The 2023–24 cohort of the national Israeli program, Leadership in Academia, spent a day on the Yale campus in September meeting with Yale counterparts to explore leadership in higher education. The delegation of 33 fellows, vice rectors, deans, and department heads from all nine of Israel’s universities and several Israeli colleges were in the United States as part of their year-long program to prepare them for future leadership opportunities. The program’s mission is to “establish and nurture a strong network of senior members of Universities, Colleges and research centers, capable of coping with the transformations that will ensure continuing academic excellence, innovation and social impact.”

At Yale, the group was welcomed by President Peter Salovey, who described Yale’s work to strengthen the data-intensive social sciences, entrepreneurship and commercialization of research, faculty leadership development, and strategies surrounding prioritization in science.

Other Yale leaders met with the delegation throughout the day including: Steve Murphy, Vice President for Finance & CFO, Tamar Szabo Gendler, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Kathryn Lofton, Dean of Humanities. In addition, Steven Wilkinson, Vice Provost for Global Strategy, hosted a lunch with Yale faculty at the Slifka Center for Jewish Life.

The day concluded with a visit to Yale’s West Campus to meet with Mike Crair, Vice Provost for Research, after which the delegation departed to visit other United States higher education institutions.