From the Director of Admissions: Only at Yale, Continued

Earlier in the year, I shared one of my many “only at Yale” moments: running into Henry Kissinger—literally—in the hallway here at Evans Hall following a talk he had given to the Yale community. Recently I was reminded of just how often those moments happen. Last week, former treasury secretary Timothy Geithner was here in Evans Hall for the first of three Okun Lectures, just a day after Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of BRAC, the largest NGO in the world, spoke with students, and a week after European Commission President José Manuel Barroso paid a visit to campus.

The frequency of these moments is part of what makes Yale unique. But their frequency can also sometimes obscure how special they are and how amazing this community is. I was reminded of this fact last week when reading an article in the Atlantic magazine about the history of the concept of disruptive innovation. I learned that the concept—if not the label—largely originated with faculty member Dick Foster. I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have been. As I say to myself so often, “only at Yale.”

(An aside: Professor Foster regularly opens up his New York home for our events, often featuring the author and Yale PhD Tom Wolfe—more only-at-Yale moments!).