Assembly LXXI: "The Yale PhD: 150 Years of Leadership for Yale and the World”

To: AYA Delegates, Yale College Class Officers, Yale Club and Association Presidents, Graduate and Professional School Alumni Association Officers, Current and Former AYA Board Members and other Yale Alumni Constituency Leaders

From: Michael Madison ’83, Chair, AYA Board of Governors and Chair of Assembly LXXI

We are pleased to invite you to Assembly LXXI, “The Yale PhD: 150 Years of Leadership for Yale and the World,” which will be held November 17–18, 2011.

The Assembly honors the 150th anniversary of the first Ph.D. degrees granted by Yale, which were the first granted by any university in North America. Graduate study at Yale and at universities around the world has traditionally been focused on the production of knowledge and the training of new scholars. In short, graduate education has concerned leadership within academia. The changing landscape of higher education in recent years has put that model under stress. Partly out of necessity and partly by choice, graduate education has come to embrace a broader vision of leadership. Assembly delegates will hear and participate in conversations about Yale’s key role in this process, while celebrating the distinctive history and ambitions of the Yale Graduate School and its alumni.

The Assembly will begin on Thursday with a plenary session and panel featuring the current Dean of the Graduate School, Thomas Pollard, the former Dean of the Graduate School, Jon Butler, and faculty leaders of the three Divisions of the School. The plenary will be followed by breakout sessions with current Yale graduate students, across a broad range of fields, showcasing their current research. This will be a unique opportunity to get an insider’s view of the exciting research being done by our graduate students and to get to know a bit about the students and graduate student life at Yale.

A highlight of Thursday afternoon’s sessions will be a panel discussion titled “Doctorates Without Borders,” featuring a discussion of the challenges facing graduate alumni in the 21st century and leadership opportunities within and beyond academia for Ph.D. degree recipients. Thursday’s events will conclude first with the annual Yale Medal dinner, in Commons, and afterward with a reception at the GYPSY (Graduate & Professional Student Center at Yale) where delegates can mix and mingle late into the evening with current graduate students.

Friday’s program will offer something new as well as something familiar. The Assembly will again feature updates about the progress of the AYA’s Strategic Plan, the growing range of AYA-supported initiatives, and the work of alumni volunteers and leaders. Friday will also include a program of leadership development training and opportunities for alumni leaders to share best practices and learn from AYA staff and each other. The AYA is pleased to continue the practice of holding Assembly at the same time as the Yale Alumni Fund Convocation. AYA and YAF volunteers will come together for lunch on Friday to hear a University update by President Levin.

In addition, on Friday Assembly delegates will have several opportunities to engage with current members of the AYA Board of Governors and AYA staff as the process of formulating a second-generation Strategic Plan, referred to by the Board as “Strategic Plan 2.0,” gets underway. The Board welcomes all big ideas from alumni leaders as it plans the next future of the AYA. For those who would like an advance look at what we’ll asking of Assembly delegates (with respect to Strategic Plan 2.0), we encourage you to click on the following link to view a brief video: click here.

Last but by no means least, Friday’s program will conclude with a champagne reception in the President’s Room in Woolsey Hall, where delegates can reflect on their Assembly experiences amid an “Expo” display of AYA initiatives, moderated by AYA staff and Board members. The day will culminate with a toast to the 40th anniversary of the AYA. The creation of the Association of Yale Alumni was formally authorized by a resolution of the Yale Corporation in October 1971.

There will also be the usual events of good fellowship, including the Yale-Harvard football game and the opportunity to visit some of Yale’s cultural institutions.

The annual AYA Assembly is a vital component of Yale’s efforts to nurture relationships between the university and its alumni and to inspire alumni to express in their lives the values and traditions that they learned at Yale. It is an opportunity, moreover, to share again in the intellectual excitement and fellowship that is central to membership in the Yale community. And as always, it is a chance for attendees to learn about Yale, and about one another.

Please register soon and join us in New Haven on November 17-18, 2011.