Yale formally launches new Jackson School with pundits, panels

Photo | Yale University/Tony Fiorini Yale officials celebrate the dedication of the Jackson School with a procession into Woolsey Hall on Oct. 15, 2022, led by Jackson School graduate student Bomi Okuyiga, followed by Yale President Peter Salovey, Jackson School Dean Jim Levinsohn, university trustee Charles Goodyear and student poet Bryce Morales.

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By Liese Klein

Yale University formally opened its first new professional school in decades on Saturday as the new Jackson School of Global Affairs launched with ceremonies and speeches.

Created to train world leaders to take on challenging global problems, the new graduate school is located on Hillhouse Avenue and is in the process of hiring new faculty and staff.

The first cohort of graduate students started on July 1. The inaugural class of 35 students comes from 15 different countries, speaks 25 languages among them and consists of 60% international students and 43% students of color, according to the Jackson School website.

In opening the school, Yale President Peter Salovey said, “The Jackson School of Global Affairs reflects Yale’s commitment to engage with the global challenges of the day and to do so in a way that diminishes silos that can stunt discovery… the new school is organized around challenges it will address.”

Luminaries like pundit Fareed Zakaria and retired U.S. ambassadors Anne W. Patterson, Ryan Crocker and Robert Ford spoke as part of the opening festivities, which included a panel on diplomacy. A second panel on threats to democracy featured Jackson School professors exploring the many sources of political polarization in the U.S.

Donors John W. Jackson and Susan G. Jackson, for whom the school was named, were present and honored by Jackson School Dean Jim Levinsohn. John Jackson is the retired CEO of biotech firm Celgene Corporation.

“The school with your name on it is going to change lives,” Levinsohn told the donors. “It already has.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.