James Allen Steffenburg – 50th Reunion Essay

James Allen Steffenburg

145 Glen Road

New Haven, CT 06511

steffenburgs@comcast.net

203 777 2995

Spouse(s): Gloria Anne Pregano 40 years . June 20 1970 to October 30 2010 (her death)

Education: Yale School of Management MPPM 1981

Career: Project Manager, Construction for10 years; Director Management Consulting for 30 years with PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Avocations: Service to my Church including soup kitchen support,Parish and Finance Council, Trustee; Lessons and playing in a bluegrass ensemble; Collecting vintage stringed instruments; family history project

College: Saybrook

During my years with PwC I had the opportunity to work on several interesting client engagements from the divestiture of AT&T, to arbitration and mediation models for the securities industry, to transaction recovery after 9/11. I retired in 2007.

In 2010, after 40 years of marriage, I lost my Gloria to kidney disease. Since her passing I have continued an active role in the ministries of our church, which was such an important part of our 40 years together.

In retirement I have returned to my love of music, particularly the guitar and bluegrass music; I take lessons now from a guitarist I first heard at The Enormous Room at Yale 50 years ago. I have expanded my interest into the collecting of stringed instruments and learning to play them all (at least a little)!

At 50 years out, I think of what Yale meant to me then and now. As a first-year student, I felt blessed to have the opportunity to get a liberal arts education from Yale. I was comfortable with the values promoted by the school: the search for knowledge and truth, the obligation to serve, and the duty to always do your best. These values meshed with my cultural values instilled by my family and my faith. I often defended Yale to those who thought it a hotbed of liberal radicals by assuring them that the conservative view still thrived at Yale. Even in the ’60s one could have a respectful debate about any of the issues of the day.

Today I am not so sure that my values are still in concert with those of Yale (or most elite colleges). I feel as though the luxury of a “liberal arts education” with its focus on respectful debate in the search for the truth has given way to a “liberal indoctrination” with its focus on political correctness and truth defined by ideology with no room for “searching.” As someone who admittedly is a little more conservative than he was in the ’60s, I don’t feel that Yale shares my values.

I hope and pray that Yale can lead the way back to the earlier values that made it a great place to acquire knowledge and search for the truth.