Richard C. Levin
President
Yale University

← Back

Richard C. Levin, Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Economics, has been Yale’s president since 1993. He received his BA from Stanford University in 1968 and studied politics and philosophy at Oxford University, where he earned a B.Litt. degree. In 1974, he received his PhD from Yale and joined the Yale faculty. Before becoming president, he chaired the economics department and served as dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

During his presidency, the University has invested $4 billion in the renovation and construction of its facilities, announced a billion-dollar commitment to strengthen the University’s science and engineering programs, launched numerous international initiatives, and designed innovative partnerships to advance economic development and home ownership in New Haven. In mid-June 2007, President Levin announced the University purchase of the Bayer HealthCare complex, a property that features over 500,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research space, as well as office buildings, warehouses, and other facilities. Most recently, the University Trustees approved the expansion of Yale College and voted to proceed with the planning and construction of two new residential colleges.

President Levin is recognized as an advocate and leader of the emerging role of higher education in responding to the challenge of sustainable development locally and globally. He established an Office of Sustainability in 2005, and during that year endorsed an aggressive greenhouse gas reduction target and strategy for the University. In 2007–2008, President Levin convened the leadership of Yale’s peer institutions nationally and internationally, challenging each of these universities to respond to the pressing issue of climate change.

Mr. Levin was recently appointed to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology. He is a trustee of the Hewlett Foundation, a director of Climate Works and American Express, and a member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations. He served on a bipartisan commission to recommend improvements in the nation’s intelligence capabilities and chaired a major review of the nation’s patent system for the National Academy of Sciences. President Levin holds honorary degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Peking, and Tokyo universities and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Richard Levin and his wife, Jane, have four children and five grandchildren and have lived in New Haven throughout their years at Yale.