COPY
Will Aarons, Paola Santos, Grace Aitken, Olivia Schnur and Maya Melnik will copy edit the News’ daily content, weekly WKND supplement and magazine as copy staffers.
PHOTO
Josh Baehring, Sharon Li, Tenzin Jordan, Tim Tai, Toia Conde Rodrigues da Cunha, Melanie Heller and Michael Garman will supplement the News’ written content with photos and produce their own photojournalism as staff photographers.
YTV
Max Sternlicht, Ethan Dodd and Piper Jackman will film and edit videos as YTV staffers.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Mark Chung, Elizabeth Watson, Ariane de Gennaro, Emily Cai, Jessai Flores and Cate Rozer will create visual accompaniments for the News’ articles as staff illustrators.
PODCASTS
Xavier Guaracha, Suraj Singareddy and Mitchel Davis will craft episodes of Attune, the News’ fiction audio narrative anthology.
Ana Barragan, Sadie Bograd and Ruth Lee will work on Full Disclosure, a series that features peer-to-peer feedback and conversation on Yale’s most needed discussions.
Ore Adeogun, Victor Attah, Hillary Jean-Bart, Olivia Lombardo and Bea Soto will staff The Rundown, in which team members give weekly recommendations and rundowns of the movies, series, novels and music that they have been consuming in their personal lives.
Carter Dewees, Joaquin Fernandez-Duque, Zach Hauptman, Dante Motley, Ryan Pascal and Eli Tsung will run The Yalie, a weekly news podcast featuring the News’ beat reporters and man-on-the-street interviews with our readers.