Yale Club of Pittsburgh

Many thanks to our volunteers for the Yale Club of Pittsburgh All-Ivy-Plus volunteer event with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Wilkinsburg.

Pictured are Otto Chu, President of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh; Donald Bonk, President of the Penn Club of Western Pennsylvania; Vincent Johnson, President of the Harvard Club of Western Pennsylvania.

This year's Yale Club of Pittsburgh Annual Dinner was great fun! Many thanks to Professor William Scherlis for speaking with us about artificial intelligence.

What a fun night seeing old friends and new at the Yale Club of Pittsburgh All-Ivy-Plus Party at the Mansions on Fifth last week!

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/seen/2023/03/01/seen-ivy-night/stories/202303010005

SEEN: A league of their own The All Ivy Plus party hosted by the Yale Club of Pittsburgh gave nearly 200 alumni of Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Georgetown,...

Enclosed are some photographs from our Yale Club of Pittsburgh volunteer service event at the Frick Environmental Center with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. The event was a great success, with about fifteen volunteers in attendance on a crisp, sunny day. We had a tremendous time together. We spent most of the time mulching a number of trees in Frick Park and learning about arboreal care.

Those in attendance at this event were:

Otto Chu (President, Yale Club of Pittsburgh, and leader of this volunteer service event)
Brandon McCracken (Restoration Landscaper for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy)
Dale Hershey (YCOP board member)
Pamela Rollings (YCOP board member)
Richard (Dick) McLaughlin, Yale College alumnus
Lisa Sylvester (Georgetown alumna, and WPXI anchorwoman)
Lauren Rosenblum, M.D. (Yale College alumna)
Jack Bouer (Yale College alumnus)
Hatice Nur Eken, M.D. (Yale College alumna)
Tai-Sing Lee (Harvard alumnus and CMU professor)
Tomoko (Lee) (Tai-Sing's wife)
Harrison Lee (Tai-Sing's son)
Donald Bonk (Penn Club President)
Aaron Greenfield (Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science alumnus)
Megan Greenfield (Aaron's daughter)

Yale Law professor Amy Chua was the speaker at the YCOP's 2022 Annual Dinner:
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2022/06/17/amy-chua-ivy-league-dinner-political-tribalism-pittsburgh-yale-club-tiger-mother/stories/202206170118

Join the Yale Club of Pittsburgh for a Yale Day of Service event in partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. We will be helping the Food Bank distribute food to people in their vehicles.

Date: Saturday, June 25th
Time: 9:30 A.M. to 12:00 Noon
Location: Life Care Behavioral Health Hospital, in Wilkinsburg, at the corner of Penn and Trenton Avenues

For more information or to sign up, email us at [email protected].

Congratulations to Quincy Peterson, Yale Book Award winner at Allderdice High School

Meet one of the amazing young Yale applicants who were interviewed by YCOP members. The 4% of applicants who were admitted to Yale included 12 from the Pittsburgh area. We hope they all choose Yale!

How did Sean Russell become the great hope of Pittsburgh Public Schools? Sean Russell has been accepted to Yale, Harvard and Stanford. He’s one of only 300 students across the country to win a Gates Scholarship.

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh is delighted to invite you and your friends to a fascinating presentation on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP, formerly known as “UFOs”) by Christopher Mellon, one of the nation’s leading experts on this subject, on Thursday evening, April 21.

This event will take place on the Main Floor of The Pittsburgh Golf Club, 5280 Northumberland Street, in Squirrel Hill. The phone number is (412) 621-4530, if you need directions.

5:30 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. – Cocktails (Cash bar)

6:30 P.M. – Otto H. Chu – Welcome and Introduction

6:33 P.M. – Christopher Mellon – Presentation on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Questions and Answers, immediately following Mr. Mellon’s presentation

R.S.V.P. by e-mail to Otto Chu, President of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh and the host of this event, at: [email protected] Please reserve early if you plan to attend, as we expect considerable interest, and we may well need to limit seating for this event.

This event is underwritten through a grant from Chu Financial Management Corporation, a leading investment management firm based in Pittsburgh.

One of our Board members and former President, Justine Kasznica, is one of the co-founders of the Moonshot Museum, the first space museum in the region and the first museum of its kind to focus primarily on space industry access and career-readiness. The Moonshot Museum will open in the Fall of 2022. It is co-locatied at the headquarters of Astrobotic Technology and features a unique public viewing of the Astrobotic cleanroom, where visitors can observe spacecraft being built and integrated.

The YCOP and Harvard Business School cordially invite you to a special virtual walkthrough and introduction to the Moonshot Museum, led by Executive Director Sam Moore, with remarks by Justine Kasznica.

The virtual program will be held this Thursday, March 10th from 5:00-6:15pm. You can join by registering at the link below. A web conference link will be generated upon registration.

https://www.hbspittsburgh.com/event-details/learn-about-pittsburghs-big-role-in-americas-return-to-the-moon

Hope to see you on Thursday!

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh is delighted to invite you and your friends to a special talk on the life of Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson, Hemingway's first wife, and Hemingway's writings, entitled "Ernest and Hadley", by Donald Carter, on Thursday, March 3, from 6:40 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. The talk will be followed by a discussion and a dessert reception. This event will take place at The Pittsburgh Golf Club, 5280 Northumberland Street, in Squirrel Hill. The phone number of The Pittsburgh Golf Club is (412) 621-4530.

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh will serve delicious cakes and cookies at a reception after the talk and discussion.

R.S.V.P. by e-mail to Otto Chu, President of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh, at [email protected]

This event is presented free of charge to alumni and friends of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh and the All-Ivy-Plus group, as it is underwritten through a grant from Chu Financial Management Corporation.

New York Times crossword, Feb. 11, 2022, 1 down: "Notable founding of 1701" (4 letters)

Join our own Ashley Rose for this History Center program about her family, the McGinnis Sisters! https://heinzhistorycenter.salsalabs.org/program-mcginnis-sisters/index.html

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh is delighted to invite you and a guest to its holiday party on Thursday, December 16, 2021, from 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. The party will take place in the atrium of the Fox Chapel Golf Club, 426 Fox Chapel Road. The phone number of the Fox Chapel Golf Club is (412) 967-9081.

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh will serve light appetizers. A cash bar for drinks will be available.

R.S.V.P. by e-mail to Otto Chu, President of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh at [email protected] We recommend that you respond early by e-mail, but in no event after December 13, 2021, if you are interested in attending this party. As the Yale Club of Pittsburgh may need to cap attendance at this event, we ask that people only attend if they receive a confirmed reservation from the Yale Club of Pittsburgh.

This event is substantially underwritten through grants from Otto H. Chu and William Kofmehl.

Join fellow Yalies and Harvard alumni to volunteer with the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank at drive-up food distribution on Saturday, November 6, 9:30 to noon. Participants will help load cars full of nutritious foods for hundreds of families and individuals at this outdoor event. The distribution will take place at the East End Behavioral Health Hospital, 200 North Trenton Avenue in Wilkinsburg (at the intersection of Trenton and Penn). Volunteers must be able to lift 25-pound boxes repeatedly. Please respond to [email protected] to let us know you'll join us. We are hoping to continue the proud YCOP tradition of outnumbering the Harvard folks at this even

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh is now on Instagram too , follow us for another way to learn about upcoming events!

It's not too late to sign up! Volunteer with fellow Yalies and friends at Hilltop Urban Farm, Saturday, September 18, 9-12. You provide the labor and the YCOP will provide the snacks. Please bring a mask, closed-toed shoes, plenty of water, and both a hat and sunscreen (there is limited shade on site).

Located on the site of a former public housing development, Hilltop Urban Farm is on the way to becoming the largest urban farm in the U.S. The farm also serves as a resource for farming initiatives, with education programs for adults and children and a farm incubator that supports local hops growers, beekeepers, florists and others. There is lots of work to be done to make the site live up to its potential, and the YCOP has helped in the past by planting trees and improving the soil. Come and be part of this worthwhile project -- and meet some smart, interesting people in the process!

Sept. 18, 2021, 9-12 a.m.
700 Cresswell Street, Pittsburgh PA 15210.
Let us know if you can join us: [email protected]

We're doing it again! Volunteer with fellow Yalies and friends at Hilltop Urban Farm, Saturday, September 18, 9-12. You provide the labor and the YCOP will provide the snacks. Please bring a mask, closed-toed shoes, plenty of water, and both a hat and sunscreen (there is limited shade on site).

Located on the site of a former public housing development, Hilltop Urban Farm is on the way to becoming the largest urban farm in the U.S. The farm also serves as a resource for farming initiatives, with education programs for adults and children and a farm incubator that supports local hops growers, beekeepers, florists and others. There is lots of work to be done to make the site live up to its potential, and the YCOP has helped in the past by planting trees and improving the soil. Come and be part of this worthwhile project -- and meet some smart, interesting people in the process!

Sept. 18, 2021, 9-12 a.m.
700 Cresswell Street, Pittsburgh PA 15210.

Let us know if you can join us: [email protected]

Yalies and friends volunteered at Hilltop Urban Garden this morning. When the Pittsburgh Housing Authority demolished the public housing that used to be on the site, they left the pieces where they were. We spent the morning removing stones, bricks, pipes, and other debris so more of the site can be put into farming. Hard, fun, rewarding work with a great group of people.

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh cordially invites current Yale students and Yale alumni to the YCOP's 2021 Annual Meeting and Dinner at the Fox Chapel Golf Club on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. We begin at 6:00 p.m. with cocktails and a silent auction, followed by dinner, a short business meeting, and a presentation by Eliza Smith Brown, author and expert on Pittsburgh's women's suffrage movement. The event is free of charge to Yale students and alumni and one guest each, courtesy of YCOP Board of Governors President William Kofmehl. Please RSVP to him at [email protected] no later than June 18. We look forward to seeing you there.

Volunteer with fellow Yalies and friends at Hilltop Urban Farm, Saturday, June 19, 9-12. You provide the labor and the YCOP will provide the snacks! Please bring a mask, closed-toed shoes, plenty of water, and both a hat and sunscreen (there is limited shade on site). 700 Cresswell Street, Pittsburgh PA 15210. Let us know if you can join us: [email protected].

The Yale Club of Pittsburgh is delighted to invite you and your friends to a special presentation on the early history of the United States Constitution with Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School, on Thursday evening, May 6th, 2021, at 7:30 P.M. The presentation will be hosted by Otto H. Chu and presented by Zoom.

Professor Amar is one of the most popular and engaging professors at Yale and teaches constitutional law classes to hundreds of Yale College students, in addition to classes for Yale Law School students. He has just published a major new book, “The Words that Made Us,” the first of a three-book series on the history of the United States Constitution. As Professor Amar will discuss, western Pennsylvania plays a major role in the early history of the U.S. Constitution. During a period of great controversy, it seems especially timely to consider the history and roots of the U.S. Constitution.

R.S.V.P. only if you expect to attend this event to Otto H. Chu of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh Board of Governors, the host of this event, by e-mail at: [email protected]

A thought-provoking article by our own Mike Madison.

Renewing Pittsburgh’s Governance | The Postindustrial A little more than 15 years ago, I made a minor name for myself as a Pittsburgh observer by publishing a newspaper column that argued, bluntly, that the Allegheny Conference on Community Development had outlasted its usefulness to the region and should withdraw from the stage.

Join the YCOP for two food history/women's history events on Wednesday, March 10 from 7:00-8:00 PM and from 8:00-8:45 PM. (Separate registrations are required for each event)

First Event: Lena Richard and Julia Child: Two Women Who Changed Culinary History
7:00-8:00 PM
The first event is an hour-long Smithsonian Affiliates program. During the program, YCOP governor and Smithsonian food historian Ashley Rose Young and her colleague, Smithsonian curator Paula Johnson will discuss two extraordinary women chefs, Lena Richard and Julia Child, and how they inspired generations of people to take cooking seriously. Ashley and Paula will explore how these two chefs challenged perceptions and stereotypes of women in their respective eras and made lasting contributions to culinary history. This event is part of the Smithsonian Women's History Initiative.

This is a FREE program. You must register for this Zoom webinar here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XO3BCxagSV28xoI1M0PKng

Second Event: Post-Program Conversation with Ashley Rose Young
8:00-8:45 PM
Join the YCOP for an informal conversation and a Sazerac cocktail toast with Ashley Rose Young following the Smithsonian Affiliates' program. During this event, you'll gain behind-the-scenes insights into the career of a Smithsonian food historian while having the chance to ask Ashley questions about her research on Lena Richard, one of America's first food television stars.

We invite you to make a Sazerac cocktail (recipe below) or bring a beverage of your choice to the event. Together, we'll toast to the inspiring history of these two women.

This is also a FREE event. You must register separately for this event, and can do so at [email protected] YCOP will then send you the zoom room details. Once the Smithsonian Affiliates' program ends at 8:00 PM on March 10, you can sign out of that zoom webinar and sign into the YCOP post-program zoom room.

New Light Congregation is hosting an online event on Feb. 6 featuring Composer and Yale Alumnus Josh Ehrlich. Admission is free.

Sing A New Light presents The Choral Torah Composer Josh Ehrlich leads a magic-school-bus-style ride through the Bible with all-sibling quartet, The Four Hermaneutics.

The Cornell Club of Pittsburgh has invited the YCOP to join them in testing out a very interesting new bird watching app. For Cornell Cares Day 2021, the Cornell Club of Pittsburgh is partnering with Cornell's world-renowned Lab of Ornithology. The Lab has recently launched the Merlin Bird ID App, a smartphone application featuring a "bird ID wizard" that asks a few basic questions to help identify birds that you observe, and can also identify a bird based on photographs you take of birds. The app is based on and connected to the "eBird" citizen-science project database. The eBird project collects information submitted by birdwatchers of all experience levels, archives the information, and freely shares it to power data-driven approaches to science, conservation, and education. Submitted bird sightings contribute to peer-reviewed papers, student projects, and conservation decisions, as well as providing information for bird research worldwide. The Lab of Ornithology needs volunteers to simply use the app; such use will help train the app. Also, the Lab would appreciate feedback on any issues encountered when using the app.

For this event, you will need to download the free Merlin Bird ID App (which is available in both the Apple and Google Play stores). Please bird watch and use the app for at least an hour. You can bird watch at any location--a park, a trail, or your backyard. We just ask that you social distance and otherwise keep yourself safe as you are looking for and watching birds

Home Page Bird ID Wizard—Step-by-step Answer three simple questions about a bird you are trying to identify and Merlin will come up with a list of possible matches. Merlin offers quick identification help for all levels of bird watchers to learn about the birds across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and ...