Student wins writing contest
The Atlantic Monthly has named Jerry Guo ’09 the winner
of the nonfiction division of its prestigious student writing contest. Guo won
the prize for a piece he had written in an undergraduate course taught by
essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman, who is the Francis Writer in Residence and
adjunct professor of English. The essay profiled an unusual subject: the man
who owns the world's largest collection of (human) celebrity hair.
Guo credits the prize to his experience in Fadiman's
class. Of Fadiman, Guo says, "She spent so much time on this piece with me
that I really couldn't have won the Atlantic competition without her. She's
definitely the best professor I've had at Yale, and a wonderful person."
When he is not attending classes and working as a
research assistant for Ian Ayres ’81, ’86JD, the William K. Townsend Professor
of Law, Guo is a freelance writer for the New York Times. This past May, he traveled to
Nepal on assignment as a Leitner Fellow, a fellowship administered by the
Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
In the 11 years since the Atlantic Monthly inaugurated this contest, five of
the first prizes have been awarded to Yale students. During the past four
years, pieces written in nonfiction courses at Yale have taken three first
prizes, and, in the other year, second prize in that contest.
Honors for two faculty members
At their annual dinner, Yale's chapter of Phi Beta
Kappa honors one retired faculty member and one active faculty member with the
William Clyde DeVane Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching. Akhil
Reed Amar, ’80, ’84JD, the Southmayd Professor of Law and Political Science,
and Donald Crothers, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and professor
emeritus of molecular biophysics and biochemistry, are this year's honorees.
Amar's course Constitutional Law is perennially lauded by students, and
Crothers was renowned for inspiring students in the sciences during his career.
Yale's most prestigious undergraduate teaching honor, the DeVane Award has been
conferred by Phi Beta Kappa since 1966. William Clyde DeVane was dean of Yale
College from 1938 to 1963 and during his career served as president of both the
Yale and United chapters of Phi Beta Kappa.
Alumnus named new master of Ezra Stiles College
Stephen Pitti ’91, professor in the American Studies
program and director of the Program in Ethnicity, Race and Migration, has been
appointed master of Ezra Stiles College, effective July 1. Pitti lived in Ezra
Stiles College as a student at Yale. His wife, who will serve as associate
master, is Alicia Schmidt Camacho, the Sarai Ribicoff Associate Professor of
American Studies. The couple's twins, first-graders Antonio and Thalia, will
also join the Ezra Stiles community.
Pitti earned his MA and PhD at Stanford, returning to
Yale in 1998 to become an assistant professor of history and American studies,
specializing in Mexican-American studies and immigration reform.
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