A Snapshot Summary – Yale Assembly and Convocation, November 2024
By Ken Merkey
Yale School of Public Health. photo: Yale Daily News
As always, the event was well planned and very informative. We got to meet some new faces (and some old).
Friday morning was significant as we gathered in Sprague Hall to meet the new President, Maurie McInnis. She was well prepared for the lecture. The main point that she made was: this is a steep learning curve for her. She was no stranger to Yale and was thrilled to be back.
She was particularly proud of the fact that any student who comes from a family that earns less than $75K/yr has a free ride. Families earning up to $115K have significant assistance as well. Town/gown relationships are at a historic high. 12 New Haven students were admitted to Yale in 2024.
The star of the show was Scott Strobel, Provost. He made a 2-hour presentation Thursday afternoon but, in retrospect, he should have been assigned the #2 slot behind President McGinnis. His main thesis was that the physical plant of the university needs to match the quality of the education. (I am hoping that the talk was taped so that it can be seen by everyone.) [Ed. Note: we will add a link to Provost Strobel’s presentation if a recording is made available.]
His opening remark was a Chinese proverb. When is the best time to plant a tree, 20 years ago. When is the next best time, now. Then there was the saying by Winston Churchill. We shape our buildings and then they shape us.
Presently the focus is on Science Park. They are building a 600,000 sq ft science building that will complement the existing facilities. The cost of the project is $1 billion.
Yale intends to be carbon neutral by 2050. The entire Science Park will have its HVAC provided by geothermal wells.
David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. photo: Yale
The School of Public Health building is now complete. It is located adjacent to the School of Medicine. The Psychology Department which occupied Sheffield Hall has now been moved to the Public Health building.
Sheffield Hall is due for a makeover as are some of the older, obsolete buildings around it. This project is in the planning stages but is all part of the greater plan to focus on the nexus of science and engineering. In retrospect, the shutting down of the Sheffield School of Engineering was a mistake 60 years ago. But Yale is well ahead of many universities in the co-development of science and engineering. Everyone is focused on re-imagining engineering.
Every effort is being made to accelerate the sciences, including quantum mechanics and the data sciences.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not be a separate department. Instead, every department at Yale will be focused on how AI can affect their subject and its applications.
For 10 years, Scott Strobel managed the west campus. 15 years ago, Yale acquired the 1.5 million sq ft foot facility from a drug company that departed New Haven. There are many science departments that share the facility as well as the School of Music, The Peabody Museum, and the Yale Art Gallery.
On that subject, If you have not visited the Yale Art Gallery recently, you really need to see how well the collections are displayed. The Yale Collection of British Art (across the street) will re-open mid-2025. Of course, no visit to New Haven is complete without visiting the newly re-opened Peabody Museum. It is now the most visited attraction in Connecticut.
A fair amount of time (not enough) was spent on Yale Ventures. They have created an assembly of public and private sector interests to foster development of new technologies, systems, etc. for the benefit of both the University and individual students. A technology summit is held each year in May at Yale.
Both DEI and climate change got minimal attention, surprisingly. President McGinnis explained that her policy of the university avoiding taking public positions on certain issues is to try and de-polarize the conversations.
[Ed Note: For Lee Bolman’s take on the event, click here.]
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