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A Long-Distance Relationship with Yale
July/August 2004
by Edward A. Dennis '63

Edward A. Dennis, professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego, is the new chair of the AYA Board of Governors.

I greatly value my Yale undergraduate experience. So, since moving in 1970 to San Diego, the farthest point from the university in the continental United States, I haven’t missed a single Class of 1963 reunion. Over the years I’ve also participated in my local club activities, most heavily as an interviewer of Yale undergraduate applicants. This allowed me to share my experience and influence others to attend my alma mater.

But I didn’t seriously re-engage with Yale until a decade ago, when my daughter Jendy '98 entered Yale College and I was asked by the Yale Club of San Diego to serve as a delegate to the AYA Assembly.

Assembly participation was an exhilarating experience—an opportunity to see Yale up close and to learn how it works “under the hood.” Each assembly I attended provided an inside look at a different aspect: the undergraduate curriculum, admissions, the arts, the athletic program, the university-New Haven relationship, and so forth. Each also offered a chance to renew old friendships and make new ones within the Yale community. During my three-year term, I never skipped an assembly; they were simply too interesting to miss.

Toward the end of my term, a fellow California delegate, Nick Ciriello '59, asked me to stand for election to the AYA Board of Governors. Service on the board involved more frequent trips to New Haven, but, having already been given a taste of the assemblies, I knew I was ready for it.

One of my most memorable responsibilities was organizing the spring 2000 assembly program, “Yale and the Environment.” This enabled me to learn about the Forestry and Environment School’s impressive program and work with faculty and students, as well as with environmentalist alumni such as Gus Speth '64, '69LLB, dean of FES; Bill Reilly '62, who headed the EPA during the first Bush administration; and Frances Beinecke '71, '74MFS, a Corporation Fellow and the executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The experience provided me with extra insight into one of Yale’s outstanding professional schools. Subsequent exposure through service as secretary, treasurer, vice-chair, and, as of July 1, chair of the AYA Board of Governors, has only strengthened my appreciation for Yale.

My re-engagement with Yale began just following Rick Levin’s inauguration as Yale’s 22nd president. I have observed enormous changes at Yale between my 30th class reunion back in 1993 and the completion of Levin’s first decade as president last year. Most measurable and obvious, of course, is the refurbishment of the physical plant unveiling a stunning campus. And this has paralleled the rebirth of New Haven, a wonderfully alive and increasingly safe city filled with ethnic restaurants, cultural activities, and, finally, a first-class hotel! At the same time, the core values of a Yale education have stayed intact, and the past decade stands out as one of Yale’s proudest, thanks to the consistency of purpose and direction under Rick Levin’s leadership, aided by Linda Lorimer’s administration and Dick Brodhead’s deanship of Yale College.

As a professor, department chair, and president of the faculty academic senate at the University of California at San Diego—a major research university with many similarities to Yale—I have had many opportunities to evaluate academic and administrative leadership first hand and I can tell you that Yale is exemplary in this respect. As a parent of now three Yale alums—my twin sons Evan and Andrew graduated in 2001—I’ve learned that the students love Yale. And as an alumnus, I can tell you that Yale is among the very few American universities to devote as much thought and energy to engaging and connecting its alumni as to soliciting their support.

I urge all alumni to get to know this amazing institution in its current form and reconnect in whatever manner you find the most rewarding. You’ll be happy you did.

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