When Yale Schwarzman Center (YSC) launched its YSC Sessions model online at the height of the initial COVID wave, Center staff recognized an opportunity to close social distances – an opportunity that promises to outlive the pandemic and public health mandates. The success of those early Sessions, combined with a growing demand for new Sessions, inspired the creation of a fellowship between YSC and the Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity (OGSDD), and the appointment of a Sessions Fellow, Jon-Paul Lapeña, to help expand the notion of “fresh ideas over a meal.”
Sessions seek to bridge gaps, build relationships, and create knowledge within and beyond Yale by inviting creative thinkers into casual, 60-minute conversations over a meal. These gatherings involve up to 12 discussants, called Sessionists, and may be held privately or streamed online. All Sessions to date have taken place on Zoom, and YSC has provided GrubHub coupons to subsidize Sessionists’ meals. Sessions are expected to move into The Underground, a dining venue in the YSC building, as Yale’s public health guidance allows.
Sessions may emerge as a response to contemporary issues—a public humanities approach to curation. Or prospective Sessionists may propose topics themselves by submitting a form. Lapeña serves as promoter, manager, and facilitator of each new Session, in addition to his role as strategist for the overarching YSC Sessions model.
“One of the things that makes YSC Sessions special is that the model requires a diversity of backgrounds at the table for a conversation that is genuinely reflective of the community we live in,” said Lapeña. To encourage collaborations with ample depth and breadth, Sessions must meet three guidelines, he explained.
First, Sessions must include at least one participant from three of five affiliations, including undergraduate, graduate or professional student, community member, Yale faculty, and Yale staff. Second, Sessions must be interdisciplinary. And third, Session must invite and encourage a free exchange of ideas. To date, YSC has hosted four Sessions on the topics of Building Bridges in Creative AAPI Communities, New Creative Producing Models, Sleep Disparities in the Arts & Healthcare, and Filling the Gaps: Philanthropy's Role in 2021.
YSC Associate Artistic Director Jennifer Harrison Newman commented, “The success of the Sessions model hinges on interdisciplinarity and the ability to value diverse viewpoints ranging from the scientific to the spiritual, which J-P embodies in both his academic and professional work.”
Before joining YSC, Lapeña was a Junior Fellow for the Science, Religion, and Culture program at Harvard Divinity School and interned as a Hospital Chaplain at North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts. He also previously worked as a multimedia producer for a start-up making educational videos for online learning. Prior to moving to New England, Lapeña produced music and art shows in his home community of San Diego, California.
Lapeña is currently a PhD student in Religious Studies at Yale Divinity School where his research explores the intersection of healing and healthcare practices in biblical texts and its impact on public health issues today. He holds an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School and a BA in Religious Studies from San Diego State University.
Assistant Dean of Diversity of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Danica Tisdale Fisher concluded, “J-P’s new role as Sessions Fellow unlocks synergies between the Schwarzman Center and OGSDD and provides a creative new opportunity for graduate student engagement. The joint fellowship helps break down one of the many silos within Yale, and in doing so, makes it possible to free people from their individual silos at time when we all want to be closer together.”