“What I found most beautiful about the program is that we were all so well taken care of,” she says. Dr. Taylor was “like an aunt.” Program staff readily helped with Quigley’s concerns, small or large. The community of other scholars was extremely welcoming; and though they worked in different parts of the environmental world, they all, she says, maintained a deep commitment to “lifting each other up.”

Quigley’s experience in Doris Duke also provided a springboard to the Yale School of the Environment. Prior to the program, she had not considered applying to YSE. But upon hearing the idea floated by her friends and colleagues, she began to look into it for herself. She loved the idea of being at the same institution of Dr. Taylor, who reassured her that fellowships and scholarships were available, if needed. Quigley was impressed, too, with the recent commitments YSE had made to diversity and inclusion. Program managers within Doris Duke assisted with the compilation of application materials. “All of that helped me get ready to take this leap,” she says; it made her more comfortable with an institution that at one time would have seemed “very, very far out of reach.”

At YSE, Quigley is interested in issues of urban planning, and specifically in the ways in which city governments can create more inclusive settings for all residents — an interest, she admits, that is very much subject to change. Wherever she ends up, though, Quigley knows that she will remain committed to “righting many of the wrongs of the past.”