Hello Trumbullians!
We survived the first snowstorm of 2026. To handle the extremely cold temperatures, here are some advisories.
· Check windows and doors to ensure they are fully closed.
· Keep cooler spaces connected. If your area is usually cool and it is safe to do so, leave the door open to let heat from hallways or common areas help keep the space comfortable.
· Power down when not in use. Turn off lights, computers, appliances, and other equipment that do not need to remain on.
· Stay aware of winter conditions. Use caution when walking outside, as snow and ice can make walkways slippery.
· Report emergency maintenance issues immediately. Call the Yale Facilities Operations Center at 203-432-6888.
For more information on winter, emergency, and personal preparedness, visit the Emergency Management website. Related to these severe conditions, please note that we have to accommodate our Dining Hall staff. So, you may see these members of our community around college grounds over this weekend.
Spring semester IMs are upon us, with MHOOPS (Men’s Basketball), CHOOPS (co-ed basketball), WHOOPS (women’s basketball), BROOMBALL (basically hockey without skates), and DODGEBALL (dodge the ball)) and many more events. Below is the continuing list of our upcoming events.
Some comments about keeping our community clean. The spaces allocated for trash and recycling (at least in the basement area near the Trumbull kitchen and elevator) need to be kept clean and tidy. We have noticed that disposal of trash and recycling has been EXTREMELY careless in these areas, which in turn creates an invitation to mice, rats, and roaches. So please take extra precautions when you are throwing trash and/or recycling.
Below are events already on the calendar. Please be on the lookout for spring activities, as many are being planned and will be posted shortly.
Monday, Feb 2nd, 6-8pm Mellon Forum (HoC House, Seniors only)
Sunday, Feb 8th, 8:30am IRIS 5K Run (Signup required) Packet Pick-Up Starts @ 8:30 am, Race @ 10am
Sunday, Feb 8th, 6:30-9pm Superbowl Party (Dining Hall)
Thursday, Feb 19th, 4-5pm Tea on “IMF and World Bank in a multi-polar world” (Common Room)
Thursday, Feb 26th, 4-5pm Tea with Joshua Kendall (HoC House)
Monday, Mar 2nd, 6-8pm Mellon Forum (HoC House, Seniors only)
Friday, Mar 27th, 12-1pm Tea with Ann Curry (Common Room)
Monday, Mar 30th, 6-8pm Mellon Forum (HoC House, Seniors only)
If you are a senior participating in the Mellon Forum or receiving a Mellon Grant, I strongly encourage you to present your work at the Yale Undergraduate Research Conference (YURC). Given the many layers of feedback you have already received, your research is well-prepared for presentation, and YURC offers a valuable opportunity to share your work with a broad, interdisciplinary audience. Taking place February 20-22, YURC is the nation’s largest student-run undergraduate research conference, welcoming students from all disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, and STEM. Whether you are looking to share your research, connect with undergraduates from across the country, or learn from distinguished speakers, YURC offers meaningful opportunities for students at every stage of their academic journey. At YURC, you can:
· Present your research to a panel of judges
· Attend keynote speeches and flash talks
· Network with industry professionals and fellow scholars
· Compete for awards totaling $10,000+
Registration is free for Yale College students, and I encourage you to apply with ongoing projects, completed work, theses in progress, or any research. Application deadline is February 1st.
Valerie Henriquez TC ‘27 majoring in HSHM is reaching out on behalf of the Marketing Office of Career and Strategy and Fellowships as our residential college’s Marketing Outreach Coordinator. She is here to offer office hours for students to explore various types of summer and term-time funding opportunities, including Yale Summer Funding and national/external awards. She can answer questions and discuss the many resources, services, and events that the Office of Career Strategy offers, as well as resume and CV reviews. She will be in the Trumbull Buttery at 7-9pm on Mondays.
This week’s Guest Curator is Ericka Henriquez TC ‘27 [yes, Valerie and Ericka are sisters] majoring in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health, with a certificate in Education Studies. Ericka is an Arts Liaison and Student Librarian at the Yale LGBTQ Center. She invites everyone to visit the center, especially on Tuesday evenings from 7 PM to 8:30 PM for their Community Nights, and to check out the plethora of novels on offer in the center’s Stonewall Library. Ericka also works as a Studio Designer for STC, collaborating with campus organizations and students to develop branding and logos for their groups and events. She volunteers as a mentor for New Haven high school students interested in STEM and health-related fields with Yale Simulation Academy’s SAY-YES Program.
Sabrina Zheng ‘28, a Pierson sophomore studying Ethnicity, Race, & Migration and Political Science and Stephanie Chen ’28, a Morse sophomore studying History conducted oral history interviews for their ER&M Asian Diasporas course with Professor Quan Tran, interviewing local Asian community leaders in Connecticut for the Asian Pacific American Coalition of Connecticut (APAC). Following the course, they were interested in continuing that work and refounded the Negative Space Project, an initiative that documents the lives of Asians and Asian Americans at Yale through oral history interviews that was previously discontinued. They are currently recruiting for interviewers and a Communications Director for the Negative Space Project.
The Negative Space Project documents the lives of Asians and Asian Americans at Yale and broader Connecticut through oral history interviews. In partnership with the Asian Pacific American Coalition of Connecticut (APAC) and local historical institutions, we are building upon a digital and physical archive to preserve our histories on our terms. More than just research, your work will also be featured in our annual on-campus exhibition/gallery. The Negative Space Project is looking for interviewers and a Communications Director. Please apply HERE by Saturday, February 7. Learn more about them HERE. Check out their Instagram @negativespaceyale. This is Low Commitment gig with ~1hr per week.
Reach out to Sabrina Zheng ‘28 and Stephanie Chen ’28 if you have any questions!
Alessandra Pappalardi TC ’26 is one of Dwight Hall’s Volunteer Coordinators who is responsible for leading weekly service opportunities associated Dwight Hall’s Service Series, a program designed to build substantial relationships between service-inclined Yale students and the broader New Haven community. Are you interested in the joys of service towards New Haven working as a volunteer? Perhaps you should consider the Open Opportunities Service Spreadsheet which is a live document, and each week it will be updated with new opportunities! Download the Dwight Hall Service Series Google Calendar so that you may directly map your schedules onto the volunteer events of the week. Some included descriptions of all of our service opportunities are listed below:
· Sunrise Cafe
Each weekday morning, Sunrise Cafe welcomes guests to the undercroft of St. Paul and St. James, near Wooster Square and three blocks south of the New Haven Green with white tablecloths, flowers and a rotating menu of fresh, warm, nutritious home-cooked food. Cheerful volunteers take each order individually, deliver the breakfast to our guest and help our paid chef in the kitchen. Hours are 6:30am to 9:30am every weekday.
· Co-Op After School
Co-Op After School is a grant-funded after school program operated and managed by Dwight Hall at Yale in partnership with Co-Op High School. As the largest high school after school program in the state of Connecticut, CAS provides free, innovative programming to more than 350 high school students annually in a safe, supportive and nurturing environment. Read more about the programming here.
· Clothing Sort
Dwight Hall collects clothing and shoes year-round through a large brown donation bin on Yale’s Old Campus adjacent to Dwight Hall by the entrance to the Common Room and Chapel. Donated items are sorted and distributed to community partners on a regular basis. Local partners include Loaves and Fishes, Community Soup Kitchen, and the New Haven Pride Center. Join the effort to distribute clothing to community members in need!
· BBBS
Since 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) has helped children realize their potential and build their futures through meaningful mentorship. BBBS Connecticut and Dwight Hall are partnering to provide mentorship to the children at Truman School in New Haven. BBBS seeks caring Yale students to become “Bigs” - mentors who support the dreams of, listen to, and empower students at Truman School. By becoming a “Big”, volunteers join a tight-knit community that fosters education and collaboration, develop friendships with other mentors, and most importantly, create a lifelong bond with a Truman School student.
· NHTI
The New Haven Tutoring Initiative, composed of New Haven Reads and New Haven Counts, is dedicated to increasing literacy and quantitative skills, respectively, among New Haven students through high-quality tutoring, community engagement, and family support. This initiative was founded by the City of New Haven, and several youth-serving agencies to address the challenges facing students’ education. NHTI is committed to providing equitable access to educational opportunities for all children in the New Haven community.
If you have questions about your calls for service, please contact Mark Fopeano, Dwight Hall Director of Programming, or Alessandra Pappalardi, Lead Service Coordinator.
Quinnipiac Law’s Human Trafficking Prevention Project (HTPP) is thrilled to announce our seventh annual Human Trafficking Awareness Week, taking place in person at the Quinnipiac School of Law on the North Haven campus. Working with local and national advocates, we have put together another exciting slate of free events to educate members of our university communities, the legal community, and the general public about one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. To register or for more information, please go to the website of Connecticut Bar Foundation. Three events in particular:
· “REEL vs. REAL: Sextortion, a Public Health Crisis”
Tuesday, Feb. 17th 12noon - 1 pm @ Quinnipiac Law, North Haven
Led by a public health researcher with trafficking expertise, this interactive session explores sextortion and how youth—including boys—are targeted, groomed, and coerced online. Using media clips, role-play, and research to debunk popular portrayals and stereotypes, this session spotlights who is most at risk and how much research-based prevention and response matter.
· PANEL: “Sentencing Reform for Crime Victims: Does Connecticut Need a Survivors Justice Act?”
Wednesday, Feb. 18th 6 - 8 pm @ Quinnipiac Law, North Haven
This panel brings together human trafficking and criminal justice experts to debate whether our state needs its own Survivors Justice Act (SJA) for crime victims caught up in the criminal system. While versions of the SJA have passed in New York and other states, Connecticut legislators rejected various SJA proposals (SB-1502 & HB-7236) last session. Panelists will discuss: What role should victimization play in sentencing, and how should this be decided? To what extent does our system already take into account victimization? What is the SJA’s fiscal impact, and will it really open the floodgates? and more…. (2 CLE credits)
· “Ripped from the Headlines: Jeffrey Epstein, Sean Combs (‘Diddy’), & Andrew Tate”
Thursday, Feb. 19th 12noon - 1 pm @ Quinnipiac Law, North Haven
What do you really know about the high-profile sex trafficking in the news recently? For answers, please join two Quinnipiac-affiliated state prosecutors, as they discuss the cases of Jeffrey Epstein, Sean Combs (a/k/a “Diddy”), and Andrew Tate, and the special challenges such cases present, including: the legal standards that make these cases hard to win; balancing prosecutorial zeal with victim protections; navigating the media and public perceptions; and more…. (1 CLE credit)
Stay safe and stay warm in this cold stretch of the semester! Moo-Rah!
Sincerely,
Head Hyder