Bruce Alexander '65, a national leader in urban revitalization, has been named as the University's first Vice President and Director of New Haven and State Affairs. This appointment, which expands to seven the number of University officers, underscores Yale's commitment to the city and state that are its home, said President Richard C. Levin.
"When I began four years ago, I made clear my intention to make our city a focus of the University's attention," said Mr. Levin, at a gathering of Connecticut and New Haven leaders on Aug. 28. Since then, Yale's Office of New Haven Affairs -- established and directed by Vice President and Secretary Linda Koch Lorimer -- has launched such initiatives as the Yale Homebuyers Program, while the University's schools and departments have also expanded their partnerships with the city, noted the President.
"Almost two years ago, Linda and I began to recognize that the New Haven Initiative could be advanced if we moved beyond the 'entrepreneurial' phase, and recruited a senior officer who could devote 100 percent effort to this agenda, especially if the position were filled by someone with world-class experience in urban development," said Mr. Levin. "We set an almost impossibly high set of standards, for we wanted someone who had a national reputation for helping cities better themselves, but I also wanted someone who, like Linda, had intimate knowledge of how to tap into the Yale community and to draw upon its resources. ...
"Bruce Alexander is the right man for his new responsibilities. He combines a national reputation for urban revitalization with an intimate knowledge of Yale," said President Levin, adding, "He has shown over and over again that the key to the future of our cities is not a matter of simple economic analysis; it requires a sophisticated assessment of human capital and the potential for institutional contributions."
Mr. Alexander has been responsible for developing some of the country's leading urban revitalization projects during his last 20 years as a senior officer of the Rouse Corporation. Mr. Alexander retired in January 1996 as senior vice president and director of new business for the Rouse Corporation, having served for 15 years as the director of the company's Commercial Development Division where he was responsible for the development of all of Rouse's retail and mixed-use properties throughout the United States. Among the projects developed under Mr. Alexander's direction were the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan, the Harborplace in Baltimore, Milwaukee's Grand Avenue, Portland's Pioneer Place, and the Riverwalk in New Orleans. His projects have spanned the nation from Seattle to Miami and represent over $1 billion of development in urban centers.
Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer declared: "Bruce Alexander's appointment is a recognition of the priority -- not simply the importance -- to Yale of relations with the city and region at this juncture of the University's history.
"This appointment is also a source of personal pride," she added. "For the last decade, first as a trustee of Yale and more recently as an officer, I have tried to point out the opportunities for -- but also the responsibility of -- this institution to step forward and build meaningful partnerships with our neighbors, and to make the serious commitment that our host city deserves. Bruce's addition to the Yale administration is a confirmation of all that."
Ms. Lorimer will hand over responsibility for overseeing Yale's involvement in the city and state in May when Mr. Alexander assumes his new Yale post. Ms. Lorimer will also become the Yale officer in charge of alumni affairs in January, upon the retirement of Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Terry Holcombe. (See related story, this page.)
Yale's New Haven Initiative represents an expanded commitment by the University to promote economic development, human development, and neighborhood revitalization with the City of New Haven and its citizens. The New Haven Initiative is coordinated by the Office of New Haven Affairs in conjunction with Yale's academic and administrative departments. It also includes the Office of University Properties, which oversees Yale's non-academic commercial and residential properties in the city. Since 1994, the Yale Homebuyer Program has assisted 273 Yale employees to buy homes in New Haven, resulting in over $30 million of home purchases in New Haven. Yale has also established a Buy in New Haven program, which has resulted in a 23 percent increase in the University's routine purchases of items from city vendors; developed a comprehensive partnership with the Dwight neighborhood; and expanded its efforts with the New Haven Public Schools.
In accepting the appointment, Mr. Alexander said, "New Haven has important advantages not present in many cities its size. It is the region's center for culture, entertainment, and medical services. It is a college town with strong residential neighborhoods, and it has excellent opportunities for economic development as one of the nation's pre-eminent centers of research in the life sciences. I look forward to serving my alma mater and the New Haven community at a time when Yale is especially dedicated to helping the city, region and state realize their full potential."
Mr. Alexander has been one of the civic leaders in the Baltimore area, where he has resided for 28 years. "Bruce has been, literally, 'Mr. Baltimore,'" said President Levin. Mr. Alexander has served on the United Way Cabinet, was a director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was board president and trustee of the Columbia Foundation, and a trustee of the Baltimore Education Scholarship Trust. For 15 years, he served as a member of the board of trustees for Goucher College and chaired the board 1991-96.
Last year, Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore, who is a Yale trustee, appointed Mr. Alexander as director of the Baltimore Development Corporation and chair of its Policy and Planning Committee. In commenting on this appointment by Yale, Mayor Schmoke stated, "Bruce Alexander's appointment is a coup for New Haven and Yale -- and a real loss for Baltimore. For 20 years, Bruce Alexander has given cities around the country a vision of what their renewal could entail, and he has had the tenacity and the talent to get major programs accomplished."
Bruce Alexander has been one of the University's leading volunteers since graduating from Yale College in 1965. He serves as a member of the trustees' Buildings and Grounds Committee and has been the mid-Atlantic Chair of the recently completed Yale Development Campaign. He was the founding chair of the University's Urban Advisory Committee which was created under President Benno Schmidt Jr.
Mr. Alexander is one of the key individuals who encouraged the trustees and the Yale administration to devote greater University attention to New Haven, and he helped shape the University's involvement in the Park-Howe-Dwight area. Since January 1996, Mr. Alexander has given approximately four days a month of service, on a volunteer basis, to the Office of New Haven Affairs to assist Yale in pursuing a number of downtown revitalization projects, including the development of the Broadway retail area.
Mr. Alexander's two sons graduated from Yale and his father lives in the eastern part of Connecticut.