Peter Salovey President | Yale University
Peter Salovey President | Yale University
Tamar Gendler will complete her second five-year term as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) on Dec. 31 and return to the Yale faculty, President Maurie McInnis announced Tuesday.
Gendler, who is also Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and professor of psychology and cognitive science, conceived of and implemented the current structure of the FAS. She was appointed its inaugural dean in 2014 and reappointed in 2019.
In her role, Gendler oversees more than 1,000 faculty in some 50 different academic fields, “nearly all of whom she knows by face and name,” McInnis wrote in a message to the Yale community.
“Tamar inaugurated this role with brilliance and grace, and I am grateful for her leadership amid a period of unprecedented growth and historic restructuring,” the president wrote.
In 2025, Gendler will spend a sabbatical on the West Coast exploring cutting-edge work in artificial intelligence and educational technology. When she returns to Yale, McInnis said, Gendler will apply what she learns to her research and teaching and will “lead efforts to help us determine the role of these innovations within institutions of higher education.”
An “entrepreneurial spirit and an embrace of outside-the-box thinking,” McInnis wrote, “are two of the qualities that made Tamar the obvious choice to lead FAS a decade ago.”
Under Gendler’s leadership, the FAS has recruited more than 350 new ladder faculty members and instituted practices to recognize the contributions of those on the instructional track. More than half of the current FAS faculty came to Yale under her deanship, McInnis wrote, and Gendler “has worked relentlessly to secure the resources needed for them to excel.”
Landmark accomplishments during Gendler’s tenure include constructing and renovating the Humanities Quadrangle; creating the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale; establishing the Department of Statistics and Data Science; providing faculty leadership for transformative campus projects such as Wu Tsai Institute and Jackson School of Global Affairs; advancing key campus priorities in sciences including neuroscience, planetary solutions, quantum data, computer science; among others.
Nearly every facet of FAS governance was developed under Gendler’s leadership.
“All that work came out of an organization that did not exist when Tamar assumed her post a decade ago,” McInnis wrote. “Tamar conceived of and implemented the current structure of Faculty Arts Sciences including her own role as dean.”
Gendler also introduced divisional deans' roles along with Scholars as Leaders Learners (SAL2) faculty support program overseeing design FAS seal mace.
Gendler earned undergraduate degree summa cum laude at Yale 1987 humanities mathematics-and-philosophy Ph.D philosophy Harvard 1996 author field-shaping books articles philosophy cognitive science education policy frequently speaks audiences beyond academia topics ranging ancient philosophy human flourishing liberal arts education Recent presentations include lectures Aspen Institute IDEAS Festival New Haven Festival Arts Ideas New York Academy Sciences media appearances Hidden Brain Shankar Vedantam Ten Percent Happier Dan Harris Happiness Lab Laurie Santos
Gendler currently serves trustee London School Economics board member New Haven Promise Marc Sanders Foundation sought-after expert higher education served advisory roles Ecole Normale Supérieure Israeli Council Higher Education National University Singapore Harvard MIT numerous other institutions
McInnis said Provost Scott Strobel begun process identifying Gendler’s successor provide more information about search soon
“The person who assumes this office will have enormous shoes fill,” McInnis wrote “but also incredible foundation which build”
Gendler established foundation something new centuries-old institution operates seamlessness storied traditions
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