Come hear about the experiences of a Teach For America and Yale alumna from the first year of the organization's existence.  Iris Chen YC '90 serves as Teach For America's New York City Executive Director and is charged with leading the organization's expansion across the city. Since assuming the role in May 2003, Iris has more than tripled the New York City corps to 800 as of this fall, and grown the funding base and staff in turn. She graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, and also earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was awarded the Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowship for nonprofit leadership. After completing the Coro Fellows Program in 1993-94, Chen joined Teach For America's national staff, serving in several positions including director of public affairs and vice president of program, a role in which she was responsible for designing and executing the organization's program strategy across Teach For America's then 13 regions. While with Teach For America, Chen helped launch a spin-off organization called TEACH!, predecessor organization to The New Teacher Project, which advises school districts on creative solutions to teacher recruitment and training challenges. Chen first came to Teach For America in 1990 as a charter corps member in New York City. She taught fourth and fifth graders for three years at P.S. 307 in Brooklyn.