Back to All Staff Richard C. Levin President, Yale University Richard C. Levin is the longest serving Ivy League president and is recognized as one of the leaders of American higher education. Prior to assuming the presidency in 1993, he was Dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. A distinguished economist, he has served as Chair of Yale’s Economics Department and has been a member of Yale’s faculty since 1974. The internationalization of Yale has been one of President Levin’s priorities during his leadership. During his tenure, he launched the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization headed by former President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo; created the Yale World Fellows Program that is building and training a world-wide network of emerging leaders; and introduced a new financial aid policy to provide international students with the same generous financial aid awarded to U.S. students. President Levin has focused on China as the University’s internationalization efforts have developed. He has traveled to China five times in the last four years. President Levin holds an Honorary Degree from Peking University and was awarded an Honorary Professorship from Fudan (Shanghai) University in late 2005. Under President Levin’s leadership, Yale completed a $1.7 billion fundraising campaign, and invested more than $2 billion in campus renovation and building programs. President Levin has developed an effective partnership with the City of New Haven to expand commercial activity near the campus and increase the number of new local companies based on Yale research. President Levin serves as a trustee of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States. President Levin is also a director of American Express, and Satmetrix. He served on Presidential Commissions reviewing the U.S. Postal Service and the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence operations. As a member of the board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy at the National Academy of Science, President Levin co-chaired a committee that examined the effects of intellectual property rights policies on economic and scientific progress and made recommendations for reform of the patent system that are currently under active consideration by the U.S. Congress. In addition he was on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Baseball Economics. A native of San Francisco, President Levin received his bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University in 1968 and studied politics and philosophy at Oxford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Letters degree. In 1974 he received his Ph.D. in economics from Yale and was named to the Yale faculty. He holds honorary degrees awarded by Peking, Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford Universities. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. President Levin maintains his involvement with students through regular meetings, meals in student dining halls, and regular attendance at sporting events. He and his wife, Jane, are longtime New Haven residents. They have four children and one grandchild.
