Dan Renzetti
The Yale Alumni Magazine publishes a letter from President Maurie McInnis ’96PhD in every issue.
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Dear Friends,
My immersion in the Yale community has given me many opportunities to join both current students and fellow alumni in rousing renditions of “Bright College Years.” Even though it was written nearly 150 years ago, it remains timeless in how well it captures the Yale spirit. One verse particularly lingers in my mind:
The seasons come, the seasons go,
The earth is green or white with snow,
But time and change shall naught avail
To break the friendships formed at Yale.
I love this verse because it reminds all of us that regardless of what may be happening in the world, the bonds Yalies form as students give our community a special strength. This strength helps us sail through rough waters and smooth, and it offers us the sustenance of community. As an alumna, I am deeply proud of the way this centuries-old Yale spirit has helped many of us to navigate life’s twists and turns. And I have relished the opportunity to hear from so many of you about the impact that Yale and Yalies have had on your life. The same is certainly true for me as well.
Yale alumni are linked not just among their contemporaries, but also across generations. In this vein, many alumni and friends of Yale have asked me how they can support current students. From my own experiences, I think some of the most powerful ways to help the next generation include offering them a sense of connection and providing them ways to expand their views through stories of what we have seen and done. Since returning to campus in July, I have learned there are many ways to do this in the Yale community, and if you have not been involved in one of them, I hope you will consider doing so.
Cross Campus, for example, is Yale’s online community-building and mentorship platform. It enables current students and alumni to network and build relationships across generations. Administered by the Yale Alumni Association (YAA), it is designed to meet the specific needs of the Yale community. Alumni and students have exclusive access to Cross Campus’s Yale Alumni Mentorship Program, which helps mentors and mentees to find each other based on experiences and needs. If you would like to become a mentor to a current student, you can sign up anytime; mentorship pairings are then made twice each year, at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters. In my decades teaching students, I have seen first hand how alumni can lift up young scholars and help them find life and career paths that were previously unknown to them.
The YAA also helps to administer a program called Students & Alumni of Yale (STAY). STAY enhances the Yale experience for students via alumni mentorship and prepares them for life after Yale. STAY has formal offerings like financial literacy sessions, leadership forums, and networking events. It also works to inspire students to give back after they graduate by helping future generations who will study at Yale. Another way to get involved is through one of our cultural centers, which provide resources for students to support their intellectual pursuits and build community.
The YAA is strong and vibrant today thanks in no small way to the work of its incredible leaders—especially Weili Cheng ’77, who retired as executive director last May, and Alison Cole ’99, who follows in her footsteps. Alison has been fast at work finding new ways to connect alumni with students and conducting a listening tour that will inform future planning. I am very excited for what lies ahead for the YAA under Alison’s leadership.
Like Weili and Alison, I returned to Yale after having been a student here. Getting to know our student body, this exceptional new generation of Yalies, has been one of the most joyous parts of my first year as president.
Every time one generation invests in guiding the next, we have the chance to reaffirm and renew our hopes and aspirations as a community. This sense of continuity, so gracefully captured in “Bright College Years,” is part of what makes Yale so special.
I wish each of you a new year filled with health, happiness, and renewal.
Warmly,
Maurie McInnis ’96PhD
President
Professor of the History of Art
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