The Announcement of the 24th President of Yale University

May 29, 2024

Josh Bekenstein: Good morning, everyone!

Thank you for joining us for this exciting announcement event.

Today, I have the great honor to announce the twenty-fourth president of Yale University. By unanimous vote of the Yale board of trustees, Maurie McInnis, current president of Stony Brook University, will be Yale’s next president.

The search process that led to today’s exciting announcement benefited from the input of so many in the Yale community. More than 2,000 of you provided your comments and recommendations through listening sessions, individual meetings, webform entries, and a student survey. Overall, you nominated 128 leaders from higher education and other sectors to the search committee for consideration. We also reached out to many leaders in higher education about Yale’s search. We cast a wide net and gained different perspectives on the ideal qualities and qualifications of the next president.

The committee’s deliberations drew from all your comments and suggestions. On behalf of the board of trustees, I want to thank the four faculty members on the search committee for their insights, deep commitment to this effort, and partnership. We also appreciate the student advisory council for all the work they did to gather in-depth student input. And we thank those of you who gave us your ideas. You made this search process robust and helped bring us to this wonderful moment today.

A compelling leader, distinguished art historian, and devoted educator, Maurie has three decades of experience teaching, conducting research, and shaping the future of universities. She has held a range of leadership roles – from associate dean to provost – at three iconic institutions: University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and Stony Brook. She brings extensive experience in higher education. And her leadership responsibilities include the operations and research of regional medical centers and national science facilities. She has a distinct combination of experience outside of Yale and familiarity with this institution.

The search committee was excited by a leader who brought new perspectives from around the country and cared deeply about the best of Yale’s traditions. As we look ahead, I am excited to work with all of you in the Yale community to support Maurie as our president.

Although she has been doing amazing things outside of Yale since she graduated here with a Ph.D. in art history in 1996, she is an active alumna and trustee. She is familiar with what we have achieved in realizing our academic priorities under President Peter Salovey’s exceptional leadership. She will join a very strong community at Yale.

President Salovey and Provost Scott Strobel have assembled a remarkable set of deans, faculty chairs, and administrative leaders. The trustees, Maurie, and I have great admiration for their work and dedication to Yale.

Maurie has an unwavering commitment to our mission and academic priorities. She is committed to carrying forward the momentum we have built together with Peter over the last decade.

With Maurie leading us, we will continue to advance the university’s capacity to teach and pursue life-changing and innovative research to benefit people around the globe.

Now, it is my pleasure to invite the 24th president of Yale, Maurie McInnis, to the podium.

Maurie McInnis: Thank you, Josh. And hello, everyone.

I join Josh in thanking all of you who contributed to the search process, and I am grateful for the thoughtful efforts of the student advisory council. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the corporation members and to the faculty who dedicated so much of their time to the search process.

This search involved the entire community – faculty, students, staff, alumni, and New Haven community members. I will take that collaborative spirit with me when I begin my service as Yale’s president on July 1.

As a Yale alumna, this is a moment that I will never forget. When I first arrived at Yale in 1989 with my U-Haul, ready to pursue a Ph.D. in the Department of the History of Art, I knew that this place would change my life.

And it did. I encountered faculty members and fellow students who encouraged me to grow in so many ways intellectually and personally. In my work with renowned faculty members, such as Anne Hanson, Vincent Scully, Jules Prown, Robert Herbert, and Ned Cooke, I was introduced not only to history, but how to be a historian. I learned how to ask questions and immerse myself in other times, places, and cultures, through the lived experience of art, architecture, and artifacts. Within the objects that humans produce and conserve, we find echoes of our shared humanity – often not captured in words, of belief, of beauty and horror, of joy and sorrow, of love and loss.

My own work as a scholar has attempted to illuminate the past and to make that understanding more broadly accessible to the public. And the curiosity instilled in me by my experiences at Yale has driven my work as an academic leader as well. In fact, one of the most rewarding aspects of leading a university – as well as medical centers and research facilities – is the opportunity it affords me to be exposed to the greatest minds across a breadth of disciplines and lines of inquiry.

My time at Yale has transformed my life, and I understand the trust and responsibility given to me. I value the opportunity to work with you to build on all that you, President Salovey, Provost Strobel, and the academic and administrative leaders have accomplished in realizing the academic priorities and advancing Yale’s mission.

I know I have big shoes to fill. In my service as an alumna volunteer and trustee, I have gotten to know some of you. I look forward to reconnecting, working with you in a new capacity, and meeting so many more of you.

You – your work and your aspirations – make Yale what it is. So, I want to learn about your work, your experiences, and what you want to see in the future for Yale and for higher education.

I will be reaching out later in the summer about listening sessions and individual meetings.

I also look forward to introducing my husband, Dean; two children; and other family members to what I love about Yale and New Haven. I wouldn’t be here today without their support over the years. I am especially excited about taking them to the local museums and galleries and the amazing restaurants and shops in the city.

For now, I want to say I am grateful to you – to the faculty, students, staff, alumni, and neighbors in New Haven, and especially President Salovey and Marta Moret. I know well the extraordinary impact Peter and Marta have had on Yale over the last few decades. And I’d personally like to thank them both for the kindness they have shown Dean and me.

I’m filled with gratitude as I step into the role to lead this university, knowing firsthand the opportunity for learning it provides to students and the impact it has on millions of people around the world through life-changing scholarship and research.

I have no doubt that there are many exciting times ahead for all of us, and many challenges. Through it all, I will seek the input of the community and urge all of us to listen with empathy and compassion for the experiences of others. Most importantly, I will encourage us to ask ourselves what change we wish to see in the world and how might we best accomplish that.

I can’t wait to begin.

Thank you.