School Notes: School of Management
March/April 2020

Center will focus on strengthening public school education

The School of Management has received a landmark gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to develop innovative teaching and research programs devoted to strengthening leadership of America’s public school systems. The $100 million gift will fund the Broad Center at the Yale School of Management and enable the creation of a tuition-free master’s degree program for emerging education leaders, advanced leadership training for top school system executives, and an extensive research endeavor aimed at assembling the premier collection of data on public education leadership. 

The Broad Center at Yale SOM will become a platform for reimagining how skilled management practices can improve the performance of public school districts and thereby create benefits for schools, students, teachers, administrators, and communities across the country. The center will advance the strategic direction pioneered by the Broad Center in Los Angeles. Its placement at Yale SOM will enable its programs to draw on the resources of Yale University. Yale SOM dean Kerwin K. Charles said, “This is exactly the type of issue our school has always cared about—one where leadership informed by systemic thinking, rigorous analysis, and compassion can make a real difference for communities.”

Distinguished alumnae discuss career landscape for women

A trio of distinguished SOM alumnae came together on November 18 to reflect on the changing career landscape for professional women and on the pivotal role that Yale SOM played in shaping their own career paths. “Pioneers: Celebrating Women Leaders of Yale SOM” was held in conjunction with the university’s year-long celebration commemorating the arrival of women students at Yale.

Panelists Linda Mason ’80, chairman and cofounder of Bright Horizons; Jane Mendillo ’84, former president and CEO of the Harvard Management Company; and Sandra Urie ’85, chairman emeritus of Cambridge Associates; discussed how far women have come in achieving greater equity in the workplace, and how much work still needs to be done.