Pierson College

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Pierson College
Established	1933
Sister House	Lowell House
Master	Harvey Goldblatt
Dean	Amerigo Fabbri
Graduates and Undergraduates	450

Pierson College is a residential college at Yale University, founded in 1933. The buildings were built in the Georgian style in 1933, and were renovated in 2003-2004, adding a new building and basement facilities. The new basement facilities are shared with its unofficial rival Davenport College. The College surrounds a fair-sized grass courtyard, and is located between Park and York Streets in New Haven, CT.

Pierson has been traditionally renowned for its thriving social life and had the reputation of trailing in Yale academic rankings. In 2004, however, the College was awarded the Gimble Cup for highest average GPA at Yale. More recently, the reputed social life of the College has dwindled as a result of efforts by the new academic dean Amerigo Fabbri. In light of new Connecticut alcohol laws, Dean Fabbri has cracked down upon events such as Tuesday Night Club (TNC), restricting the event to Pierson seniors. However, in 2006, Pierson students were able to organize a successful Inferno, the traditional Pierson halloween party. Another famous Pierson tradition occurs on Pierson Day when Master Harvey Goldblatt wrestles another College Master, student or other willing opponent in a wrestling ring filled with yellow jello. (The Jello used in the first match was red, and the first Master to Jello wrestle was Ivo Banac). Pierson achieved world renown in 1977, as a result of the still-famous television broadcast of its Bladderball 'victory'.

Among the traditions and activities for which Pierson is known is the Pierson Press, one of the most active of Yale's many traditional letterpress print shops. It was founded over half a century ago and nurtured by a succession of Pierson Masters including John Hersey, Quincy Porter, Gaddis Smith and current Master Harvey Goldblatt. The Press for many years was located in a converted squash court in Pierson Tower, designed by Charles Moore of the Yale School of Architecture. During the renovation of the college in 2004, the Pierson Press was relocated to enhanced facilities in the basement, where it is now co-located with the Davenport Press in a greatly expanded Book Arts Center that includes half a dozen presses, over 1000 cases of hand type, a book bindery, paper mill and more. Over 75 Pierson and Davenport students attended the college's rigorous Apprentice Course during the Fall of 2005.

Pierson's Fellowship, consisting of both faculty members and distinguished outside Associate Fellows, is one of the most active at Yale. The Fellows meet twice monthly during the academic year, generously support undergraduate activities in the college (including social events such as the annual Pierson Inferno at Halloween), and have counted among their number a diverse and dignified range of members, from poet Robert Frost to actor George Takei (Sulu of Star Trek fame.)

Pierson Freshmen are housed in the slightly cramped, albeit character-building, Lanman-Wright Hall on Old Campus, along with freshmen from Saybrook College.

[edit] Notable alumni

Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, former presidential candidate and current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
George Pataki, Governor of New York.
Richard Brodhead, former Dean of Yale College and current President of Duke University.
Tony Knowles, former Governor of Alaska.
Gene Siskel, Film Critic
Paul Giamatti, Actor.
Jeffrey Bewkes, President and COO of Time Warner
Jeffrey Loria, former Managing Partner of the Montreal Expos and current owner of the Florida Marlins