School Notes: Yale College
May/June 2016

Five Oscar nominations, two wins

Five Yale alumni—Tom McCarthy ’95MFA, Josh Singer ’94, Yale faculty member David Lang ’89MusAD, Thomas Newman ’77, ’78MusM, and Adam Stockhausen ’99MFA—were nominees in the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on February 28. Of the five nominees, McCarthy and Singer won the Academy Award in their category, Best Original Screenplay, for Spotlight.

Thinkathon sparks student creativity

Nearly 200 students competed in The Big Ydea: Schwarzman Center Thinkathon on February 20. The brainstorming competition brought together students from across the university to see who had the most creative and exciting ideas for the completed Schwarzman Center, a state-of-the-art student center being funded by a $150 million gift from Blackstone founder Stephen A. Schwarzman ’69. This gift includes funding for renovation of Memorial Hall and Commons and for programming that will take place in the center when it opens in 2020. Some of the ideas hatched at the Thinkathon include a pub and live-music venue; a daycare center for Yale affiliates; an indoor adult playground; and a digital-projection art wall.

Musical theater curriculum celebrates tenth year

The Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater, established by Theodore P. Shen ’66, marked its ten-year anniversary this year. The curriculum, begun as an extracurricular activity, has evolved into an interdisciplinary course of study that examines American musical theater as an indigenous American art form, influenced by changing cultural, socioeconomic, and musical tastes and styles. It now includes seven to eight courses offered annually and a master class series.