Detail of the Mary Hartwell Lusk Memorial Window

Advancing the Pursuit of Knowledge

Yale is committed to the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge. In championing the liberal arts and driving innovation that shapes the world, we live up to that mission. In a moment of uncertainty and change, we’re rededicating ourselves to our purpose—teaching, scholarship, and research that advances the pursuit of knowledge and illuminates the wealth and breadth of human experience.

In the classroom and our world-class research facilities, Yale’s faculty and students have asked profound questions about the human condition, addressed global challenges through scientific breakthroughs and technological innovation, and helped make possible a brighter future.

Each time our mettle is tested, Yale answers the call. Not by yielding to the winds of change, but by leading change ourselves. Not by cloistering ourselves in our cathedral, but by engaging with the world as it is. Not by straying from our mission, but by strengthening it to meet every moment we face.

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President Maurie McInnis

A group of students researching a book

Centering the liberal arts

A wholehearted liberal arts education is central to the realization of our mission, forming the foundation of our undergraduates’ education and feeding the scholarship of our graduate and professional students. Through the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, the liberal arts prepare students to develop their intellect across all fields. Above all, the liberal arts instill a love of knowledge that guides our students for the rest of their lives.

The rich foundation that the liberal arts provide is manifest, not only in the college, but also in the Jackson School of Global Affairs, where students and fellows confront complex global issues, the Law School, where issues of jurisprudence are studied and debated, and our arts schools, where the creative impulse finds expression in varied and thrilling media, to name just a few. 

Across campus, we are continuing to reaffirm the preeminence of the liberal arts at Yale. With the recent celebration of the Whitney Humanities Center’s 45th anniversary, we underscored the relationship between the humanities and the liberal arts. Building on the 2023 strategic plan for Yale College that emphasized curricular innovation and strengthening learning for students, Dean Pericles Lewis is now overseeing the college’s most comprehensive review in more than two decades. 

In 2025, Dean Steven Wilkinson began a complementary strategic planning process for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to meet the needs of this era’s evolving issues while supporting exceptional research and teaching. 
 

Two students working on a large quantum computer

Spurring innovation

We’re proud that generations of scientists and innovators have developed world-changing breakthroughs on this campus, and we’re determined to continue to foster that spirit of discovery. That means encouraging deep collaboration and interdisciplinary work, supporting students and faculty as they seek out meaningful partnerships outside their disciplines. Our decision to reimagine and expand Science Hill has been crucial to realizing the science strategy developed in 2018 and to establishing a hub for research progress. We are building a space for fundamental and practical science and engineering that will be home to dozens of faculty-led research laboratories and several modern core facilities, sparking new thinking and new findings across fields.

It will also supercharge quantum science at Yale. Through the public-private partnership QuantumCT, recently recognized with a two-year, $15 million NSF Regional Innovations Engines award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), we aim to build a quantum technology economy in Connecticut. We will make our home state more attractive to start-ups, create a talented workforce in this area, and encourage existing companies to adopt quantum technologies and new companies to turn theory into practical applications.

Close-up of a laboratory worker handling a test tube of red liquid.

Anticipating the future

The School of Medicine recently released a refreshed strategic plan. It includes goals to expand AI education, advance the science of healthy aging, and develop novel therapies to treat rare genetic disorders. Those efforts, combined with the strategic visioning of the now-independent School of Public Health and ongoing investments in science and medicine across the university, will bolster research and innovation that keep us all stronger, safer, and healthier.