What is a Morse College Tea?
Morse College Teas provide an opportunity for Morse students to interact with a distinguished visitor in a relaxed, informal setting. Located in the living room of the Morse House, teas generally consist of a short talk by the guest followed by a Q&A session, and they are open to students from all residential colleges. Morsels are typically given a special opportunity to dine with guests at Mory’s after the tea, allowing for an even more intimate discussion. Teas are an integral part of Morse culture,
allowing students to learn about a wide range of topics from the experts in those fields, and to interact with them one-on-one. Guests at Morse College Teas have included leading national and international figures from politics, the arts, the media, academics, and business.
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| Tea with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (April 2019) | Tea with Kim Weston, whose work Layers of the Soul takes permanent residence in the Morse College common room (January 2019) |
Elena Grewal autographing her poster. Grewal gave a fabulous talk on data science and her work at AirBnB (October 2019). |
Past Tea Guests
2022-2023
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Babatunde Omilola |
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Babatunde Omilola managed the African Development Bank’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, served as Head of Development Planning with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and co-chaired the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security Technical Team. Babatunde was UNDP’s Regional Practice Leader for poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa and UNDP’s Chief Economist and Head of Policy and Strategy in South Africa. He was also the Africa-wide Coordinator with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). |
| Alison Tatlock |  |
Alison Tatlock (BK ‘89) is a writer and producer of four award-winning shows: In Treatment, Halt and Catch Fire, Better Call Saul, and Stranger Things. Before writing television, Alison worked for the Los Angeles nonprofit organization Street Poets, Inc., bringing poetry workshops into juvenile detention centers and underserved schools. |
| Kyriacos Koupparis |  |
Kyriacos Koupparis is the Head of Frontier Innovations at the United Nations World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator. He leads a team that explores the impact of emerging technologies — such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotics — with humanitarian assistance and food security. For the last 15 years, he spent his time working as a biomedical researcher developing drugs for neglected tropical diseases and later as a director assisting programs to improve communities in emerging markets through science, technology, innovation, and partnerships. |
2020-2021
| Ashley Edwards |  |
Ashley Edwards (MC’12) is a Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur and her thought leadership in mental health innovation led Forbes to name her one of the top Healers set to influence the next century. She is the founder and CEO of MindRight Health. |
2019-2020
| Eugene Richardson |  |
Infectious disease physician and critical medical anthropologist at Harvard University |
| Idrees Kahloon |  |
US policy correspondent for The Economist |
| Major Richard Ojeda |  |
Retired Army Major and politician who passed the legalization of cannabis in West Virginia and ran a brief campaign for President of the United States in 2020. |
| Elena Grewal |  |
Yale Alumna and former head of data science at AirBnB |
2018-2019
| John Cariani |  |
Actor and playwright of Almost, Maine |
| Madeleine Albright |  |
Professor, author, diplomat, and businesswoman; first female U.S. Secretary of State |
| Casey Gerald |  |
Author of There Will Be No Miracles Here, cofounder of the Yale Black Men’s Union, MC ‘09 |
| Rosanne Cash |  |
Grammy award winning singer-songwriter, author, and activist |
| Kim Weston |  |
Creator of Layers of the Soul, a permanent art installation in the Morse College common room |
| Josh Singer |  |
Actor and playwright; former Morsel |
| Lauren Gallo |  |
Head of Talent Marketing at Snapchat |
| Aylon Steinhart |  |
Business Innovation Specialist at the Good Food Institute |
| Ibrahima Niang |  |
World Fellow and Social Activist |
| Robert S. Ford |  |
World Fellow and Former US Ambassador to Syria |
2017-2018
| Kevin Adkisson |  |
Eero Saarinen expert and Morse Class of 2012 |
| Alf Bilkberg |  |
Team Leader at the United Nations |
| David Swensen |  |
Yale’s Chief Investment Officer and Endowment Manager |
| Amy Jin |  |
Inspirational speaker and coach |
| Nicholas Payton |  |
Grammy-award winning musician and writer |
| Roberta Gatti |  |
Chief Economist of the Human Development Practice Group in the World Bank |
2015-2016
| Kevin Olusola |  |
Musician and member of Pentatonix, Morse Class of 2011 |
| Ted Kaptchuk |  |
Author and Director of the Harvard Wide Program in Placebo Studies & the Therapeutic Encounter |
| Gary Barker |  |
International director and founder of Promundo |
| Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka |  |
UN Under-secretary General & External Director of UN Women |
| Severine Autesserre |  |
Author and Associate Professor of Political Science at Barnard College |
| Alex Aleinikoff |  |
Former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Alice Chen |  |
Executive Director Doctors for America, Morse Class of 2001 |
| Christian Murck |  |
Chair of Board of Trustees of the Yale-China Association |
| Christopher Michel |  |
Speech Writer for George W. Bush |
| Philip Thigo |  |
Young People, Technology & Spaces: A New Political Imaginary |
| Beth Kobliner |  |
Personal Finance Commentator and Journalist |
| Jonathan Lynn |  |
Head of Communications and Media Relations at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| Rajita Sinha |  |
Foundatoins Fund Professor in Psychiatry, Neurobiology and Child Study at Yale school of Medicine |
2014-2015
Alexis Carra - Actress
Jeff Conine - Professional Baseball Player
Donna Dubinsky - Yale Corporation Fellow
Aminatta Forna - Writer
Duncan Goodall - Owner of Koffee?
Jake Halpern - Author
Marya Hornbacher - Author
Francis Lam - Top Chef
Barry Nalebuff - Founder of Honest Tea
Unni Karunakara - Former International President of Doctors without Borders
Peter van Agtmael - Photojournalist
Bill Deresiewicz - Author
2013-2014
David Baldacci - Author
Sue Grafton - Author
Alice Hoffman - Author
Scott Turow - Author
Chris Ware - Cartoonist
David Mitchell - Author
Elinor Hoover - Vice Chairman of Citi Corp & Investment Bank/Hoover and Yale Graduate
Eric Holt-Gimenez - Executive Director, Food First
Eric Davis - Author and Journalist
James Ponsoldt - Director and Morse Class of 2001
Mark Leibovich - Chief National Correspondent for the New York Times
Samin Nosrat - Best Seller and Food Writer
Ted Conover - Journalist and Author
Donna Dubinsky - Palm Pilot Pioneer and Yale Corporation Fellow
Leslie Jamison & Paul Bloom - Authors
Jonny Steinberg - Writer and Scholar
Terry Teachout - Critic for the Wall Street Journal
2012-2013
Charles Duhigg - Staff Reporter for the New York Times
DT Maxx - Staff Writer for The New Yorker
Glenn Kelman - CEO of Redfin, the Greylock & DFJ
Tamar Hoffs & Andrew Davis - Film Directors
Jodi Picoult - Author
Jamaica Kincaid - Author
Mirror Visions - Musicians and Poets
Susan Orlean - Staff Writer for The New Yorker
Sanbonmatsu - Scientist
Sandor Katz - Author & Fermentation Revivalist
Robert Smith - NPR Correspondent
2011-2012
Fran Kranz - Actor (and former Morsel)
Gretchen Morgenson - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, writes Market Watch column for the New York Times
James Stoller - Physician, Cleveland Clinic
Uta Werner - Chief Strategy Officer and VP of Xerox
Jonathan Silverman - Biographer of Johnny Cash
Carl Zimmer - Award-winning author on the topics of science, evolution, and parasites
Steven Brill - Author of “Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools”
Nicholas Christakis - Physician and social scientist, author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
David Dobbs -Author on the topics of science, medicine, and culture
David Litt - Speech, op-ed, and joke writer for Barack Obama and senior White House staff
Susumu Ito - World War II Veteran, biologist, & Harvard Medical School Professor
Klaus Kleinfeld – CEO Of Alcoa Inc.
Martina Gmur - Director of the Network of Global Agenda Councils, World Economic Forum
Marina Belica and Julie Flanders - Musicians, October Project
2010-11
Biz Stone - Co-founder of Twitter
Mia Farrow - Actress and former fashion model, UNICEF ambassador
John Paul DeJoria - Co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Spirits Company
Michael Specter - Staff writer at The New Yorker
Christopher Michel - Key speechwriter for George W. Bush
Robert Boorstin - Google’s Director of Corporate and Policy Communications
T. Boone Pickens - Business magnate and financier
Betty Tisdale - Founded HALO, a non-profit dedicated to helping the world’s underprivileged chilren
Paula Butturini - Author of Keeping the Feast
William Ury - Award-winning author on negotiation and conflict resolution
Seth Mrooksin
2009-10
Louise Story - Journalist (and former Morsel)
Ben Carson - Neurosurgeon
Ken Adams - Professional poker player
Matt Matros - Professional poker player
Sherron Watkins - Former VP of Corporate Development at Enron, helped uncover Enron scandal
Jerry Speyer - Real estate tycoon, owner of the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center
Rebecca Skloot - Writer and editor at Popular Science magazine
Peter Byck - Film director, directed Carbon Nation
Antonio Lucio - Chief marketing officer for Visa Inc.
John Hendra - UN Women Deputy Director
Art Garfunkel - American singer/songwriter, member of folk duo Simon & Garfunkel
Jodi Picoult - Award-winning author
Emily Bazelon - Journalist, editor at Slate magazine
2008-2009
Douglas Hofstadter - Pulitzer Prize-winning author and academic
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld - Professor at the Yale School of Management, founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute
Cloud Cult - Indie rock band
Kamala Lopez - Actress, director, and political activist (I Heart Huckabees)
Buzz Bissinger - Journalist and author of Friday Night Lights
Jack Robinson
Alison Tepper Singer - Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation
John Haffner - Business executive, consultant, and writer engaged in clean energy projects
Brian Williams - Anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News
Ken Davenport - Broadway and off-Broadway theater producer
Steve Rushin - Journalist and novelist
Philippa Gregory - Writer of historical novels (The Other Boleyn Girl)
Dan Yergin - Pulitzer Prize-winning author, speaker, and economic researcher
2007-08
Mark Penn
Dong Qian
Mark Moffett
Rami Sidi
Walter Shapiro
Jake Halpern
John Mackey
Lisa Sanders
Chandra Prasad
Stephen Carter
Robert Lopez
2006-07
Christopher Buckley
Ben Karlin
Gibert Tuhabonye
Joe Kane
James Thomson
Malcolm Gladwell
Alan Poul
William McDonough
William Canales Clariond
2005-06
Robert Brustein
Peter Kramer
Patrick Keefe
Chris Berman
Mirta Ojito
Bruce Bartless
Lindsay Moran
Gino Strada
Scott Simon
John Rennie
Jack El-Hai
Jaime Aparicio Otero
Paul Thomas
2004-05
Al Franken
Marc Horowitz
Allen Heinberg - Actor
Sam Weisman - Producer
Douglas Farah - Journalist
Paco Underhill - Founder and Managing Director of Envirosell Inc.
Jack Greenberg - Professor of law
James Mann - Author
Sonia Waisman - Litigator and pioneer in animal law
John Dinges - Author, reporter
Dana Milbank - White House reporter for The Washington Post
Christ Kentis - Writer, director, and producer of Open Water
Laura Lau - Writer, director, and producer of Open Water
Christiane Amanpour - Reporter
David Katz - Doctor at Yale’s Prevention Research Center
Jonathan Weiner - Pulitzer Prize winner
Robert Whitaker - Author/journalist
Elizabeth Wurtzel - Author
Alice Flaherty - Neurologist at Harvard Medical School
2003-04
Alexander Payne
David Lubin
Kenneth Silverman
Preston King
Jane Roberts
Inez Okrent
Steve Bergman
Marya Hornbacher
Helen Gurley Glover
David Eggers
2002-03
Larry Kramer
Mike Caren
John Balaban - Author
John Kerry
Tommy Lasorda
Katha Pollit
Rick Levin
Paul Goldberger - Architecture Critic
Roger Angell
Evan Thomas
Ina May Gaskin
Arnold Newman - Portrait Photographer
David Brown
Kay Jameson
James Bamford
Helen Gurley Brown
James O’Brien
Maria Vullo
Wendy Wasserstein
2001-02
Wang Ying Fan - US Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
Gloria Feldt - President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Sinen Unel - Playwright
Philip Reeker
Paul Stookey - Of Peter, Paul & Mary
Elaben Bhatt - Founder, SEWA
Ramon Morales - Ambassador of Panama to the United Nations
David Barash
Ron Sider
Frank Oz
Paul Weiss
Willem DaFoe - Actor
Frank Gehry
Steve Forbes
Jonathan Schell
Bob Schieffer