Virtual Reunion Weekend 2020

Reunion Weekend 2020 will be virtual, and we can't wait to see you!

All YSE Alumni from all years and their families are invited. This year we celebrate the quinquennial classes of  2015, 2010, 2005, 2000, 1995, 1990, 1985, 1980, 1975, 1970, 1965, 1960, 1955, and so on.

Opportunities to learn from and celebrate fellow alumni, time to connect with friends old and new, and more await you at Reunion Weekend 2020!

Schedule of Events

All times are EDT. 

Friday, October 9
 

11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. 
YSE Family Fun Hour

A family-friendly event for people of all ages!  Join us for an environmental magic show by Cyril the Sorcerer (CJ May '89 M.E.M.), and storytime with Kike Calvo and Vivienne Caballero '15 M.E.M. who will share the book The Adventures of Pili. Come on your own, or invite your young friends and family members to join us from wherever they are!

12:00 p.m. -1:00 p.m.
Virtual Field Trip: Yale-Myers Forest
An immersive first person journey through Yale Myers Forest. Learn from researchers and professors about the habitats, animals and life within the forest. Will be followed by Q&A with invited experts.  Tour will be available to watch when desired following today’s debut.  
 
1:00 p.m. -5:30 p.m.
Break 

5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Alumni of Color Gathering
Virtual intergenerational gathering of alumni of color.
 
7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Reunion Weekend TGIF
Virtual TGIF with alumni, faculty, students, and staff – cosponsored with Forestry Club
 
Beginning at 8:00 p.m.
Class-Specific Gatherings (Times TBD)
Individual classes will have the opportunity to gather virtually, some with a special faculty guest. Register to receive the details of your class gathering. 

 
 
Saturday, October 10
 

12:00 p.m.- 12:45 p.m.
State of the School, YSE Dean Indy Burke
 
12:45 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
Meet our New Faculty Members

Dr. Narasimha Rao Assistant Professor of Energy Systems
Dr. Dorceta Taylor '85 M.F.S., '91 Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Justice
Gerald Torres, J.D., LL.M. Professor of Environmental Justice
Dr. Yuan Yao Assistant Professor of Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems

 
2:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Break 

3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Alumni Association Awards and Seminars
 

Introduction by YSE Dean Indy Burke
 
Distinguished Alumna Seminar: Susan Shen '80 M.F.S.
Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice - East Asia and Pacific, World Bank

Distinguished Alumna Seminar: Molly Harriss Olson ’85 M.E.S.
CEO of Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand and a Director on the International Board of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Distinguished Service Award: Jean Thomson Black '75 M.F.S.
Senior Executive Editor for Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Medicine at Yale University Press

Prospect Street Award: Hugh Brown '10 M.F.
Director of Operations, Forestry Commission, Ghana
 

4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Break 
 

5:00 p.m.- 7:30 p.m.
Film Screening and Panel- Gather: The Fight to Revitalize Our Native Foodways
Co-hosted by the Association of Native Americans at Yale, the Native American Cultural Center at Yale, and the Yale School of the Environment

5:00-5:30 p.m.
Conversation with members of the Gather creative team: 
-Sanjay Rawal, Director 
-Taylor Rees '14 M.E.M.
-Michael Roberts (Tlingit), Executive Producer
 
5:30-6:45 p.m.
Live watch party and screening of the film
 
6:45-7:45 p.m. EDT
Panel Discussion featuring experts from the film and the Yale community
- Aja DeCoteau '07 M.E.M. (Yakama)    
- Elsie DuBray (Cheyenne River Sioux Nation)
- Samuel Gensaw (Yurok)    
- Catherine Webb '22 (Cherokee)
- Moderated by Meghanlata Gupta '21 (Bahweting Anishinaabe) and Evan Roberts ’23 (Tlingit) 

About the Film:
Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.
 
Gather follows Nephi Craig, a chef from the White Mountain Apache Nation (Arizona), opening an indigenous café as a nutritional recovery clinic; Elsie Dubray, a young scientist from the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation (South Dakota), conducting landmark studies on bison; and the Ancestral Guard, a group of environmental activists from the Yurok Nation (Northern California), trying to save the Klamath river.
 

Beginning at 8:00 p.m.
Class-Specific Gatherings (Times TBD) 
Individual classes will have the opportunity to gather virtually, some with a special faculty guest. Register to receive the details of your class gathering. 

Available during and after Reunion Weekend

Sunset Ceremony 
An opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of alumni who have recently passed with their class and family members.
 
YSE Family Fun Hour Recording
A family-friendly event for people of all ages! Come on your own, or invite your young friends and family members to join us from wherever they are!
 
Recordings of the Alumni Association Awards and Seminars