When it was founded 150 years ago, Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences was the first of its kind in the nation. Noted alumni of the school will return to campus the weekend of April 25-27 to celebrate their alma mater's sesquicentennial in a program titled "The Graduate School: Reflections on the Past and the Future."
"Yale's ability to attract the world's best teachers and researchers depends on the strength of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences," says President Richard C. Levin, who received his Ph.D. from the Graduate School in 1974. "The Graduate School's alumni teach and conduct research in virtually all the world's most distinguished universities and research institutes and are leaders in many non-academic settings."
"In many ways, the Graduate School is the very center of Yale University," says Thomas Appelquist, dean of the Graduate School and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics. "The research goals of its students and faculty define the University's fields of study. Yale's libraries, laboratories and institutes for specialized study revolve around the Graduate School."
Highlights of the anniversary celebration follow. Unless otherwise indicated, the events will be held in the Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St.
Then and Now
Established by the Yale Corporation in August of 1847, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences was originally called the "Department of Philosophy and the Arts." The department was entirely separate from Yale College in its funding and curriculum. Students who had completed four-year undergraduate degrees enrolled to study "philosophy, literature, history, the moral sciences other than law and theology and natural sciences excepting medicine," according to the course catalogue. This was the fourth advanced program at Yale and the first to focus on research and scholarship. The other three programs offered professional training in medicine 1810, theology 1822 and law 1824.
It should be noted that, although Harvard's first graduate program, a fifth year in comparative philology, started earlier, in 1831, it was limited in scope and soon folded for lack of enrollment. It wasn't until 1872 that Harvard established a Graduate Department of Philosophy which became, in time, its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The graduate arts and science program began in 1847 with 11 students, eight of whom were concentrating in the sciences. Seminars were offered that year in chemistry and metallurgy, agricultural science, Greek and Latin literature, mathematics, philology and Arabic. In the first decades, the number of students enrolled in the department was small, and the majority pursued scientific studies. The faculty consisted of two full-time science professors and five Yale College faculty members who offered advanced courses in their subject areas. Only master's degrees were granted.
The first headquarters for the school was a wood framed building next to the old Peabody Museum on High Street near where Harkness Tower stands today. In 1916, the Graduate School moved to Willard Gibbs Hall on Whitney Avenue. It moved to its present York Street location in 1931.
Today the Graduate School offers instruction in 48 departments and programs leading to master's and doctoral degrees. Enrollment is close to 2,300 students each year, and almost all of them enjoy financial support from University funds. There are approximately 750 faculty, who are shared with Yale College and to a lesser degree with the professional schools. There are currently about 20,000 living alumni.
Historic Milestones
While initially, the Graduate School only granted master's degrees, the University presented three Ph.D. degrees - the first to be awarded in the United States - at its Commencement in 1861. Fifteen years later, Edward Alexander Bouchet Yale College Class of 1874 became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in the United States. His degree from Yale was the sixth physics doctorate ever awarded in that field.
In 1892, the department was officially renamed the Graduate School and its first dean, Arthur Twining Hadley, was appointed. He later became Yale's 13th president.
Women were admitted into the school that same year and in 1894, Elizabeth Deering Hanscom earned the first Ph.D. among American women. She went on to a long and distinguished career as professor of English and American literature at Smith College. Late in life, Professor Hanscom gave her Yale doctoral hood to Miriam Usher Chrisman ' 62 Ph.D., to whom she was both mentor and friend. In 1978, Professor Chrisman --now emerita, University of Massachusetts at Amherst--, passed that same hood to Lorna Jane Abray on the occasion of her earning a Ph.D. in history from Yale. Professor Abray now teaches at the University of Toronto.
Outstanding Alumni
The following is just a sample of the outstanding individuals who received their master's or doctoral degrees at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences:
Josiah Willard Gibbs 1863 Ph.D.: considered by many to be America's greatest scientist; his work spanned vector analysis, light waves, statistical mechanics and the electro-magnetic theory of light. His most significant contribution was in thermodynamics, where his discoveries led to the foundation of a new science, physical chemistry.
Lee De Forest 1899 Ph.D.: "Father of Electronics"; he invented the vacuum tube that was the basic component of radios, televisions and computers before the transistor.
Grace M. Hopper '34 Ph.D.: pioneer in data processing and computer programming, working on Mark I and Univac I, and, with colleagues, inventing COBOLT, a computer language widely used for business applications. A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, at her retirement in 1986 she was the oldest officer on active duty in the armed services.
Vincent Joseph Scully Jr. '49 Ph.D.: Sterling Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at Yale, author of influential books on architecture, from contemporary to ancient.
Eleanor Holmes Norton '63 M.A.: attorney and educator, former U.S. Congresswoman for the District of Columbia; chair of the Committee on Humanities, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; chair of the National Advisory Council, American Civil Liberties Union.
James Thomas Laney '66 Ph.D.: U.S. ambassador to Korea since 1993 and prior to that, president of Emory University for 16 years. Janet L. Yellen '71 Ph.D. : head of the Council of Economic Advisers and former governor of the Federal Reserve Board.
- By Gila Reinstein