Richard Levin, Yale President, says he will be stepping down at the end of the school year. I don’t know about you but I am curious to know who will take his place. This is a pretty big deal. Read more below.
Dr. Levin, 65, said in an interview that he simply felt it was time to move on, that he planned to take a yearlong sabbatical to write a book and that he did not know what he would do after that. He noted that the university faced several big, potentially expensive, strategic choices, including how to pursue online education and whether to resume building projects that were delayed during the recession.
“It makes sense to let someone who’s got a horizon of 7 to 10 years, at least, to take those over,†he said.
When Dr. Levin took office, Yale was being described as a university whose perch among the world’s top educational institutions had grown shaky. The administration often battled the faculty and the troubled surrounding city, there were budget shortfalls and staff cuts, applications were down and facilities badly needed renovation and repair.
A search committee repeatedly postponed the deadline for naming a new president, reportedly settling unenthusiastically on the low-key Dr. Levin after being unable to find a more famous and charismatic leader. Almost two decades later, Yale’s reputation and its finances are more secure, and Dr. Levin, commonly called Rick, is among the most admired university leaders in the country.
Under his presidency, the university has greatly expanded its academic facilities, including new quarters for science and medicine and a new business school campus; has overhauled its buildings, including all 12 undergraduate residential colleges; has started construction of two residential colleges to make room for the first major expansion in undergraduate enrollment in decades; and has embarked on new programs overseas.
