School Notes: Yale College
May/June 2009

Yale trounces Harvard in blood drive challenge

In the latest installment of Yale's rivalry with Harvard, the Bulldogs emerged victorious from the fifth annual Yale-Harvard Blood Drive competition in February. With points tabulated based on units of blood collected, number of first-time donors, and volunteer participation levels, the final score was 301-198. Held over four days in Payne Whitney Gymnasium, the blood drive was sponsored by the American Red Cross at Yale, a student organization.

Arts fund brings celebrated director to campus

With support from the Lloyd Richards Fund for the Arts at Yale College, acclaimed stage director Robert Woodruff lent his insight to upper-level students in the undergraduate theater studies program through his spring 2009 course, Elements of Composition for the Stage. Conducted as a laboratory-style workshop, the course encouraged participants to explore the various sources of inspiration for creating a live performance. Students conducted weekly creative projects that taught them to reconsider the functions of a range of elements -- including time, space, text, and music -- in creating artistic representations.

Woodruff, a lecturer in directing at the School of Drama, is the former artistic director of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He collaborated with Obie Award-winning actor Bill Camp to stage this spring's production of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

The Lloyd Richards Fund for the Arts at Yale College was established by Cheryl Henson ’84 to celebrate the legacy of Lloyd Richards, dean of the Yale School of Drama and artistic director of the Yale Rep from 1979 to 1991. In honor of Richards's instrumental roles as a pioneer in American theater and a champion of the arts at Yale, the Lloyd Richards Fund supports undergraduate access to classes and programs directed by faculty at the School of Drama and Yale's other premier art schools.

Endowed fund will support freshman affairs deanship

A fund established this spring by a Yale College alumnus will endow the office of the dean of freshman affairs at the College, effective June 30. Edgar M. Cullman ’40 cites the formative experiences of his own time on the Old Campus as the impetus for his gift, adding that it "gives me great pleasure to support Yale's students by funding this position." The current dean of freshman affairs, assistant dean Raymond Ou, will be the first to hold the endowed position. As the Edgar M. Cullman Dean of Freshman Affairs he will oversee programming and resources to support students through the crucial transition to undergraduate life. The freshman affairs deanship reflects Yale's strong commitment to empowering students in their first year of college. Through counseling, mentoring, and allocation of resources, it is an important source of guidance and support to Yale College's newest students.