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AYA Home --> Leadership Directory-> Clubs and Associations
Leadership Directory
Clubs and Associations
Yale Clubs and Associations around the world provide a rich variety of activities and events, both to stimulate interest in University concerns and to encourage alumni to enjoy the good fellowship grounded in a shared educational experience.
Volunteer leaders marshal alumni in their region not only to hold social events, but to offer educational programs and to perform a number of services that make substantive contributions to the Yale community.
The AYA Speakers Program remains one of the most popular club programs, allowing alumni to engage in stimulating discussions with Yale faculty and administrators. Extended Club Seminars, featuring a more intense offering of readings and lectures, are being presented by a growing number of clubs, and the Redpath Seminar travels to a different club location each year. Clubs also organize cultural activities, family events and luncheon programs with local speakers of note.
Under the auspices of Alumni Schools Committees (ASC), alumni coordinate work with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and use guidelines provided by that office to interview and recruit prospective students. Special events for current undergraduate and graduate and professional school students over holidays and on campus help to foster the next generation of alumni.
Many clubs use the Yale Book Award program to tout their alma mater and recruit the best and brightest high school students to the University. This AYA-sponsored award recognizes a local high school junior of academic promise and includes a bookplate stating that the award comes from that community’s Yale club or association.
Through the Yale Club and Association Scholarship Program, alumni can honor local students, gain positive publicity for Yale and assist the University in fulfilling its commitment to undergraduate need-blind admissions. Increasingly, clubs are extending the scope of their scholarship funds to include graduate and professional students as well.
Yale is fortunate to have an abundance of inspired and dedicated volunteer leaders who give a great deal of time and energy to the University. To acknowledge these outstanding individuals, the AYA offers local clubs the opportunity to present the AYA Club Recognition Award.
One of the most popular and successful student-alumni programs is the AYA Externship program. An externship is a one or two week unpaid program in which undergraduate and graduate and professional students spend spring break working directly with Yale alumni in an area of potential career interest. The program offers the student a glimpse of the occupational field as well as providing some hands-on work experience.
AYA Community Service Summer Fellowship
The AYA Community Service Summer Fellowship program was initiated in the fall of 1989 after Yale students approached members of the Yale Corporation about full-time summer community service work. The Fellowship fosters a strong partnership between Yale students and Yale alumni clubs and associations. Current Yale undergraduate and graduate/professional school students, not in their final year of study may apply. The program is supported by the generosity of Yale clubs and several Yale College classes as well as individuals that sponsor the students and offer financial support. The Fellowship fosters a strong partnership between Yale students and Yale alumni clubs and associations.
Alumni, through their local Yale Clubs/Associations, identify community service organizations that would benefit from the full-time services of a Yale student for eight weeks during the summer.
The program has grown considerably over the years. Currently, twenty-one Clubs and one international Club have stepped forward to bring thirty-one Fellows to their communities. Since its inception, the Community Service Summer Fellowship program has sent over 200 students to benefit organizations such as: homeless shelters, health centers, community redevelopment programs, summer educational enrichment programs, and community family centers. Students are inspired by the people they work with and the alumni they meet during these summer sojourns.
Four Goals Defining the Program:
- * To enrich the educational environment of the University by adding community service fellowships to the selection of summer programs for students.
- * To connect alumni and students interested in community service.
- * To increase the awareness of local needs and to foster positive change for those in need in locations where Yale has alumni clubs and associations.
- * To extend the service activities of Yale Clubs by adding a community service option to their range of programs.
Club Relations Staff
The Director of Club and Association Relations provides overall leadership and support to the many areas encompassed by Yale Clubs and Associations throughout the world. Club Development Officers (CDOs) assist Clubs and Associations in reaching out to the national and international community of alumni.
The goal of these officers is to strengthen alumni affiliation with Yale by providing advice and support to Yale Club and Association leaders. Also known as Assistant Directors for Club Development, the CDOs maintain close contact with regional leaders through frequent visits, correspondence and telephone conversations. The CDOs work closely with the Director of Club and Association Relations to implement programs and encourage service activities at the club level.
The CDOs and the Director of the Club and Association Relations travel with the Yale President and sometimes with the University administrators and faculty members when they speak at club sponsored events. In addition, the Assistant Director for Programs develops alumni volunteer programs and monitors the network of alumni volunteer leaders around the world. Finally, due to the extensive contact with alumni in the field, all members of the Club Development staff serve as information clearinghouses, handling queries about the University and bringing back to New Haven questions and concerns from club leadership.
