Maurie McInnis

• University of Virginia
• University of Texas at Austin
• Stony Brook University

Maurie McInnis
McInnis in 2020
24th President of Yale University
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2024

Maurie Dee McInnis (born January 11, 1966) ^[1] 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. ^[2]

McInnis is a scholar in the cultural history of American art in the colonial and antebellum South, focusing on the history of academia, cultural trends, and slavery. ^[3]

Education

McInnis received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in art history from the University of Virginia in 1988. ^[4] She received a Master of Arts in 1990, a Master of Philosophy in 1993, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1996, all in art history from Yale University. ^{[5] [6] [7]} She was a Jefferson Scholar when she was an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia. ^[8]

Career

Academic research

McInnis is a scholar in the cultural history of American Art in the colonial and antebellum South. ^[3] Her work has focused on the relationship between art and politics in early America, especially on the politics of slavery. Her first book, "The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston," was awarded the Spiro Kostof Award by the Society of Architectural Historians. ^[9]

Her 2011 book, "Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade" was awarded the Charles C. Eldredge Book Prize from the Smithsonian American Art Museum ^[10] as well as the Library of Virginia Literary Award for nonfiction. In 2019 University of Virginia Press published her co-edited volume, "Educated in Tyranny: Slavery at Thomas Jefferson's University." She has also served as a curator, ^[11] consultant, and advisor to multiple art museums and historic sites.

Provostship

McInnis served as vice provost for academic affairs at the University of Virginia. Over her almost 20 years' experience at UVA, McInnis held various academic leadership and administrative appointments, including vice provost for academic affairs, associate dean for undergraduate education programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, director of American Studies, and as a professor of art history. She joined the faculty of UVA in 1998, earned tenure in 2005 and became a full professor in 2011. ^[4]

McInnis served as the provost of the University of Texas at Austin from 2016 to 2020. ^[12]

Stony Brook University

On March 26, 2020, McInnis was announced as the sixth president of Stony Brook University. ^[12] She began serving in this role on July 1, 2020. ^[13] McInnis won several political battles in support of Stony Brook University, including securing a $500 million donation from Jim Simons' Simons Foundation (the second-largest gift to a public university in American history), and a $700 million bid to lead the New York Climate Exchange campus on Governors Island. ^[14]

On May 13, 2024, the Stony Brook University Faculty Senate defeated a motion to censure McInnis, by a count of 55–51, over her role with regards to the arrest of 29 pro-Palestinian campus protestors and removal of a pro-Palestinian encampment earlier that month. ^{[15] [16]}

Yale University

In April 2024, the Yale Daily News reported that McInnis, who was appointed to Yale's Board of Trustees in 2022, was a candidate for the presidency of Yale University. ^[17] On May 29, 2024, McInnis was announced as the 24th president of Yale University. McInnis was formally installed on April 6, 2025, ^[18] becoming the first woman to serve as a non-interim president at Yale. ^[2]

Awards and honors

• National Endowment for the Humanities ^[19]
• Virginia Foundation for the Humanities ^[20]
• Charles C. Eldredge Prize, presented to Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade, for outstanding scholarship in the field of American Art, 2012. ^[10]
• Library of Virginia Literary Award for non-fiction, 2012 for Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade. ^[21]
• Spiro Kostof Book Award, Society of Architectural Historians, presented to The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston for the book that has made the greatest contribution to our understanding of urbanism and its relationship with architecture, 2007. ^[9]
• Fred B. Kniffen Book Award, Pioneer America Society, presented to The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston for the best book in the field of material culture in North America, 2007. ^[22]
• George C. Rogers, Jr. Book Award, South Carolina Historical Society, presented to The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston for the best book about South Carolina, 2006.
• Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellow, Downing College, Cambridge University ^[23]

Selected publications

• McInnis, Maurie (1999). In pursuit of refinement: Charlestonians abroad, 1740-1860. Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston, S.C.), Historic Charleston Foundation (Charleston, S.C.). Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN   1-57003-314-5. OCLC   40444158.
• Fama, Vicki, ed. (2005). A Jeffersonian ideal: selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon, III collection of American fine and decorative arts. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum. ISBN   0-9706263-2-0. OCLC   62588093.– McInnis contributed "entries on individual pieces." ^[24]
• McInnis, Maurie (2005). The politics of taste in antebellum Charleston. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   0-8078-2951-X. OCLC   57392004.
• McInnis, Maurie; Nelson, Louis P., eds. (2011). Shaping the body politic: art and political formation in early America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 128–161. ISBN   978-0-8139-3102-9. OCLC   663101340.– In addition to co-editing, McInnis also contributed the chapter, "Revisiting Cincinnatus: Houdon’s George Washington" ^[25]
• McInnis, Maurie (December 2011). Slaves waiting for sale: abolitionist art and the American slave trade. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN   978-0-226-55933-9. OCLC   703870842.
• McInnis, Maurie; Nelson, Louis P., eds. (2019). Educated in tyranny: slavery at Thomas Jefferson's university. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN   978-0-8139-4286-5. OCLC   1088648616.

References

1. Independent, Paul Bass | New Haven (May 29, 2024). "Yale names Maurie McInnis new president". CT Mirror. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
2. Saul, Stephanie (May 29, 2024). "Yale Chooses Head of Stony Brook University to Be New President". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
3. "Maurie McInnis Named Provost at The University of Texas at Austin". UT News. January 11, 2016. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
4. "UVA Alumna Named Yale President". College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
5. McInnis, Maurie Dee (1996). The politics of taste: Classicism in Charleston, South Carolina, 1815-1840 (Ph.D. thesis). Yale University. OCLC   37128160. ProQuest   304308246.
6. "Maurie McInnis, B.A., '90 M.A., '96 Ph.D." Yale University. June 25, 2024. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
7. "Maurie D. McInnis" (PDF). The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
8. "Maurie McInnis, JS '88, named Provost at University of Texas". www.jeffersonscholars.org. Archived from the original on April 3, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
9. "Kostof Book Award Recipients". www.sah.org. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
10. "Maurie D. McInnis Is Awarded the 24th Annual Eldredge Prize for Her Book about Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
11. Ball, Edward. "Retracing Slavery's Trail of Tears". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
12. "Maurie McInnis Named Sixth President of Stony Brook University". SBU News. March 26, 2020. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
13. Dunaief, Daniel (January 1, 2022). "SBU's President McInnis 'makes big ideas happen'". TBR News Media. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
14. Raab, Zachary; Suri, Ben (April 19, 2024). "Yale Trustee Maurie McInnis has mixed legacy at UT Austin, Stony Brook". Yale Daily News. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
15. "Stony Brook University faculty narrowly defeats resolution censuring school president over protest arrests". Newsday. May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
16. Saul, Stephanie (July 2, 2024). "Yale's New President Pushed Policing as Head of Stony Brook University". New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
17. Hernandez, Benjamin (April 16, 2024). "Presidents of Stony Brook and Morehouse sit on the Yale Corp. Could either be Yale's next president?". Yale Daily News. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
18. "Inauguration of President Maurie McInnis | Yale News". news.yale.edu. April 1, 2025. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
19. "The Visual Culture of the American Civil War and its Aftermath". National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Archived from the original on February 5, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
20. "Meet VFH Board Member Maurie McInnis". Virginia Humanities. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
21. "Huddle, McInnis, and Wojahn Receive Literary Awards" (PDF). Library of Virginia. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
22. "The International Society for Landscape, Place, & Material Culture". www.pioneeramerica.org. Archived from the original on November 21, 2019. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
23. "Downing College - Association Newsletter and College Record 2006" (PDF). Downing College Cambridge. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
24. "A Jeffersonian Ideal: Selections from the Dr. & Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts". The Fralin Museum of Art. The University of Virginia. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
25. McInnis, Maurie (2011). "Revisiting Cincinnatus: Houdon's George Washington" . In McInnis, Maurie; Nelson, Louis P. (eds.). Shaping the body politic: art and political formation in early America. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 128–161. ISBN   978-0-8139-3102-9. OCLC   663101340.

Academic offices
Preceded by Samuel L. Stanley	6th President of Stony Brook University 2020 – present	Incumbent