Graduate School News and Events
YGS Alumni Lead Yale
With the appointment of art historian Mary Miller to the position of dean of Yale College last month, alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences now hold three of the four top positions in academic administration at Yale. Heading the list is Yale President Richard C. Levin, who earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale in 1974.
Levin is the longest-serving Ivy League president and is recognized as one of the world’s pre-eminent leaders in higher education. Prior to assuming Yale’s presidency in 1993, he was dean of the Graduate School. A distinguished economist, he served as chair of Yale’s Economics Department and has been a member of the faculty since 1974.
Yale University Provost Peter Salovey, Dean of Yale College Mary Miller, Yale University President Richard C. Levin, Graduate School Dean Jon Butler.
Second in rank at the university is Provost Peter Salovey, the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology. He joined the Yale faculty in 1986 after earning his Ph.D. from the Department of Psychology. Like President Levin before him, Salovey served as dean of the Graduate School (January 2003–July 2004), after which he was named dean of Yale College. He became provost in October 2008.
Miller, Sterling Professor of the History of Art and master of Saybrook College, earned her doctorate at Yale in 1981 and immediately joined the faculty. She is a specialist on Mesoamerican art and is known particularly for her scholarship on Maya art and architecture, having published six books and dozens of articles on these subjects. Before her appointment to the Sterling Professorship, which is the highest honor bestowed on members of the Yale faculty, she was the Vincent J. Scully Professor of the History of Art. She is acting director of the Humanities Division and has served with distinction as chair of the Department of History of Art. She also chaired the Council on Latin American Studies and served as dgs in Archeological Studies.
Miller’s husband, Edward Kamens, is also an alumnus of the Graduate School, receiving his Ph.D. in 1982. Kamens is the Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies and will serve as master of Saybrook College until the end of this academic year.
The fourth top academic position at Yale is dean of the Graduate School, our own Jon Butler, the Howard R. Lamar Professor of American Studies and Professor of History and Religious Studies, who is a proud alumnus of the University of Minnesota.
