School Notes: Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
January/February 2018

Wilbur Cross Medals honor outstanding alumni

The Graduate School awarded Wilbur Cross Medals—the school’s highest honor—to four alumni in October: Douglas W. Diamond ’80PhD (economics), the Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business; feminist scholar Donna J. Haraway ’72PhD (biology), distinguished professor emerita in the history of consciousness department at the University of California–Santa Cruz; neuroscientist Eric J. Nestler ’76, ’82PhD, ’83MD, the Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where he serves as dean for academic and scientific affairs and director of the Friedman Brain Institute; and criminologist Lawrence W. Sherman ’76PhD (sociology), a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland and the Wolfson Professor of Criminology Emeritus at the University of Cambridge.

Enhanced support for students with children

A new PhD student family support policy goes into effect this semester, thanks to the efforts of the Graduate Student Assembly and Dean Lynn Cooley. PhD students with one or more children will receive an annual subsidy of $4,500 that can be used for any family expense. Students with children under six years old will receive an additional $1,000 per child. In order to provide this additional funding, Yale is increasing the amount it spends on family support by 24 percent (an increase of more than $400,000). A half subsidy of $2,250 is available for spring semester; the full subsidy will take effect in academic year 2018–19.

Alumnus named ambassador

Robert Pence ’05MA (Italian) has been nominated to serve as the US ambassador to Finland, subject to Senate confirmation in early spring. Pence is the founder and chairman of the Pence Group, which develops and manages shopping centers, hotels, and office buildings throughout the United States. Before coming to Yale, Pence earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland and a doctor of jurisprudence and master’s degrees from American University.