Seven Yale College seniors were awarded prizes for superior academic work in their fields of study. Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead presented the awards during Senior Class Day exercises on May 24. The award-winning students carried special banners during the Commencement procession. Their award citations follow.
Chi Thi Nguyen
The James Andrew Haas Prize
The James Andrew Haas Prize is awarded annually to "that member of the Senior Class in Yale College whose breadth of intellectual achievement, strength of character, and fundamental humanity shall be adjudged by the faculty to have provided leadership for his or her fellow students, inspiring in them a love of learning and concern for others." This year the Haas Prize is awarded to Chi Thi Nguyen of Ezra Stiles College.
Chi Nguyen came to this country with her father when she was three, escaping by boat from Vietnam with 150 other people. Landing in Malaysia, they spent a year in a refugee camp before a church group sponsored their emigration to the United States. Her mother was not able to come with them and did not join the family in America until Chi was 8. Growing up in Sunnyvale, California, she lived in a 10-person household with family members who had come to live in America under her father's sponsorship.
Ms. Nguyen, who was valedictorian of her high school, has excelled since her first days at Yale. In her eight semesters, she has earned 38 credits, 31 of them A's or A-'s. Her grade point average is 3.82. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa her first term senior year, she will graduate tomorrow magna cum laude with Distinction in two majors, Economics and Psychology. For her combined senior project, Ms. Nguyen worked in Game Theory. Her Economics adviser described her as "an exceptional student ... talented, enthusiastic and original," and praised the experiments she devised as "elegant in their simplicity but fascinating in their possibilities." "Having a student like that," he observed, "makes teaching exciting."
Outside the classroom, Ms. Nguyen has been one of the first citizens of New Haven. This year, culminating four years of outstanding public service, she served as co-coordinator of Dwight Hall and chair of Communiversity Day. For Dwight Hall, in addition to overseeing the operating budget and resources of the organization, she published the first "Guide to Community Service and Social Justice at Yale," a directory of all student social service organizations. She also organized a Public Interest Career Day and created an Education Resource Center.
Her work for Communiversity Day grew out of her commitment to New Haven as a member of Alpha Phi Omega, the national service fraternity. Believing it was important for Yale students to celebrate their ties to the larger community in which they live, Ms. Nguyen worked to revive Communiversity Day, raising more money than had ever been raised before, and devising a publicity strategy which attracted more than 1500 people. Earlier this month, Ms. Nguyen was honored by the New Haven Foundation with an Undergraduate Ivy Award at its annual Elm-Ivy Award luncheon. Describing her as "untoppable and unstoppable," the Foundation recognized her contributions as representing the "highest ideals of student community service."
Ms. Nguyen presents the same rare combination of courage, generosity, and intelligence for which James Andrew Haas is remembered. In the words of Ezra Stiles Master Paul Fry, "She is one of those rare people who makes us feel better, not just about people in general, but about ourselves. She makes each of us realize that we must have it in us to emulate her, or at least to try." Yale College therefore takes great pride in bestowing the James Andrew Haas Prize this year upon Chi Thi Nguyen.
Cary Catherine Franklin and
Lisa Robin Hasday
The Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize
The Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize for the Senior majoring in the humanities who ranks highest in scholarship is awarded this year to Cary Catherine Franklin of Saybrook College and to Lisa Robin Hasday of Ezra Stiles College.
Cary Catherine Franklin. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa after six terms of enrollment, Cary Catherine Franklin graduates summa cum laude with Distinction in two majors, English and History. She earned a total of 37 course credits, all but one of which are A or A-, which includes a total of 30 grades of straight A. Her grade point average is 3.94.
Ms. Franklin's accomplishments surpass any mere numerical calculation of her abilities. Throughout her career at Yale, she has distinguished herself as a remarkable thinker and writer whose work has been characterized by one of her teachers as "utterly beautiful." In her freshman year, she was awarded the Meeker Prize for her essay on Wordsworth and in her senior year she is co-recipient of the Steere Prize for her senior essay, which was praised for its "intelligence, originality, and promise." In between she managed to win the Winston T. Townsend Prize for English composition, the Robert S. Kilborne Memorial Traveling Fellowship, and the Margaret Laughlin Marshall-John M.S. Allison Traveling Fellowship. Ms. Franklin's dedication to the humanities has extended beyond the walls of the College as she has devoted much of her time to youth education programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Yale British Art Center.
Today, in recognition of her impressive record as a student and a scholar, Yale College is proud to bestow the Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize for 1998 upon Cary Catherine Franklin.
Lisa Robin Hasday. Lisa Robin Hasday graduates tomorrow summa cum laude with Distinction in the History major. She has earned 29 grades of straight A, with no grade lower than A-. Her grade point average is 3.94. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa after only four terms of enrollment, she is undergraduate Secretary of the Yale Chapter.
Ms. Hasday's intellectual distinction is reflected not only in her high academic standing but in the recognition her work has won her. She was awarded the Robert Stewart Kilborne Memorial Fellowship and the John E. Linck III and Alanne Linck Fellowship to do research for her senior essay, and this summer will continue her studies in Women's History as a researcher at the Margaret Sanger Papers Project with the support of the Margaret Laughlin Marshall-John M. S. Allison Fellowship and the Elga Ruth Wasserman Award in Women's Studies. Outside the classroom, Ms. Hasday has shown the same high level of commitment and involvement, serving as editor-in-chief of the Yale International Forum, as coordinator of the Yale International Education Project, an enrichment program for New Haven middle school students, and as a member of the Yale Committee on Teaching in the Residential Colleges.
For her remarkable achievements as a student and scholar, Yale College takes great pleasure in bestowing the Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize for 1998 upon Lisa Robin Hasday.
John Atchison Wright
The Arthur Twining Hadley Prize
The Arthur Twining Hadley Prize, which honors the memory of the man who served as President of Yale from 1899 to 1921, is awarded annually to the Senior in Yale College majoring in the social sciences who ranks highest in scholarship. This year the Hadley Prize is to be awarded to John Atchison Wright of Pierson College.
In his four years at Yale, John Atchison Wright has accomplished the rare feat of earning 35 grades of solid A; his remaining grade is an A- earned in his freshman year. His grade point average is 3.99. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior year and this year served as undergraduate Vice President of the Yale Chapter. He is graduating summa cum laude with Distinction in the Economics major.
Mr. Wright's pursuit of excellence has ranged from courses in Classical Civilization to advanced courses in Biology. He has been praised by his instructors as a student who stands out even in those classes where student performance is unusually high. Beyond his academic achievements, he has volunteered at Katherine Brennan School and has served as a member of both the Yale College Council and the Pierson College Council.
In recognition of his exceptional performance and as a mark of confidence in his future, Yale College proudly confers the Arthur Twining High Scholarship Prize for 1998 upon John Atchison Wright.
Andreas Schulz
The Russell Henry Chittenden Prize
The Russell Henry Chittenden Prize is awarded annually to that Senior in Yale College majoring in the natural sciences or in mathematics who ranks highest in scholarship. This year's prize is to be awarded to Andreas Schulz of Calhoun College.
Andreas Schulz has earned 41.5 credits with 40.5 grades of straight A, resulting in a grade point average of 3.98. He holds the distinction of having qualified in his four years at Yale for the simultaneous award of the bachelor's and master's degrees in two majors: he has completed the requirements of a B.A./M.A. in Economics and a B.S./M.A. in Applied Mathematics. If this feat has been accomplished before in Yale College, we are unaware of it. He will graduate summa cum laude, with Distinction in the Applied Mathematics major and with Exceptional Distinction in the Economics major.
Mr. Schulz was elected to Phi Beta Kappa after only four terms of enrollment and served this year as undergraduate president of the Yale Chapter. He shares the Charles Heber Dickerman Prize with another senior economics major for having produced the best senior essay and is the recipient of this year's Louis Laun Prize, awarded to "an economics major with an outstanding record in all courses taken in Yale College in the first seven terms." His academic brilliance is matched by the generosity with which he has shared with his fellow students his knowledge of mathematics, economics, statistics, and computer science.
Today, in recognition of his outstanding achievements and his singular abilities, Yale College takes great pride in conferring the Russell Henry Chittenden Prize for 1998 upon Andreas Schulz.
Danny Boyd Beaty II
The Louis Sudler Prize
The Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Arts is awarded this year to Danny Boyd Beaty II of Ezra Stiles College, for outstanding accomplishments in the creative and performing arts.
Danny Boyd Beaty II, your accomplishments represent the synthesis of your own personal convictions and the highest standards of the arts of drama and music. You have been a potent creative and social force in the Yale community, both as founder of the multiracial Theater Institution and through your numerous recitals and acting roles, which have inspired audiences with their messages of sacrifice and enduring hope. From your remarkable portrayals of Paul Robeson, Lopakhin and Martin Luther King Jr. to your electrifying vocal performances of Negro spirituals and traditional and modern lieder, you have demonstrated a talent of great emotional depth across a wide repertoire of genres and styles. With the same commitment to excellence in your academic work, you will graduate with Distinction in the Theater Studies major.
Your teachers, your fellow students, and professional artists have testified to the power and excellence that is consistently exhibited in all your vocal and dramatic work. In your voice and in your person, in what you have accomplished and in what you have helped others to accomplish, you have contributed much to the arts at Yale. For your distinctive artistic achievements as an actor and a musician, Yale College is proud to award you, Danny Boyd Beaty II, the Louis Sudler Prize for excellence in the arts.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan
The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize
The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize is awarded to that "senior who, through the combination of intellectual achievement, character, and personality, shall be adjudged by the faculty to have done the most for Yale by inspiring in his or her classmates an admiration and love for the best traditions of high scholarship." This year the Snow Prize is awarded to Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan of Calhoun College.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the first term of his senior year. He has compiled a grade point average of 3.9, and is graduating summa cum laude with Distinction in two majors, International Studies and Political Science.
One of his professors has commented that "during my 36 years at Yale [no student] has even approached Sullivan's combination of commitment and smarts. ... In an institution filled with some of the smartest and most interesting undergraduates in the country, Jake stands out as simply the best one with whom I have worked." Other teachers describe him as "exceptionally articulate," "sharply analytical" and a "sophisticated critic of the American polity ... [with] unusual intellectual breadth in his grasp of a wide range of contemporary and historical political issues."
Mr. Sullivan began his career at Yale with energetic variety: he was coxswain of the freshman lightweight crew team, a letter writer for Amnesty International, secretary of Calhoun Council, representative on the Freshman Class Council, and staff reporter for the Yale Daily News. He went on over the next three years to help found the Yale Mock Trial Association, to become a stalwart on the Yale Debate Team, rapporteur to the U.N. Secretariat, and editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News.
As editor-in chief, Mr. Sullivan brought a broader news perspective to the Yale Daily News, especially in reporting on international news, reflecting his own highly developed intellectual interests in this realm. Indeed, throughout his career at Yale, international relations has been the focus of many of his varied pursuits: He helped to edit a book on the U.N. Security Council, has been a member of the Yale International Relations Association and served as vice chair for the Yale Security Council Simulation Program, helping to organize and run a U.N. Security Council simulation program for high school students throughout New England.
In community service he has demonstrated characteristic imagination and creativity, serving as founding chair of the Elm City/Yale Daily News Summer Journalism program. This endeavor, which established a newspaper content and design curriculum for New Haven area high school students, strives to teach the fundamentals of journalism and to inculcate a passion for reporting among staff members of local high school newspapers. A mainstay of both the Yale Mock Trial and the Yale Debate Associations, he served as director of the Osterweiss Debate tournament, a competition for inner-city youths.
Mr. Sullivan has received a variety of grants in support of his studies, including the Frank M. Patterson Grant for Senior Thesis Research on development in Kenya, and a 1997 Richter fellowship for work on the United Nations. In his junior year he was named a Harry S. Truman Scholar. This year he was awarded a Marshall Scholarship, which he declined in favor of study at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.
Mr. Sullivan's intellectual seriousness and exceptional character mark him as a truly exemplary member of his class. For his superb academic achievements, for his contributions to Yale, and for his continuing intellectual and practical involvement in world affairs, Yale College takes great pleasure in conferring the Alpheus Henry Snow Prize upon Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan.
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