Peter Salovey, PhD, named Chair, Board of Governors of The New York Academy of Sciences

Former president of Yale University to assume leadership role of the Academy’s Board of Governors 

New York, NY | November 18, 2024 – Peter Salovey, PhD, a social psychologist and early pioneer in the field of emotional intelligence, has been named as Chair, Board of Governors, The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy).   

He will oversee the governance of the Academy and its 26 Member board, and work with current President and CEO, Nicholas B. Dirks, on the future of the 200+ year old scientific society and its extensive portfolio of scientific programs.  He succeeds the Honorable Jerry MacArthur Hultin, Chair and Co-Founder, Global Futures Group, LLC, who has served in the role since 2019. 

Salovey’s scientific/academic credentials are extensive.  Prior to joining the Academy, Salovey served as the 23^rd president of Yale University from 2013 to 2024, as well as past provost, Dean of Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Dean of Yale College. 

Over the course of his nearly 40 years of academic research experience, he investigated 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. He is the author and editor of over a dozen books translated into eleven languages and published hundreds of journal articles and essays. He co-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. 

“Peter Salovey’s stewardship as incoming Chair of the Academy’s Board will be an invaluable asset as we head into a critically important time for science,” said Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO, The New York Academy of Sciences. “In such an unsettled world, we need strong advocacy for continued investment in scientific research and leadership in shaping an enlightened role for science to help solve our global challenges.”  

In addition to teaching and mentoring scores of graduate students, former President Salovey has won 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. 

“The New York Academy of Sciences and its track record of bringing widely disparate groups together to address global problems are enormously respected,” said Peter Salovey. “I’m looking forward to working with the Academy to continue its influential thought leadership and prominence in supporting the careers of young scientists.”  

Contact Information

Marie Gentile
mgentile@nyas.org 
1-917-679-6299