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]
# | Image | Rector of Yale College [4] | Term |
---|---|---|---|
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) |
# | Image | President of Yale College [4] | Term |
---|---|---|---|
5 | Thomas Clap (1703–1767) | (1745–1766) | |
6 | Naphtali Daggett (1727–1780) | (1766–1777; pro tempore) | |
7 | Ezra Stiles (1727–1795) | (1778–1795) | |
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 (born 1930) | (1977–1978; pro tempore) [5] | |
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 (born 1947) | (1993–2013) | |
23 | Peter Salovey (born 1958) | (2013–2024) [6] | |
24 | Maurie D. McInnis | (2024–present) [7] |
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. 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, while in the United States, the equivalent is often referred to as the president, and in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent is the vice-chancellor. 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.
Abraham Pierson was an American Congregational minister who served as the first rector, from 1701 to 1707, and one of the founders of the Collegiate School — which later became Yale University.
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.
Samuel Andrew was an American Congregational clergyman and educator.
Saybrook College is one of the 14 residential colleges at Yale University.
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.
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.
Davenport College is one of the fourteen residential colleges of Yale University. Its buildings were completed in 1933 mainly in the Georgian style but with a gothic façade along York Street. The college was named for John Davenport, who founded Yale's home city of New Haven, Connecticut. An extensive renovation of the college's buildings occurred during the 2004–2005 academic year as part of Yale's comprehensive building renovation project. Davenport College has an unofficial rivalry with adjoining Pierson College.
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.
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 former academic administrator. He served as the 23rd president of Yale University from 2013 to 2024. He previously served as provost of Yale University from 2008 to 2013, dean of Yale College from 2004 to 2008, and dean of Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2003 to 2004. Salovey is one of the early pioneers in emotional intelligence.
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.
Henry Knox Sherrill was an Episcopal bishop. He was the 20th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1947 to 1958, having previously served as Bishop of Massachusetts (1930–1947).
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 one of the first American Ivy League schools 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.
Abraham Pierson, the elder (1611–1678) was an English Nonconformist clergyman, known as a Congregational minister in New England. He reportedly came to the American colonies in 1639 to escape persecution for his Puritan views. Later, he and other emigrants from the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed a new township on Long Island which they named Southampton. His last relocation was in 1666, when Pierson and many of his church followers left the Connecticut Colony and established a new church and township at Newark, New Jersey.
The history of the University of Virginia opens with its conception by Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of the early 19th century. The university was chartered in 1819, and classes commenced in 1825.
Maurie D. McInnis is an American art historian, currently serving as the 24th president of Yale University since July 2024. She previously served as the sixth president of Stony Brook University from 2020 to 2024.
The President of Stony Brook University serves as the university's Chief Executive Officer. Stony Brook's President, in addition to his or her duties to the university's many academic programs, also oversees the Stony Brook University Hospital with its five health science programs and 120 community-based service centers. The President additionally plays an integral role in the economic development of Long Island, New York through Stony Brook's capacity as co-manager of the Brookhaven National Laboratory.
What will be required is a new attitude toward public higher education, a new state of mind, a new desire to put some real meaning into the motto inscribed in the seal of the State University of New York which says “Let each become all he is capable of being."