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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
23
Number of Yale University presidents.
Peter Salovey is the 23rd president of Yale University. The Reverend Abraham Pierson became president of the Collegiate School in 1701. The school changed its name to Yale under the presidency of Reverend Timothy Cutler, the University’s third president.
Salovey clarifies leadership positions SALOVEY FROM PAGE 1 affairs. In the spirit of greater transparency, Salovey has also revised some opaque administrator titles to reflect the administrators’ roles more closely, in addition to creating a website intended to solicit feedback about his leadership. “Because he’s the president, because he has to be in meetings all day, traveling and away from campus, sometimes people wonder, ‘Where’s the president and what is he thinking about?’” said Chief Communications Officer Elizabeth Stauderman. Stauderman added that she works with Salovey to create a greater flow of information between the president’s office in Woodbridge Hall and the staff, faculty and students — an endeavor that has interested Salovey since his time as provost. Nine out of 12 students interviewed said they read his emails — of which he has sent five so far — and 10 out of 12 noticed that the president has signed at least one email “Peter.” In general, the students responded positively to Salovey’s emails, though some said they feel the emails are a superficial method of communicating with students, faculty and staff. “I find his ‘Notes from Woodbridge Hall’ to be very calculated, but perhaps that’s part of his ethos,” Janine Chow ’15 said. “Receiving them, literally none of them speak to me.” Administrators were more universally positive about Salovey’s emphasis on increased communication. School of Medicine Dean
Robert Alpern said Salovey’s focus on improving internal communications has led to more discussion between the deans and vice presidents, two cohorts that did not traditionally interact. Salovey formed the University Cabinet — a 25-person advisory board made up of the University officers and academic deans — to bring the different administrators together in meetings once a month. His goal to improve on-campus communication, Salovey said, has also caused him to put more emphasis on job titles that convey individuals’ primary responsibilities.
I no longer have to say ‘special assistant to the president’ on my business card. What does the special assistant actually do? ELIZABETH STAUDERMAN Chief Communications Officer, Yale University Salovey added the he decided to revise administrator titles when he heard from different constituents on campus last spring that faculty, staff and students found Yale’s leadership structure to be opaque — a reality that became problematic when individuals were unable to discern whom to contact to resolve specific problems. Stauderman added that Salovey changed her own title by removing the term “special
MARIA ZEPEDA/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
In his speech the day he was named University president last November, Peter Salovey called for a “more open” and “more accessible” Yale.. assistant to the president.” She said the role of CCO encompasses her advising Salovey on communications matters, so the additional title was unnecessarily “mysterious.” “I am delighted about this,” Stauderman added. “I no longer have to say ‘special assistant
to the president’ on my business card. What does the special assistant actually do?” Similarly, Linda Lorimer saw her position changed from “vice president,” and previously “secretary,” to the more specific “vice president for global and strategic initiatives.”
While Salovey added that the public’s confusion surrounding the actual role of a university provost has become a joke on many college campuses, the job name’s historic use in higher education means he does not plan to touch Benjamin Polak’s title.
Salovey said he came up with the idea of “Notes from Woodbridge Hall” from University Librarian Susan Gibbons’ weekly emails to the library staff. Contact JULIA ZORTHIAN at julia.zorthian@yale.edu .
Harp links Hartford experience to new city grants HARP FROM PAGE 1 students if it were not for these grant programs.” At Common Ground High School, the funds will help support a wide array of programming in the after-school program Above and Beyond, in which a majority of the school’s 185 students participate, according to Ashton Killilea, who organizes the program. Students can participate in activities that span both the conventional and nontraditional, such as playing in a band, dancing and painting murals. Tobman, who wrote the school’s grant application, said that the funds, which the school has also received in the past, make up for a significant gap in funding. Common Ground, according to Tobman, needs to raise approximately $3,000 per student each year, in addition to municipal, state and federal funding, to provide “the level of education that we believe our students deserve.” Similarly, the Co-op After School program, part of the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, makes use of the funds to offer a similarly diverse set of programs, which this term number 37. CAS is a collaboration between Yale, Dwight Hall, the Shubert Theater and the high school, although Dwight Hall organizers wrote the grant that resulted in the funds. Individual programs seek the grants on an annual basis through a competitive application process, which is frequently helped along by state legislators from different communities. Killilea, who spent significant time in Hartford this year pushing for the grant to come to Common Ground, said that Harp played an integral role in delivering the funds.
KATHRYN CRANDALL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Funds for after-school programs for two New Haven high schools have come largely through the influence of mayoral candidate Toni Harp ARC ’78. “I wrote many emails, pleading, ‘Please don’t take our funding from us,’” Killilea said. “She would always respond back and say she’s fighting for us.” Like every decision made by mayoral candidates Harp and Justin Elicker FES ’10 SOM ’10,
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some discussion has already turned to the grants’ potential impact on the race. Harp has built her campaign on the foundation of her experience and personal ties in Hartford, which Harp communications director Patrick Scully emphasized
when he said that voters ought to take the grants as evidence of the potential of Harp’s connections. “You can be sure that any state grant that comes to New Haven has Sen. Harp’s fingerprints on it,” Scully said. “Voters should take a hard look at the fact that
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Sen. Harp … will have these personal relationships with people in Hartford.” Although municipalities across the state applied for the grants, urban communities received much of the funding. New Haven, Stamford, Bridge-
port and the greater Hartford area took in 9 of the 26 grants and 32 percent of the total funds. Contact MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS at matthew.lloyd-thomas@yale.edu .
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