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Contenders?
As with so much at Yale, speculation on campus about
potential presidential candidates is mostly low-key and refined. Still, there’s
been some chatter. Here’s what we’ve heard.
November/December 2012
Short-listed
If anyone gets an interview, it will be psych
professor Peter Salovey ’86PhD; it’s so obvious that the head of the search
committee has confirmed it. Salovey has held three of the biggest titles at
Yale: dean of the Graduate School, dean of Yale College, and now provost.
Groomed for leadership? Nobody’s more dapper. It can’t hurt that he’s known for
his work on emotional intelligence.
Seems logical, but…
To the untrained eye, Vice President Linda Koch
Lorimer ’77JD looks like a natural: she’s been Levin’s highly capable
right-hand administrator from day one, responsible for getting many of his
initiatives off the ground. But Lorimer isn’t an academic, and Yale’s search
committee made it clear in an October statement that their choice will be “a
scholar and educator.”
Old hands
The presidential ranks of academia are rife with
former Yale provosts. Yale might eye chemist Andy Hamilton (left)—though he’s
only been running Oxford for three years, so it might be early for him to bow
out. Or, if Yale wants an august retiree, it will no doubt mull Alison Richard
(right), a primatologist who headed Cambridge, or Susan Hockfield, a
neuroscientist who just stepped down from MIT.
The silver tongue
The beloved literature professor and celebrated
orator Richard Brodhead ’68, ’72PhD, was no doubt a contender for Yale’s
presidency 20 years ago. In 2004, he got Duke’s. Whether he might like to
switch shades of blue, and whether the search committee wants a seasoned pro or
a younger talent, are unknown.
Pipe dream
The New Haven Register raised the name of
Hillary Clinton ’73JD—in a headline, no less. But people on campus say: get
real. Yale isn’t likely to seek an international celebrity, let alone one who’s
spent her life not in academia, but in Democratic politics. Plus, Hill may have
other things to do.
Outsiders
Yale doesn’t have to hire from inside. Here’s
one off-campus possibility: Richard Revesz ’83JD, eminent dean of the NYU law
school and environmental law expert. Revesz consulted with Yale about its
partnership with the National University of Singapore, where his school has a
degree program.
Dark horses
When Levin was picked, his administrative résumé
amounted to chairing the economics department, plus all of one year as Graduate
School dean. He was a genuine long shot. Yale today has many faculty/managers:
Yale College dean Mary Miller ’81PhD (left), ex–deputy provost Judith
Chevalier ’89 (center), Sterling Professor Ian Shapiro ’83PhD, Global Health
Initiative director Betsy Bradley ’96PhD, Graduate School dean Tom Pollard
(right)… to name just a few. The search committee will surely think hard
about local talent, both the obvious and the less well known.  |
