Yale to open global affairs school, first new professional school since 1976

Photo | Yale University - Dan Renzetti T.M. Evans Hall and Steinbach Hall, two of the buildings on Hillhouse Avenue slated for Yale's new Jackson School of Global Affairs.

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By Liese Klein

Yale University will open the new Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs this fall, expanding programs to “equip a new generation of leaders to devise thoughtful, evidence-based solutions for challenging global problems.”

Economist James A. Levinsohn will lead the school, the first new professional school at Yale since its business school was launched in 1976.

The new professional school arises from the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, established in a building on Hillhouse Avenue in 2009. Yale alumnus John W. Jackson, the retired CEO of pharmaceutical company Celgene Corp., gave the initial $50 million to start the institute.

Yale’s trustees announced in 2019 that the institute would become a degree-granting school once it met a $200 million fundraising target. Jackson and his wife, Susan, provided additional funding through their Liana Foundation and the goal was reached.

The school will expand to two more buildings on Hillhouse Avenue as it adds faculty and staff, T.M. Evans Hall and Steinbach Hall.

Yale President Peter Salovey said, “The transition from the Jackson Institute to the Yale Jackson School occurs as communities around the world are facing profound challenges: climate change, war, migration, pandemic, resource scarcity, and political division. By bringing together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in political science, economics, history, law, and other fields, Professor Levinsohn will lead the Yale Jackson School in greatly enhancing our university’s ability to answer that call.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.