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 Peter Salovey, a professor of social psychology who formerly served as University Provost and Dean of Yale College and received his Ph.D. from Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
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 [4] | birth–death | years as rector | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Abraham Pierson | (1641–1707) | (1701–1707) Collegiate School |
2 | Samuel Andrew | (1656–1738) | (1707–1719; pro tempore) |
3 | Timothy Cutler | (1684–1765) | (1719–1726) 1718/9: renamed Yale College |
4 | Elisha Williams | (1694–1755) | (1726–1739) |
5 | Thomas Clap | (1703–1767) | (1740–1745) |
Presidents of Yale College [4] | birth–death | years as president | |
---|---|---|---|
5 | Thomas Clap | (1703–1767) | (1745–1766) |
6 | Naphtali Daggett | (1727–1780) | (1766–1777; pro tempore) - presidency during the American Revolution |
7 | Ezra Stiles | (1727–1795) | (1778–1795) - presidency during the American Revolution |
8 | Timothy Dwight IV | (1752–1817) | (1795–1817) |
9 | Jeremiah Day | (1773–1867) | (1817–1846) |
10 | Theodore Dwight Woolsey | (1801–1889) | (1846–1871) |
11 | Noah Porter III | (1811–1892) | (1871–1886) |
12 | Timothy Dwight V | (1828–1916) | (1886–1899) 1887: renamed Yale University |
13 | Arthur Twining Hadley | (1856–1930) | (1899–1921) |
14 | James Rowland Angell | (1869–1949) | (1921–1937) |
15 | Charles Seymour | (1885–1963) | (1937–1951) |
16 | Alfred Whitney Griswold | (1906–1963) | (1951–1963) |
17 | Kingman Brewster, Jr. | (1919–1988) | (1963–1977) |
18 | Hanna Holborn Gray | (1930– ) | (1977–1978; pro tempore) |
19 | A. Bartlett Giamatti | (1938–1989) | (1978–1986) |
20 | Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. | (1942–2023) | (1986–1992) |
21 | Howard R. Lamar | (1923–2023) | (1992–1993; acting) |
22 | Richard C. Levin | (1947– ) | (1993–2013) |
23 | Peter Salovey | (1958– ) | (2013–2024 [5] ) |
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution.
A rector is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a university, whilst in the United States the most senior official is often referred to as president and in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations the most senior official is the chancellor, whose office is primarily ceremonial and titular. The term and office of a rector can be referred to as a rectorate. The title is used widely in universities in Europe and is very common in Latin American countries. It is also used in Brunei, Macau, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Israel and the Middle East. In the ancient universities of Scotland the office is sometimes referred to as Lord Rector, is the third most senior official, and is usually responsible for chairing the University Court.
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, when its schools were confederated and the institution was renamed Yale University. It is ranked as one of the top colleges in the United States.
A provost is a senior academic administrator. At many institutions of higher education, the provost is the chief academic officer, a role that may be combined with being deputy to the chief executive officer. They may also be the chief executive officer of a university, of a branch campus of a university, or of a college within a university.
Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some type of separate administrative structure exists at almost all academic institutions. Fewer institutions are governed by employees who are also involved in academic or scholarly work. Many senior administrators are academics who have advanced degrees and no longer teach or conduct research.
Grace Hopper College is a residential college of Yale University, opened in 1933 as one of the original eight undergraduate residential colleges endowed by Edward Harkness. It was originally named Calhoun College after US Vice President John C. Calhoun, but renamed in 2017 in honor of computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper. The building was designed by John Russell Pope.
Pierson College is a residential college at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Opened in 1933, it is named for Abraham Pierson, a founder and the first rector of the Collegiate School, the college later known as Yale. With just under 500 undergraduate members, Pierson is the largest of Yale's residential colleges by number of students.
Dean is a title employed in academic administrations such as colleges or universities for a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, over a specific area of concern, or both. In the United States and Canada, deans are usually university professors who serve as the heads of a university's constituent colleges and schools. Deans are common in private preparatory schools, and occasionally found in middle schools and high schools as well.
A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assistant is called a sub-dean.
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
The Yale Corporation, officially The President and Fellows of Yale College, is the governing body of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Peter Salovey is an American social psychologist and current president of Yale University. He previously served as Yale's provost, dean of Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and dean of Yale College. Salovey is one of the early pioneers in emotional intelligence.
A head of college or head of house is the head or senior member of a college within a collegiate university. The title used varies between colleges, including dean, master, president, principal, provost, rector and warden.
Yale University has a system of fourteen residential colleges with which all Yale undergraduate students and many faculty are affiliated. Inaugurated in 1933, the college system is considered the defining feature of undergraduate life at Yale College, and the residential colleges serve as the residence halls and social hubs for most undergraduates. Construction and programming for eight of the original ten colleges were funded by educational philanthropist Edward S. Harkness. Yale was, along with Harvard, one of the first universities in the United States to establish a residential college system.
The Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs is a professional school of Yale University that specializes in global affairs.
Yale-NUS College is a liberal arts college in Singapore. Established in 2011 as a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore, it is the first liberal arts college in Singapore and one of the first few in Asia. With an average acceptance rate of 5.2%, it is among the most selective institutions in the world. Yale-NUS was the first institution outside New Haven, Connecticut that Yale University had developed in its 300-year history, making Yale the first American Ivy League school to establish a college bearing its name in Asia.
Pericles Lewis is the Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of comparative literature at Yale University and the Dean of Yale College.
Jonathan Scott Holloway is an American historian, academic administrator, and the 21st president of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Benjamin Franklin College is a residential college for undergraduates of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. It opened to students for the 2017 academic year.
Elga Ruth Wasserman guided the transformation of Yale College from an all-male undergraduate college into a coeducational institution. She held the newly created position of special assistant to the president of Yale University on the education of women (1968–1972). She became a proponent of equal rights for women during Second-wave feminism and after. Later, Wasserman practiced law, specializing in family law, and advocated policies friendly to women and minorities in the workplace. She wrote The Door in the Dream, highlighting eminent female scientists through interviews and discussion.