November 9, 2012
Courtesy of Yale Office of Public Affairs
Communications
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Peter
Salovey, currently Yale’s provost and the Chris
Argyris Professor of Psychology, has been named as the
University’s 23rd president. His appointment is effective
June 30, 2013. He succeeds Richard C. Levin, who
assumed the Yale presidency in 1993 and announced his intention to
step down earlier this year.
In announcing Salovey’s unanimous selection by the Yale
Corporation, the University’s governing board, Senior
Corporation Fellow Edward P. Bass noted:
“Peter brings a profound understanding of Yale, and great
ambitions for advancing the University in the years ahead. The
trustees were inspired by Peter’s impeccable integrity and
character, and by his unwavering commitment to excellence. These
personal qualities, combined with his significant leadership
experience, his stature as a scholar, and his deep knowledge of and
devotion to Yale, make him the best person to lead Yale well into
the 21st century.”
Salovey came to Yale as a graduate student in 1981, and has had
three decades of academic and administrative experience at the
University. He is the only president in the history of Yale who has
served as the chair of an academic department, dean of the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences, dean of Yale College and provost. He
is also the latest in a series of Yale provosts who have been
selected to lead major universities; his immediate three
predecessors went on to head Cambridge, MIT and Oxford.
In his administrative roles, Salovey has been instrumental in
academic innovation and reform at Yale. As dean of the Graduate
School, he oversaw the expansion of programs, facilities, and
leadership for the McDougal Graduate Student Center, and improved
support for graduate students. Salovey was also a major contributor
to the Committee on Yale College Education, which recommended
curricular innovations.
As dean of Yale College, Salovey swiftly implemented that
committee’s recommendations, providing more international
opportunities for undergraduates, launching freshman seminars,
enhancing writing intensive courses, and instituting rigorous
courses that introduced science topics to non-science majors. With
former Graduate School Dean Jon Butler, he led the
effort to transform the tenure and appointments process within the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, enhancing Yale’s ability to
recruit and retain talented early career scholars.
In remarks immediately following the announcement of his
appointment, Salovey spoke of his hopes for the future: “To
the faculty, students, staff, alumni, and all of the Yale
community: I look forward to years of listening to you, being
inspired by you, serving you, and collaborating with you to
continue to ensure that Yale is a model of higher learning and
scholarship, and an inspiration to the
world.”
A renowned psychologist
A renowned scholar in the field of psychology, Salovey has
authored or edited 13 books, and his work has been translated into
11 languages. He has published more than 350 journal articles and
essays, focused primarily on human emotion and health behavior. One
measure of his influence is the number of citations of his work:
His 1990 article on emotional intelligence, written with his
collaborator John D. Mayer, has been cited by
other scholars more than 4,500 times.
Salovey’s research focuses on the ways that human moods
and emotions affect behavior and decision-making. With Mayer, he
developed a broad framework known as “emotional
intelligence” to describe how people understand, manage and
use their emotions. His scholarship is interdisciplinary, with
applications in public health, business, communications, education,
and mental health. Of particular note is his work in applying
psychological principles to motivate people to adopt behaviors that
protect their health, determining how educational and public health
messages can best be tailored to promote prevention and early
detection behaviors relevant to cancer and HIV/AIDS.
As a researcher, Salovey has been honored with a National
Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, a
National Cancer Institute CIS Partner in Research Award, and a
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Excellence Award. He is the founding editor of the Review of
General Psychology and was an associate editor of the journals
Emotion and Psychological Bulletin.
Salovey’s commitment to student life is evident from his
service as a dean, but he is also recognized as a dedicated teacher
committed to student learning. He has received two of Yale’s
most prestigious teaching awards: the William Clyde DeVane Medal
for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching in Yale College, and the
Lex Hixon ’63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social
Sciences. As Bass noted: “Peter has an abiding passion for
student life. As an imaginative and gifted teacher, we were excited
by his insights into the possibilities for using technology to
improve the effectiveness and reach of teaching, and his commitment
to Yale’s efforts internationally.”
Anna Marie Pyle, the William Edward Gilbert
Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and
professor of chemistry, was one of four faculty members who served
on the Presidential Search Committee.
“Our presidential search has not only resulted in the
selection of an outstanding leader for this great university, but
it catalyzed a self-study of our institution that provided fresh
insights into the needs and aspirations of the Yale
community,” said Pyle. “The ongoing dialogue that was
initiated during the search will help shape the future of our
university and ensure that Yale is the preeminent center of
innovation in research and teaching. A wonderful thing about Peter
is that he will not only be a great Yale president, but he will
always remain my colleague, as his central focus is our success in
research and teaching. I look forward to our continued
collaboration.”
Echoing Pyle’s comment, another faculty member of the
Presidential Search Committee, Sterling Professor of Genetics
Richard Lifton, noted, “Peter is an
extraordinarily accomplished, passionate, and dedicated citizen of
Yale. With his great personal integrity, commitment to the highest
ideals of the academy, and embrace of Yale’s diverse
missions, he will be a spectacular Yale president. We are fortunate
that he is taking on this critical job.”
Several institutions of higher education are also currently
engaged in presidential searches, noted committee member
Amy Hungerford, professor of English and American
studies and master of Morse College. “With so many appealing
leadership positions open in peer institutions, we knew we had to
work at speed to ensure that we could recruit the best leader for
Yale in the national and international field. And I am so happy to
say that we have succeeded.
"Peter's name came up in virtually every conversation about
candidates, both inside and outside of Yale. He is recognized both
on campus and throughout the world of higher education as a leader
of exceptional skill. His ability to lead with others is matched by
the importance of his own influential scholarship; his warmth as a
person is matched by a sharp sense of Yale's challenges. He is a
talented administrator and, at his core, a born teacher. At this
crucial moment in Yale's history, it became clear that our best
candidate was right here — brilliant, beloved, and ready to
lead the university into its next phase of life.”
Yale community engagement key to search
process
Today’s announcement follows an intensive search process
that began in August immediately after Levin announced his decision
to step down at the end of the current academic year. The 12-member
Presidential Search Committee included eight trustees and four
faculty members. The committee was aided in its work by counselors
who gathered information and suggestions from faculty, students,
staff, and alumni. The committee also engaged in an extensive
program of outreach to the campus and alumni community, as well as
to colleagues and peer institutions.
Search Committee Chair Charles W. Goodyear
expressed his appreciation on behalf of the committee, saying,
“The committee is indebted to the Yale University community
for its engagement in the search process. We received many
thoughtful comments, and we were impressed by the interest in and
commitment to the continued success of Yale that was expressed by
the individuals who reached out to us.”
During the search process, the committee initially identified
and considered over 150 candidates, selected and interviewed a
field of first-round candidates at locations around the country,
and then conducted additional interviews with finalists before
recommending several to the Yale Corporation. The Corporation then
assessed and interviewed the final candidates.
"One factor that contributed to our rapid success, and which
could not have been predicted or designed, was the remarkable
cohesion of the search committee,” notes Pyle. “The
members, who come from highly diverse backgrounds, worked
exceptionally well together and enjoyed each others' company."
Hungerford adds, “Ask anyone who is the colleague, friend,
child, or spouse of a Presidential Search Committee member: Our
commitment to this process was total, and our calendars existed, it
seemed, only to be rearranged. The thrill of this job was the rigor
of the search. The process has clearly had an impact on every part
of this institution. The wisdom of the community, even where it
embodies differing viewpoints on policy or practice, will be an
invaluable endowment for Peter as he begins this new stage of his
leadership at Yale.”
New Haven resident for over 30 years
Peter Salovey received an A.B. in psychology and a co-terminal
A.M. in sociology from Stanford University in 1980, where he was
elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. He holds three Yale degrees
in psychology: an M.S. (1983), M.Phil. (1984), and Ph.D. (1986).
Salovey was president of the Graduate and Professional Student
Senate at Yale in 1983-1984. He joined the Yale faculty as an
assistant professor in 1986, has been a full professor since 1995,
and is currently the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology. He
served as chair of the Department of Psychology from 2000 to 2003,
as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2003 to
2004, and as dean of Yale College from 2004 to 2008. He was
appointed provost in the fall of 2008.
Salovey and his wife, Marta Moret, have lived
in New Haven since they arrived as graduate students more than 30
years ago. Moret, a 1984 graduate of the Yale School of Public
Health, is the president of Urban Policy Strategies, LLC, which
provides program evaluation and technical assistance to
community-based health organizations. Moret is also active with the
Association of Yale Alumni and has served on its board of
governors.
Salovey’s engagement with Yale’s host city was noted
by the Presidential Search Committee. Said Goodyear, “The
Committee understood the importance of Yale’s continued
strong relationship with the City of New Haven. We were impressed
by Peter’s commitment to New Haven, by the importance he
attaches to the partnership between the city and the university,
and by his thoughts about the next stages of this critical
relationship.”
Salovey has also entertained New Haven audiences, playing the
double bass and singing with The Professors of Bluegrass, a group
he and several Yale colleagues and students assembled more than 20
years ago. The Saloveys can often be seen around campus walking
their Havanese dog, Portia.