Dear Members of the Yale Community,
We write to share the news that after eight years serving as dean of Yale Law School and two decades on the faculty at Yale, Heather Gerken will be leaving the university in early August to serve as the next president of the Ford Foundation. While we know that Heather will be deeply missed not just at the law school, but across Yale, we congratulate her for taking on this important and exciting new leadership role, and we thank her for all she has done for the school and our university.
Over the past eight years, Heather’s thoughtful and transformational leadership has ensured that Yale Law School remains the finest law school in the country. She has led the charge in redefining legal education by strengthening the school’s tradition of academic excellence, launching innovative new programming, and stewarding robust philanthropic support to enhance the institution’s educational experience and need-based financial aid programs.
Since the start of her deanship, the number of veterans entering YLS has tripled to nearly ten percent, first-generation professional students have increased by 50 percent, and first-generation college students have grown by 80 percent. These advancements are the result of programs that the law school has launched to remove barriers that too often stand in the way of talented students pursuing a legal education.
In the last few years alone, Heather helped to create two pipeline-to-law school programs that fortified the school’s enduring commitment to need-based aid. In 2022, Yale Law School launched the first full-tuition Hurst Horizon Scholarship Program for law students with the highest financial need, sparking a growing trend in legal education. Last year, 15 percent of students pursuing Juris Doctor degrees were tuition-free at Yale Law School because of this life-changing program. Heather has worked tirelessly to advocate for more investments in need-based aid across legal education, and several other law schools have followed Yale Law School’s example.
While expanding access to Yale Law School, Heather also worked with the faculty to create more educational and professional development initiatives for students. Through an innovative leadership program, Heather has worked to broaden the curriculum with wide-ranging courses and opportunities for mentorship and professional growth. Now in year four, the program has created an unrivaled experience for law students to equip them with the skills they need to tackle any career that they choose and make an impact in the world at large. As part of the leadership program, Heather established the Crossing Divides Program, a special initiative designed to foster discourse across the political and ideological spectrum and reinforce the core values of practicing law. She also recently helped launch the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech under the direction of Professor Keith Whittington to further strengthen the university’s commitment to these core values of the academy.
Throughout her deanship, Heather has ensured that the law school cultivated intellectual rigor by supporting faculty scholarship and expanding experiential learning to create an unparalleled educational environment for students. She has been one of the few deans in the country to continue to teach a clinic while at the helm, leading the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project since its inception 20 years ago. Her passion for teaching and mentorship continues today as she lends her time and expertise to countless students and alumni.
As one of the country’s leading experts on constitutional law and election law, Heather has also dedicated her life’s work to democracy and the rule of law. Her work on election reform has informed policy at a national level. As dean, Heather has continued to champion this work, most recently serving as a member of the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy and supporting the work of the faculty and clinics tackling these important issues across the country and around the world.
Heather has led the law school through unprecedented times with grace and determination, and a bold vision. She embodies the restless spirit that has long defined Yale Law School across its 200-year history. One throughline of her deanship has been fostering a deep sense of community at the law school, ensuring that students, faculty, staff, and alumni can feel at home at Yale. Above all her accomplishments as dean, her passion, humility, and warmth most inspire those around her.
In the coming weeks, we will work to appoint an interim dean and initiate the search for the next dean of Yale Law School. Until then, please join us in expressing our sincere gratitude to Heather for her extraordinary service to Yale and wishing her well in this new chapter.
Sincerely,
Maurie McInnis
President
Professor of the History of Art
Scott Strobel
Provost
Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry