Ever since I was admitted to Yale, I was intrigued by the last names of President Levin and Dean Salovey: they both sound very Russian. “Salovey,” for one, appeared to be a misspelt Russian word (“solovey” means “nightingale”).This is why I chose Yale over other schools: Yale’s President had a Russian-sounding name while Harvard’s ex-president made derogatory remarks about women in science. And other schools’ presidents didn’t have Russian-sounding last names, so it was Yale for me. Just kidding.
I chose Yale for many other reasons, but I was pleased to learn that President Levin’s ancestors are in fact Russian. Together with nine other students, I had lunch with Dean Salovey (Dean of Yale College) today and he turned out to be Russian, too! Actually, his family comes from Belarus, but his last name is Russian Jewish. And so is that of President Levin.
Trumbull, my residential college, has introduced a Monthly Dean’s Lunch Series that allows Trumbulians to talk to interesting people over a meal. Dean Salovey happened to be our first guest. We all learned a lot of exciting facts by Dean Salovey that Wikipedia and Yale’s website fail to provide: that he plays in a grassroot band, why he became a dean at Yale College, why he cannot comment on Aliza Shvart’s art, and why our dining hall has the right kind of matza (ask me if you’d like to know).
I am now looking forward to more Dean’s Lunches – who knows what I will get to learn next time?
Photo courtesy Trumbull’s amazing Dean Jasmina Besirevic
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