Recently I attended Yale’s 2014 Assembly, along with Class Secretary Andy Kaufman and Glenn Murphy. This is an annual gathering in New Haven of more than 500 representatives from Yale College classes, professional schools, clubs, and Special Interest Groups.
This year’s theme was The Entrepreneurial Spirit at Yale, and a most impressive show it was. There were two days of plenary sessions, small breakout discussions and panels, and competitive “shark tank” presentations in which innovative and worthwhile new ventures in information technology, health care, and other industries were showcased.
The creativity was unbridled, the excitement palpable. Most eye-opening for me was seeing presentations by current undergrads who have started and are running businesses – one of whom had to go directly from the podium to her next class.
This initiative has the full support of President Peter Salovey and the University, and many of its schools are involved (though my other alma mater, the School of Management, seemed to play a leading role.)
We had beautiful weather, and I managed to catch a few photos between sessions (including the one of Commons on our front page.)
As with many business gatherings these days, the Assembly was videoed and tweeted to a deep level of detail. Michael Morand, Yale’s Deputy Chief of Communications Officer, told me that his office’s goal had been to give people who were not in attendance so much of the experience that they wouldn’t feel they had missed much of substance.
I think they’ve succeeded. Here’s a link to a digest of videos and articles (many of which contain embedded video clips) covering all the major happenings: http://news.yale.edu/2014/11/17/entrepreneurship-and-excellence-alumni-engagement-showcased-annual-assembly
Kevin Ryan’s keynote is especially “must-see”, but all of the presentations have much to offer. These will give you a good flavor of the Alumni Assembly, and of the exciting things going on at Yale these days.
You may even get some investment ideas.
Happy Holidays,
Tim Powell
December 2014