In today's episode, Casey, Maria, and Naomi talk to conservative climate activists about why they support carbon pricing policy. We'll hear from former Congressman Bob Inglis (RepublicEN.org), Kiera O'Brien (Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends), former Congressman Carlos Curbelo, and Jerry Taylor (Niskanen Center). Read more at pricingnature.substack.com

5. The Conservative Case for Carbon Pricing

The transfer and non-traditional students programs make up a small but important part of the admissions office’s work to create a diverse undergraduate community. Hannah and Mark cover the basics of applying through either program and share the office’s approach to reviewing these applications. Director of transfer admissions Marisa shares advice for transfer applicants – especially those enrolled in community colleges – and director of Eli Whitney admissions Patricia shares insights for non-traditional students – especially US military veterans.

Transfer and Non-Traditional Students

As part of the whole-person review process, the Yale Admissions Committee consider each applicant’s engagement with “extracurricular activities” – pursuits and commitments outside of typical academic work. Admissions officer Reed joins Hannah and Mark to discuss how application readers evaluate extracurricular activities and how applicants can stand out in this part of the application. The trio expand on some simple advice for selecting and engaging with activities: Be Active. At the right level for you. Doing what you like.

The Activities Section

After every application has been read and has gone through an area committee, there’s one final step before decisions are released. Hannah and Mark discuss the last week of the committee process, known as Final Review, when loose ends are tied up and the hard reality of the selection process necessitates that some decisions change. Admissions officer Alfie joins to discuss how officers and committee members work together to finalize the first-year class.

Final Review

Selective colleges offer a variety of early admissions programs, including early action, restrictive early action, early decision, and early decision round 2. Hannah and Mark explain the differences among these programs and share insights on how the Yale admissions office approaches its single-choice early action program. At Yale, opting to apply through early action does not give an applicant any advantage, but the officers explain why an early program may be the right choice for some students at some colleges.

Early Admissions

For their thirtieth episode, Hannah and Mark revisit the application reading process detailed in episode 1. They share insights into the office’s new initial review process, which helps officers invest more time in the files that will get a full hearing in the admissions committee, and they detail the notes and ratings officers use when writing application workcards. Despite the significant increase in applications over the past three years, admissions officers still review files one at a time and make decisions via committee discussions.

Reading Reloaded

The sudden availability of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have raised new questions about authorship, plagiarism, and fairness in college admissions. Hannah and Mark discuss why they think these tools are unlikely to help applicants gain an advantage in Yale’s selection process and why questions about generative-AI are the wrong starting point for understanding how to compose an effective college essay. LLMs can appear very knowledgeable, but they are inevitably ignorant of the foundation of any successful application: the unique person applying.

AI and College Essays: Wrong Question, Wrong Answer

Part 1 in a 3-part series on Yale’s test-flexible policy. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan shares his thoughts on the role and value of tests generally, and how students should consider their scores during the college search process. Hannah and Mark discuss how admissions officers incorporate test scores in Yale’s whole-person review process, and they bust some persistent myths about testing.

Standardized Tests: The Big Picture

Part 2 in a 3-part series on Yale’s test-flexible policy. Hannah and Mark reveal the details of Yale’s newly announced test-flexible policy, which goes into effect for first year and transfer applicants for fall 2025 admission. They explain how applicants will fulfill Yale’s requirement and describe the questions that will appear on Yale’s application. They address concerns and questions about the new policy and share advice for how applicants can put their best foot forward with their available scores.

Standardized Tests: The Details

In the latest installment in the Mythbusters miniseries, Hannah and Mark discuss examples of reasonable—but ultimately inaccurate—beliefs that some applicants have about the admissions committee’s values and expectations. They address persistent myths about the qualities Yale admissions officers look for in applicants and offer advice for composing activities lists, essays, and short answer prompts.

What Yale Looks For: Special Mythbusters Edition

At the start of the new admissions cycle, Kenan joins Hannah and Mark for the fourth annual application update episode, highlighting changes to Yale’s first-year application. The admissions officers discuss a revised Yale-specific question and changes to two parts of the Common Application that invite applicants to share additional information.  This episode is an update to episodes titled “Essays: The Little Stuff” and “Application Update 2024-2025.”

Application Update 2025-2026

Lauren Jackson is a religion columnist for the New York Times where she is the associate editor and writer for The Morning, the Times's flagship daily newsletter. Over the past year, she has been deeply involved in reporting on belief. Lauren developed 'Believing,' a project that explores how we experience religion and spirituality in contemporary times. Lauren's thought-provoking columns delve into the complexities of faith, spirituality, and society. In this episode of The Leader’s Way, Lauren discusses the powerful transformation that is possible when we turn our attention to the people around us, attending to hyper-local needs, longings, and joys within our own community.

Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Lauren Jackson

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


69: Believing with Lauren Jackson

Joseph Yoo was baptized, raised, and ordained in the United Methodist Church, and is now an Episcopalian priest and the planter of Mosaic Episcopal Church located in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Joseph is the author of When the Saints Go Flying In: Stories About Faith, Life, and Everything in Between and is known for his dynamic presence on Instagram and TikTok, where he reflects on everything from scripture to social justice to pro wrestling. In this conversation, Joseph and Brandon talk about the curious and winding paths we travel as we follow the spiritual calling of our lives, and the people who, through the unfolding of their lives, teach us about God.  


Host: Brandon Nappi 

Guest: Joseph Yoo 

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders 

73: It's Okay to Have Jesus & a Therapist with Joseph Yoo

What does “community” actually mean? Is community something we achieve or is it something we practice? Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei are partners, parents, and community practitioners, living and working in small town rural America. Claire is the rector of a small Episcopal church and Austin is a community organizer with the 50+ year-old statewide nonprofit, SOCM. Their daily lives are a whirlwind of tending to relationships and building muscle for faithful community engagement in their small town. With humor, candor, and wisdom honed by years of deep listening, they offer insights about the tensions and opportunities that arise when we acknowledge how intertwined we are with one another. 


This episode is worth watching on The Leader’s Way YouTube channel! In this interview, Austin and Claire model what it looks like to engage in thought-partnership and parenthood, passing their youngest child, Ardy, between them as they respond to host Whitney Kimball Coe’s questions about how we do the thing we call “community.”  


Learn more about The Rev’d Claire Brown: https://www.revclairebrown.com/ 

 
Learn more about Austin Sauerbrei’s new graphic novel, Trouble! At Coal Creek: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2529-trouble-at-coal-creek 

“Have You Met the Community?” with Claire Brown and Austin Sauerbrei

In today’s episode, I talk with a truly special group of scholars, Candace Borders, Alison Kibe, and Jeania Ree Moore. They met as Graduate Writing Fellows and connected by giving each other feedback on their writing. While they share academic fields and methodologies, their ethics of care and investment in each other’s work allowed them to try out a new form of peer-review group, as “group consultations.” Conjoining the structure and duration of a peer-review writing group with the feedback process of an individual consultation, their group offers a unique model that can be formed by grad students who share a department and discipline. Sharing a discipline or department can have its’ challenges with respect to going “too deep” into the content, possible competition, and uneven experiences with working with advisors and gaining access to resources. Our guests offer a pathway based on Black feminist writing practices and theory that can mediate these challenges to offer a truly collaborative, compassionate, and accountable group writing and feedback model. 

Jeania Ree Moore is a writer, clergyperson, and interdisciplinary scholar of theology, religion, and African American studies. She is a PhD candidate in African American Studies and Religious Studies at Yale University, where her research draws on theology, ethics, and related disciplines to engage a range of sites in Black history and culture.  

Alison H Kibbe is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies at the College of Charleston. She is a scholar, multidisciplinary artist, and cultural organizer. In her scholarly work, Alison specializes in critical food studies, Black geographies and Black mobilities, and cultural production across the Caribbean and African Diaspora.

Candace Borders is an interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and curator. Her research explores the intersections of race, gender, class, and the urban Midwest, with particular attention to role of Black women’s activism in shaping the urban landscape.  She is a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Center for the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis and received her PhD in American Studies and African American Studies from Yale University. 


Synergies, not Thorns with Jeania Ree Moore, Dr. Candace Borders, and Alison H. Kibbe

If you’re considering applying to Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, this episode is for you! 

It’s the SEMINARIAN TAKEOVER episode of The Leader’s Way Podcast. Berkeley Divinity School at Yale students Whitney Kimball Coe ’26, Misty Krasawski ‘26, and Jae Kirkland Rice ’27, pull back the curtain on what it’s like to be at seminary and divinity school.  

Our seminarians tell stories about how they made the decision to apply to Yale Divinity School and the questions, longings, and experiences that led them here. In this episode, we learn that there is no single path that leads a person to seminary, but many. We hear about worship at Berkeley, favorite courses, the importance of staying “prayed up,” and the ways God surprises us throughout this journey. 

 

Learn more at the Berkeley at Yale website: https://berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/ 

Special episode: The Seminarian Takeover!

A conversation with Maureen Meister about her new book

Arts and Crafts Architecture across America

Socio-cultural anthropologist Todne Thomas, Associate Professor of Divinity and Religious Studies at Yale Divinity School, discusses researching a 2015 arson of a predominantly Black church in Tennessee, what it says about humanity, and why in-depth study of American religious life is critically important.

https://divinity.yale.edu/news/2025-12-12-what-a-2015-church-burning-reveals-about-race-religion-and-life-in-america-with

What a 2015 Church Burning Reveals About Race, Religion, and Life in America with Prof Todne Thomas

YJBM Science News is back with Part 1 of our very first Special Episode! Join Hanna, Majo, and Roxanna as they sit down with Dr. Diyendo Massilani, a researcher and professor at Yale investigating evolutionary genetics. We’ll hear from Dr. Massilani about the challenges and ethical considerations of working with ancient DNA, as well as the incredible doors it has opened to what we can interrogate and what we know about extinct human populations. Keep an eye out in the new year for Part 2, which will dive into the groundbreaking work of Dr. Massilani’s former mentor and 2022 Nobel prize winner Dr. Svante Pääbo.

Keep up with Dr. Massilani’s work:
https://massilani-lab.com/
https://x.com/Diyendo

Related links:
https://news.yale.edu/2024/08/26/seeking-ethical-approach-ancient-dna-analysis

Read more about YJBM at:
https://medicine.yale.edu/yjbm/ 

Follow us on instagram!
https://www.instagram.com/theyjbm/

Science News Special Episode - Ancient DNA and Evolutionary Genetics: An Interview with Dr. Diyendo Massilani

In this tender and powerful episode, Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi interviews Nelba Márquez-Greene, a devoted advocate for survivors of gun violence and someone who has been named one of the “Ten Women Changing the World,” according to People Magazine’s October 2019 issue. A Community Scholar at the Yale School of Public Health, Nelba also hosts the “Shared Humanity” podcast and video series, which focuses on the humans behind the headlines of gun violence in a moment in history where all too often we focus on everything but our shared humanity. Márquez-Greene seeks ways to partner with community organizations, clergy, and those looking to strengthen their response to the trauma of gun violence and injustice in our communities.  

 
Nelba would like to dedicate this episode to all clergy who have ever prayed for her and her family and all people who are in winter seasons of their souls. 


Host: Brandon Nappi 

Guest: Nelba Márquez-Greene 

 
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast 

 
berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 


You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders 

76: Walking with Survivors of Gun Violence with Nelba Márquez-Greene

In this lively conversation, Brandon, Misty, and Whitney talk with The Most Rev'd Sean Rowe, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church. In this role, he serves as the church’s chief pastor and CEO. Known for his expertise in organizational learning and adaptive change, Rowe is committed to strengthening support for local ministry and mission. This episode offers a wide-ranging conversation, touching upon everything from the role of seminary in spiritual formation, to leadership in a church that is still becoming, to our willingness to engage with God’s imagination. 


Hosts: Brandon Nappi, Whitney Kimball Coe, Misty Krasawski 

Guest: Sean Rowe 

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast 


berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast 

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders 

77: Being Grounded in the Love of God with Sean Rowe

Research has shown that a meditation practice is associated with a host of positive benefits. A body scan meditation is less about relaxation and more about awareness and taking inventory of how your body feels in the moment.

Body Scan Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Research has shown that both gratitude and meditation practices are associated with higher levels of happiness. Use this guided meditation to bring awareness to the people and things in your life that you are grateful for.

Gratitude Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Research has shown that Loving Kindness meditations can boost social closeness and implicit liking of strangers (Hutcherson et al. (2008). While this is a laboratory study, the results suggest this simple technique may help increase positive social emotions and decrease social isolation.

Loving Kindness Guided Meditation - Female Voice

Loving Kindess Guided Meditation - Male Voice

Gratitude Guided Meditation - Male Voice

Body Scan Guided Meditation - Male Voice

Hannah and Mark discuss how officers read applications, make notes, confer with colleagues, and prepare to present applicants to the Admissions Committee. Every year officers read more than 35,000 applications cover to cover and collectively make admissions decisions on each one. Admissions Officers Julian and John join as guests to discuss their strategies for reading and ratings files.

Reading

Every admissions decision is made by a committee composed of five members of the Yale community. Hannah and Mark take listeners inside a real admissions committee discussion and describe how the members reach consensus and make decisions. Admissions Officers Jill and Alfie join as guests to discuss their roles as a committee presenter and a committee chair.

Committee

Part 1 of 3. The most effective application essays help admissions officers understand who students are and the contributions they would make to a community. There’s no formula or perfect essay topic, but Hannah and Mark discuss what makes an essay work for an applicant. Admissions officer Keith joins to share insights on the choices that can be most effective when writing an essay.

Essays: What Works

Part 2 of 3. Application essays are an opportunity to speak directly to admissions officers and share meaningful insights and reflections. Unsuccessful essays miss that opportunity. Hannah and Mark share some of the ineffective choices that regularly appear in essays and discuss why each choice doesn’t work to the student’s benefit.

Essays: What Doesn’t Work

Part 3 of 3. Most colleges ask applicants to respond to several shorter questions that are unique to their school. Hannah and Mark discuss what officers look for when reviewing responses to Yale-specific questions. Admissions officer Reed joins to share the admissions office’s process of writing and reviewing those questions at the end of each admissions cycle.

Essays: The Little Stuff

The Yale Admissions Office is a proud partner with QuestBridge, a national non-profit organization that connects students from low-income backgrounds with leading colleges and universities. Mark and Hannah interview QuestBridge Founder and CEO Ana McCullough about the organization’s strategy for matching top low-income students with full-need scholarships at top schools. Admissions officer Corrine also joins to share how Yale admissions staff review QuestBridge applications.

QuestBridge

Many applicants have an evaluative interview with a Yale student or alum as part of the application process. Hannah and Mark talk with Dara, the director Yale’s interviewing program, about how interviews work and what applicants can expect. They share do’s and don’ts for the interview and discuss how interview reports are considered Yale’s holistic review process.

Interviews

Every application to Yale includes three letters of recommendation – two from classroom teachers and one from a counselor. Admissions Officer Moira joins Hannah and Mark to share advice on selecting recommenders and tips for educators when writing on behalf of applicants. The officers share how effective letters can bolster and enhance an application, and they express their gratitude to the educators who write for their students.

Recommendation Letters

Applicants to Yale who have highly-developed artistic talents or experience with advanced STEM research have the option to include supplementary material with their application. Admissions Officer John joins Hannah and Mark to discuss Yale’s evaluation process for these submissions. Although most successful applicants do not submit supplementary materials, the officers share how evaluators rate submissions and who can benefit from including an arts or STEM supplement with the application.

Supplementary Materials

Most applicants to Yale are strong along many dimensions, but only a small group truly stand out. Hannah and Mark discuss how admissions officers try to gauge what an applicant would add to and take from the Yale experience. Admissions officer Keith adds insights about what makes applicants stand out in Yale’s large and diverse pool of prospective students.

YaleUniversity

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