Yale Medal

2005 Yale Medal Recipients

J. Kirk Casselman ’68

Kirk Casselman worked for many years as a volunteer with Yale’s Admissions Office, beginning as an interviewer for applicants to Yale College, then becoming an area director coordinating other interviewers, and then helping to found and develop the Alumni Schools Network (ASN). The ASN has been a national organization for all directors of local Alumni Schools Committees. As part of the ASN effort, Casselman conceived and launched the Adopt-A-School Program, by which individual alumni took responsibility for being a liaison with local secondary schools. Casselman has been Secretary of the Association of Yale Alumni, President of the Yale Club of San Francisco, and has most recently helped launch an internship program for Yale students in the Bay area.

Rowan Claypool ’80

Rowan Claypool had a vision for attracting Yale students to heartland cities for summer internships, both to reverse the “brain drain” in these areas and to expose students to a wider range of career opportunities. With the collaboration of the Yale Alumni Association of Kentucky, Claypool created “Bulldogs in the Bluegrass,” bringing 28 current Yale students to Louisville, Kentucky each summer. Students work in non-profit and for-profit internships, live together on a local campus, and participate in a series of events introducing them to the economic, political and cultural life of the region. Since the program was launched in 1999, over 230 “Bulldogs” have participated, and Claypool has gone on to help found a similar program in Cleveland. He is currently working on start-up Bulldogs projects in four other cities.

Maureen O. Doran ’71 MSN

Maureen Doran has shown exceptional devotion to both the Yale School of Nursing (YSN) and the Association of Yale Alumni. First appointed as an AYA Delegate At-Large in 1990, she was elected to the AYA Board of Governors in 1993, and subsequently served from 1996 to 2002 as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair. Following her service as AYA Chair, Doran returned to assist the YSN Alumnae/i Association by leading a task force to renew and restructure the association’s programming. In 2002, she was named an inaugural recipient of the Yale School of Nursing Medal and inducted into the School’s Hall of Fame. As an alumni leader, Doran exhibited both a deep affection for Yale and the ability to galvanize a broad range of alumni initiatives and activities.

Paul L. Joskow ’72 PhD

Paul Joskow has made many contributions to the Yale community, foremost among them his presidency for twelve years of the University Council and his associated roles on the Honorary Degree selection committee and the Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee for the Yale Corporation. Joskow was instrumental in reorganizing the Council in 1993, shaping it into an invaluable advisory group to Yale’s President and other senior officers. Collaborating closely with the officers, the Council appoints task forces and committees of outside experts to examine and make recommendations for improving university life and operations. Joskow is also a generous supporter of the Economics Department and the ROME program, which provides undergraduates an opportunity to be involved in research projects in mathematics and economics.

Nicholas Spinelli ’41S, ’44 MD

Nicholas Spinelli has been an exemplary volunteer and alumni leader for both his Yale College Class of 1941 and the Yale Medical School, serving in many volunteer roles for over six decades: Class Agent, Reunion Gift Chair, Class Secretary, President of the Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine, and Chairman of the Medical School Alumni Fund. For twenty years, Spinelli also served on a completely voluntary basis as the director of the Yale School of Medicine’s Office of Alumni Affairs, where he was applauded by both the school’s administration and alumni for his tireless efforts to create and develop alumni engagements and connections on behalf of the School.