More news of Yale people

Robert A. M. Stern Architects

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Remembered

Robert A. M. Stern ’65MArch (left), dean of the School of Architecture from 1998 to 2016, died on November 27 at his home in Manhattan. He was 86. A prolific architect, Stern’s portfolio ranged from private homes to skyscrapers around the world. At Yale, he and his firm designed Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray Colleges, the Schwarzman Center, and the Greenberg Conference Center. A remembrance will appear in our next issue.

Kai Erikson, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology and American Studies Emeritus, died in Hamden, Connecticut, on November 10. He was 94. A sociologist who studied how communities experience collective trauma after disasters, Erikson taught at Yale from 1966 to 2000. In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Erikson edited the Yale Review from 1979 to 1989 and served as head of Trumbull College from 1969 to 1973. 

Physicist Werner Wolf died on September 16. He was 95. A native of Vienna, Wolf earned his doctorate in physics at Oxford and joined the Yale faculty in 1963, where he eventually became the Raymond J. Wean Professor of Applied Physics. In addition to his teaching and his extensive research into magnetic materials, Wolf took on a number of administrative roles in engineering and applied science, helping to keep the departments alive during the budget crisis of the 1990s. 

Honored

Three Yale seniors are among the 32 American students chosen this year as Rhodes Scholars. Aruna B. Balasubramanian ’26 of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania; Noah B. Tirschwell ’26 of Dobbs Ferry, New York; and August A. Rios ’26 of Bluffton, South Carolina, were chosen for the scholarship, which offers funding for two to three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford.

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University of Michigan

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Appointed

Geoffrey S. Chatas (left) became Yale’s senior vice president for operations in November. Chatas, who succeeds Jack Callahan ’80, comes from the University of Michigan, where he was executive vice president and chief financial officer for four years. Before that, he served in similar roles at Georgetown and Ohio State.

Two faculty members have been appointed Sterling Professors, the university’s highest faculty honor. Steven Berry is now a Sterling Professor of Economics. Previously the David Swensen Professor of Economics, Berry has taught at Yale since 1988. A scholar of industrial organization, he has served as chair of the economics department and as the inaugural director of the Tobin Center for Economic Policy. Former Law School dean Heather Gerken has been named a Sterling Professor of Law. Gerken recently stepped down as dean after eight years to become president of the Ford Foundation; she will remain on the Yale faculty as a professor emerita.

Elected

Elias Theodore ’27, a junior in Jonathan Edwards College, won the Democratic primary for the Ward 1 seat on New Haven’s Board of Alders in September. Ward 1 is dominated by Yale students living on Old Campus and in eight residential colleges. Because there was no Republican challenger, he joins the board in January. Theodore, a New Haven native and graduate of Wilbur Cross High School, is majoring in urban studies. He defeated Norah Laughter ’26.