More news of Yale people

Todd Roeth/Courtesy Jessica Helfand

View full image

Remembered

William Drenttel, a graphic designer and senior faculty fellow at the School of Management, died December 21 of brain cancer. He was 60. Drenttel ran the design studio Winterhouse with his wife Jessica Helfand ’82, ’89MFA. A decade ago, he and three colleagues also founded the design blog Design Observer. A winner of the American Institute of Graphic Arts Medal, the highest honor in the profession, Drenttel taught design thinking and creative strategy at SOM.

Chris Argyris, a Yale professor who studied organizational behavior, died on November 16. He was 90 years old. Argyris taught in Yale’s administrative science department from 1951 to 1971 before moving to Harvard. Yale awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011, and there is a chair in psychology at Yale (currently held by President Peter Salovey ’86PhD) that bears his name.

Returning

Yale professor Daniel Esty ’86JD is returning to teaching at the Law School and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies after nearly three years serving as commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Esty, who is married to US Representative Elizabeth Esty ’85JD, took a leave of absence from Yale in order to serve as the first commissioner of the combined agency. He is teaching one course this spring: Climate Change and the Quest for Clean Energy.

Appointed

Sterling Professor of Economics William Nordhaus ’63 took over as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in January. Nordhaus, who was also elected president of the American Economic Association for 2014, previously served as deputy chair of the bank. Nordhaus was provost of Yale from 1986 to 1988, and he was a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in the Carter administration.

April Ruiz ’05 began her tenure as dean of Calhoun College in January. Ruiz, who was previously assistant director for Yale College fellowships at the Center for International and Professional Experience, obtained her doctorate in psychology from the University of St. Andrews after graduating from Yale. Ruiz succeeds former Calhoun dean Leslie Woodard, who died in October (Milestones, November/December).