Tina Li, Contributing Photographer

At the annual Seton Elm-Ivy awards luncheon on Tuesday, city and university leaders honored New Haveners and Yale-affiliates for strengthening town-gown relations with unique contributions to their communities. 

Many people in Yale and New Haven who dedicate time to the city and university’s collaborative development do so voluntarily, Alexandra Daum, associate vice president of the Office of New Haven Affairs, emphasized as she kicked off the ceremony. The event was an opportunity to reflect and honor those people, she said. 

“The collaboration between the university and the city is not all top level speech making. It’s a lot of nitty-gritty stuff,” Daum said as attendees nodded in agreement. 

A crowd of city officials, community members and University-affiliates celebrated collaborative initiatives such as educational programs for New Haven students, Black history archival events at the Beinecke and joint efforts on wastewater monitoring. 

Due to being under the weather with the flu, Mayor Justin Elicker could not attend this year. Afterward, he wrote to the News expressing his “heartfelt thanks and congratulations to all of this year’s awardees.” 

Several alders were present, including Alders Frank Douglass and Evette Hamilton of Dwight and Edgewood, respectively. 

In her first Seton Elm-Ivy awards of her tenure, University President Maurie McInnis said that as she grew reacquainted with Yale in the past nine months, she found the University’s prioritization of a partnership with New Haven “heartening.” Daum echoed how “delightful” it has been to work with someone who understands the importance of town-gown collaboration. 

“Much of what has made Yale so strong is this great partnership, this great sense of community, and I certainly share the ambition shared by so many at Yale that Yale be the most civically engaged university in America,” McInnis said. 

New Haven Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli stepped up to the microphone to speak on behalf of Elicker and the city. He drew laughter with a quip about the need to always be “dressed for the day,” referring to his impromptu stepping in place of the mayor. 

“I’m also grateful to the many honorees who come back and join and share a meal at this table every year,” Piscitelli, who is a former recipient of the Elm award, said. “We have built a strong partnership and lifted our community together.” 

McInnis and Piscitelli both cited the wide array of Yale’s community partnerships, such as the Center of Inclusive Growth, the School of Management’s fellowships and Yale’s Pathways to Science program. 

Though last year’s awards ceremony was a more playful affair, as former University President Peter Salovey and the mayor bantered and exchanged one-liners, Tuesday’s luncheon was still lighthearted. As the presenters took turns introducing awardees, they began a running joke of how laborious it was to repeat Piscetilli’s title — economic development administrator — after each award. 

Daum gave the first award of the day to Carolyn Baker and Diane Petaway, co-presidents and “dynamic duo” of the Greater New Haven African American Historical Society, for their work organizing and advocating for Black history archival events. 

“They work hand in hand with Yale University, particularly Beinecke Library, to keep Black history vibrant and alive,” Daum said. 

Several community educators were recognized on Tuesday. 

CEO of Biohaven Dr. Vlad Coric was awarded for his work offering science and business hands-on experience for secondary and university students. Similarly, Dr. Anjelica Gonzalez, professor in the School of Medicine and head of Davenport College, received an Ivy award for sharing her laboratory expertise with talks and programs in New Haven classrooms.

Jessica Haxhi received an Elm Award for her work redesigning and leading World CLASS, Yale’s after-school foreign language lessons for Connecticut high schoolers.

Professors Arielle Baskin-Sommers and Jordan Peccia were commended for promoting primary and mental health care to formerly incarcerated people and for partnering with the city on a groundbreaking wastewater monitoring project, respectively. 

As award recipients stood for pictures, McInnis often whispered congratulations to and laughed with the honorees.

Two students were also granted Ivy awards: Ryan Sutherland MED ’26 for his work expanding health access for homeless people, and Kaylen Yun ’26 for her leadership at Dwight Hall and for supporting migrants as they resettle in New Haven.

Yun told the News that one of her main commitments when she arrived at Yale was to find new ways to remain part of New Haven, where she grew up. “I can equally call Yale and New Haven my home,” she said. 

“These awards serve as a bright light and showcase how collaboration can help bridge divides and bring people together in meaningful ways, especially now when it seems division is an all too frequent narrative,” McInnis said.

The Seton Elm-Ivy awards were established in 1979.

Correction, April 9: This article has been corrected to reflect that Dr. Vlad Coric is the CEO of Biohaven.