List of presidents of Yale University

Woodbridge Hall, location of the university president's office.

Yale University was founded in 1701 as a school for Congregationalist ministers. One of its ten founding ministers, Abraham Pierson, became its first Rector, the administrative and ecclesiastical head of the college. After Pierson, four more ministers served as rectors of the collegiate school, until 1745 when Yale College was chartered by the Colony of Connecticut and Thomas Clap's title was changed to president. In 1878, Yale incorporated as a university, and incumbent Timothy Dwight V became the last president of the college and the first of Yale University. The first president not ordained as a minister was Arthur Twining Hadley, inaugurated in 1899; no ordained person has held the office since.

The president is elected by the Yale Corporation, the governing body of the University on which the president sits ex-officio . The corporation's bylaws state that the president is "chief executive officer of the University and as such is responsible for the general direction of all its affairs." ^[1] The president nominates other university officers, including the provost, secretary, and other vice presidents, for election by the corporation. Other top-level administrative positions, such as university chaplain, deans of schools, and masters of residential colleges, are appointed by the president alone.

The university's current president is Maurie D. McInnis who took office on July 1, 2024. She earned her Ph.D. from Yale, is trained as a cultural historian and formerly served as the sixth president of Stony Brook University.

The Office of the President is located in Woodbridge Hall, a 1901 building erected specifically for administrative purpose. ^[2] The university maintains an official home for the president on Hillhouse Avenue, which hosts presidential events. Peter Salovey, inaugurated in 2013, is the first president since 1986 to use the home as his primary residence. ^[3]

Rectors of Yale College (1701–1745)

The following persons had led Yale as rector: ^{[4] [5]}

No.	Image	Rector of Yale College	Term start	Term end	Refs.
Rectors of the Collegiate School (1701–1719)
1		Abraham Pierson (1641–1707)	November 11, 1701	March 5, 1707
2 [a]		Samuel Andrew (1656–1738)	1707	March 24, 1719
Rectors of Yale College (1719–1745)
3		Timothy Cutler (1684–1765)	March 24, 1719	October 17, 1722
4		Elisha Williams (1694–1755)	September 13, 1726	October 31, 1739
5		Thomas Clap (1703–1767)	April 2, 1740	June 1, 1745

Table notes:

1. Served pro tempore

Presidents of Yale College (1740–1887) and Yale University (1887–)

The following persons had led Yale as president: ^[4]

No.	Image	President of Yale College [5]	Term start	Term end	Refs.
Presidents of Yale College (1745–1887)
5		Thomas Clap (1703–1767)	June 1, 1745	September 10, 1766
6 [a]		Naphtali Daggett (1727–1780)	October 22, 1766	March 25, 1777
7		Ezra Stiles (1727–1795)	June 23, 1778	May 12, 1795
8		Timothy Dwight IV (1752–1817)	September 8, 1795	January 11, 1817
9		Jeremiah Day (1773–1867)	July 23, 1817	October 21, 1846
10		Theodore Dwight Woolsey (1801–1889)	October 21, 1846	October 11, 1871
11		Noah Porter III (1811–1892)	October 11, 1871	July 1, 1886
Presidents of Yale University (1887–present)
12		Timothy Dwight V (1828–1916)	July 1, 1886	June 28, 1899
13		Arthur Twining Hadley (1856–1930)	June 29, 1899	June 22, 1921
14		James Rowland Angell (1869–1949)	June 22, 1921	June 30, 1937	[6]
15		Charles Seymour (1885–1963)	July 1, 1937	June 30, 1951	[7]
16		Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906–1963)	July 1, 1951	April 19, 1963 [b]	[8] [9]
acting		Kingman Brewster, Jr. (1919–1988)	April 19, 1963	October 12, 1963	[10]
17			October 12, 1963	May 17, 1977	[11] [12]
18 [a]		Hanna Holborn Gray (born 1930)	May 18, 1977	June 30, 1978	[13] [14]
19		A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938–1989)	July 1, 1978	June 30, 1986	[15] [16]
20		Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. (1942–2023)	July 1, 1986	June 16, 1992	[17] [18]
21 [c]		Howard R. Lamar (1923–2023)	June 17, 1992	June 30, 1993	[19]
22		Richard C. Levin (born 1947)	July 1, 1993	June 30, 2013	[20] [21]
23		Peter Salovey (born 1958)	July 1, 2013	June 30, 2024	[22] [23]
24		Maurie D. McInnis	July 1, 2024	present	[24] [13]

Table notes:

1. Served pro tempore
2. Died in office.
3. Served as acting president

References

1. "The Yale Corporation Bylaws". The President and Fellows of Yale University. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
2. "New Building for Yale". The New York Times. 28 October 1900. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
3. Zorthian, Julia (25 April 2013). "Salovey to reside in president's house" . Retrieved 15 July 2013.
4. "Griswold Will Be Sixteenth Yale Mentor" . Hartford Courant . February 13, 1950. p. 13.
5. "Rectors & Presidents". Yale University Library. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
6. "DR. ANGELL CHOSEN TO SUCCEED PRES. HADLEY AS YALE'S NEW LEADER" . Hartford Courant . February 20, 1921. p. 1. For the first time in the history of Yale, a president not a graduate of the university was today chosen its head, the corporation holding an adjourned meeting and confirming the choice of Dr. James Raymond Angell as the successor to President Arthur T. Hadley.
7. "Charles Seymour Next President Of Yale University" . Hartford Courant . February 14, 1937. p. 1. Dr. Charles Seymour, 52, provost and history professor at Yale University, friend of Woodrow Wilson and Colonel Edward M. House, and biographer of House, was elected the fifteenth president of Yale this afternoon. He succeeds Dr. James Rowland Angell, president of the university 1921, who retires in June, having reached the retirement age for faculty members, 68. The selection was made by the Yale Corporation which for several months has been deliberating the choice of a successor to Dr. Angell.
8. "A. W. Griswold Elected To Succeed Seymour As President Of Yale" . Hartford Courant . February 13, 1950. p. 1. Alfred Whitney Griswold has been elected the sixteenth president of Yale University. Mr. Griswold s professor of history at Yale and is an authority on American political science and foreign policy. He is 41 years old. He has been granted an immediate leave of absence for the remainder of the academic year and will assume his new post on July 1. He succeeds President Charles Seymour, who retires on June 30.
9. "Yale President, 56, Dies" . Hartford Courant . April 20, 1963. p. 1. A. Whitney Griswold, 56, president of Yale University, died Friday of' cancer at his home.
10. "Ex-Harvard Man Becomes Acting Yale President" . Hartford Courant . April 20, 1963. p. 1. A former Harvard Law School professor has become acting president of Yale University. He is Kingman Brewster Jr., the Yale University provost. Under the by-laws of the university, Brewster has taken over the functions of the late President A. Whitney Griswold, who died Friday at 56.
11. "Kingman Brewster Named 17th President of Yale". The Harvard Crimson . October 14, 1963.
12. "Kingman Brewster, Jr., president of Yale University, resignation records". Yale University.
13. Branch, Mark Alden (Jul–Aug 2024). "McInnis named Yale's 24th president". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
14. Henry, Diane (April 24, 1977). "Against the Yale Tradition, a Woman at the Helm?" . The New York Times . p. 58.
15. Fiske, Edward B. (December 21, 1977). "Yale Corporation Formally Names Giamatti President" . The New York Times . p. 35.
16. Brooke, James (April 23, 1985). "GIAMATTI TO QUIT AS PRESIDENT OF YALE IN JUNE 1986" . p. B2.
17. "YALE SAID TO PICK BENNO SCHMIDT AS PRESIDENT" . The New York Times . December 10, 1985. p. A1.
18. "YALE PRESIDENT RESIGNS" . The Washington Post . May 26, 1992.
19. "Yale names acting president". United Press International . June 17, 1992.
20. "Yale Appoints Richard Levin as President" . Los Angeles Times . April 16, 1993.
21. "Levin to step down as Yale president at end of academic year". Yale University. August 30, 2012.
22. "President Salovey's message to the Yale community". Yale University Office of the President. Retrieved 31 August 2023.^{[ dead link ]}
23. "Yale welcomes new president". Yale University. July 1, 2013.
24. "Maurie McInnis named Yale's next president". YaleNews. 2024-05-29. Retrieved 2024-06-10.