Peter Salovey

Board of Governors

Former President, Yale University

Before concluding his service in June 2024, Peter Salovey was the twenty-third president of Yale University, appointed in July 2013. He is the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, holding secondary faculty appointments in the School of Management, School of Public Health, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and Department of Sociology.

During his presidential tenure, Former President Salovey led the development of new programs and facilities across the schools and departments of Yale, consistent with the vision and strategy he articulated earlier in his presidency. Advancements included restructuring and expanding the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, launching the Jackson School of Global Affairs, transitioning the Yale School of Public Health into a self-supporting independent school from the Yale School of Medicine, and opening two new residential colleges, increasing Yale College enrollment by 15 percent. He also advanced innovative teaching on campus; amplified Yale’s partnerships in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world; and enhanced multidisciplinary collaboration and entrepreneurial opportunity for faculty and students. Former President Salovey was—and remains—committed to improving access to a Yale education for students worldwide regardless of their financial background.

Prior to becoming president, Former President Salovey served as the provost of Yale University from 2008 to 2013. As provost, he facilitated strategic planning and initiatives such as enhancing career development and mentoring opportunities for all Yale faculty members; promoting faculty diversity; creating the Office of Academic Integrity; establishing the University-wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct; developing the West Campus; and overseeing the university’s budget during the global financial crisis. Other leadership roles at Yale have included serving as chair of the Department of Psychology, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and dean of Yale College.

After receiving an A.B. (psychology) and A.M. (sociology) from Stanford University in 1980 with departmental honors and university distinction, Former President Salovey earned three degrees at Yale in psychology: M.S. (1983), M.Phil. (1984), and Ph.D. (1986). Since joining the Yale faculty in 1986, he has studied the connections among emotion, health communication, and health behavior, with a special focus on emotional intelligence. He played key roles in multiple Yale programs including the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, which Former President Salovey founded; the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS; and the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program.

Former President Salovey has authored or edited over a dozen books translated into eleven languages and published hundreds of journal articles and essays. With John D. Mayer, he developed a broad framework called “emotional intelligence,” the theory that just as people have a wide range of intellectual abilities, they also have a wide range of measurable emotional skills that profoundly affect their thinking and action.

In addition to teaching and mentoring scores of graduate students, Former President Salovey has won both the William Clyde DeVane Medal for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching in Yale College and the Lex Hixon ’63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Pretoria (2009), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2014), National Tsing Hua University (2014), Harvard University (2015), McGill University (2018), University of Haifa (2018), and Vytautas Magnus University (2019). In 2013, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.