On December 2, 2025, more than 350 members of the Yale community gathered in Boston at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel to meet Yale President Maurie McInnis ’96 PhD and hear from Yale faculty and alumni whose work illustrates the impact of the ongoing For Humanity campaign. About 260 people also tuned in via the livestream. The gathering marked the finale of the For Humanity Illuminated series, which has hosted seventeen events over the course of the five-year fundraising campaign.

After an introduction by For Humanity campaign co-chair Joshua Bekenstein ’80, McInnis spoke about how Yale alumni have consistently rallied to support the university as higher education faces headwinds. And she discussed the importance of character—for individuals, nations, and universities. Universities have shown their character during times of great need, she said, such as during World War II, the Cold War, and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“But while character is often revealed in crisis, it’s built in quieter moments,” McInnis added. Scholars, scientists, and doctors spend years or decades developing the ideas and inventions that power our modern society. And crucial to those breakthroughs are both funding and intellectual freedom to explore new topics. “At Yale, thanks to critical federal investments and the generosity of private citizens like you, we’re using that freedom to push the bounds of what’s possible,” McInnis said.

After McInnis spoke, presenters who embodied some of the best of Yale’s character spoke about their work.

Katherine Balch ’16 MusM: For Harmony

Balch, an associate professor of composition at Yale School of Music, started out by leading the audience in a three-part harmony.

“Harmony can be a patient guide, or an impetuous one; it may be overt or obscured,” Balch said.

Her work incorporates sounds not typically part of a symphony orchestra: harmonicas, ceramic tiles, and flowerpots. “I filter my environment through the instruments I’m writing for, kind of like a musical sieve,” she said.

Balch believes that music—and the way it’s taught—can have a positive impact on society. One of her classes invites students to listen to and study their surroundings in the same way one might listen to a piece of music. This connects music to the broader context of the humanities and the sciences, she said.

“Music makes people better listeners, more patient, more open to abstract thought and unfamiliar ideas, and more intimately in touch with their bodies and minds,” Balch concluded. And it “helps us tune ourselves to our surroundings and our society—allowing space for both consonance and dissonance.”

C. Brandon Ogbunu ’10 PhD: For Science for Everybody

Ogbunu, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is a computational biologist studying complex problems in epidemiology, evolutionary and population genetics, and evolution. In particular, he looks at the various forces that shape infectious diseases.

At least, he said during his talk, that’s his “day job.” But recently, Ogbunu has become more interested in the “social forces” that affect disease dynamics as well. His work to understand how the more scientific work in his lab translated to broader society has become his “night job.”

“There has always been an intimate connection between the pipettes, microscopes, computer code, and equations, and the world in which we live,” Ogbunu said. This understanding is what led him to found the Yale Initiative for Science and Society. 

Ogbunu also directs an NSF-funded research experience for undergraduates focused on formerly-incarcerated students—one of the first of its kind at Yale.

“It is my aim to inspire others to know that one can think deeply about the molecules and electrons, and the world of people, just like me and you, who simply have never had the chance to participate,” he said.

Beth Goldberg ’18 MA, ’18 MBA: For Harnessing AI to Better Understand Each Other

Goldberg is a senior fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. She is also the head of research and development at Jigsaw, an incubator at Google that builds free and open tools to benefit society.

One of the issues she works on is the powerlessness that people can feel when they are not able to navigate a system. 

“When people don’t feel heard, they withdraw from the public square,” Goldberg said. “Then political leaders can’t make sense of what the full public wants.”

She believes that AI can help bridge this gap and help us have more democratic conversations. Working with leaders of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Goldberg and her colleagues facilitated an AI-powered town hall that enabled almost 8,000 residents of Bowling Green to submit and vote on proposals.

The town hall helped to identify both the importance of communicating about existing programs as well as identifying areas of easy, low-resource improvements. And it demonstrated how many areas of common ground there actually were. Ninety-six percent of local leaders in the town, said Goldberg, agreed that AI made it easier to understand and represent their community’s need.

“It’s more crucial than ever to enable people to participate and remain engaged in conversations, whether in their classrooms or communities,” Goldberg said. “Through ethical and transparent development of open-source AI tools, we can harness technology to give people a voice and choice in the world around them.”

Brian Hamm: For Hitting the Curveball

Hamm is the Fay Vincent ’31 Head Coach of Baseball at Yale, where he led the Bulldogs to the 2025 Ivy League regular season championship. 

Hamm led the audience in a drill, similar to one he uses with his players, which involved focusing on a ball and collectively saying “bounce” when it hit the floor. 

The exercise, Hamm says, helps players, and others, be more present. 

“If we center ourselves in the moment,” he said, “we can bring that same clarity and courage into every aspect of our lives.”

Being present, Hamm said, also helps all of us connect across differences and see humanity in others. 

“Presence is an act of engagement,” he said. “If we can lead from that place with empathy, with clarity, and courage… we will make the world around us a little better, one moment at a time.”