Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020 refer to the School's name at that time.
On Sept. 11, F&ES Dean Peter Crane announced that he will step down as dean following the 2015-16 academic year to become President of the newly created Oak Spring Garden Foundation. In a message, Yale President Peter Salovey shared the news with the Yale community.
Dear Colleagues,
Dear Colleagues,
I write to let you know that Peter Crane has informed me of his intention to step down as the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at the end of this academic year. Earlier today he wrote to the faculty, staff, and students of F&ES to announce this decision, and a copy of that message is included below. As you will read, this sad news for Yale is born of very happy news for Peter, who will become the inaugural president of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation—an estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes extensive gardens and a library of landscape history and plant science—in Virginia this summer.
Since his arrival at Yale in the fall of 2009, Peter has brought tremendous leadership to the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and to the university community more broadly. He has strengthened F&ES for the century ahead by emphasizing faculty excellence and recruiting eminent scholars to Yale; worked to set the school on solid financial footing in the wake of the economic downturn; led the modernization and strategic renewal of facilities to support the school’s academic mission; fostered interdisciplinary and inter-school collaboration; and positioned F&ES as an exemplar of diversity, global perspective, and civic engagement.
Peter’s last day in the deanship will be June 30, 2016, and we will have opportunities before then to further recognize his legacy on our campus. He is ardent in his commitment to the school’s continued success in the year ahead, and I look forward to his ongoing contributions.
We will soon undertake a search for the next dean, and updates on that process will be forthcoming. In the meantime, please join me in offering Peter Crane our heartfelt good wishes and appreciation.
Sincerely,
Peter Salovey
President and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology
Dean Crane's message to the F&ES community
Sept. 11, 2015
Dear Colleagues:
This morning I informed the faculty and staff of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies that I will step down as Dean of the School at the end of my seventh year, on June 30, 2016. Later today President Salovey will send a message to the Yale community and a national search will begin soon for my successor as the Carl. W. Knobloch Jr., Dean of the School.
It’s hard to express what an exhilarating privilege it has been for me to be part of this great university and the best professional school of the environment anywhere in the world. It will be an enormous wrench to leave behind the wonderful F&ES community with its outstanding staff and faculty, inspiring students, incomparable alumni and dedicated supporters. Nevertheless, after discussing the prospect of this transition with my family we have concluded that this is the right time to take up a new and important challenge.
Beginning July 1, 2016 I will become President of the newly created Oak Spring Garden Foundation originating from the estate of Mrs. Rachel Lambert (Bunny) Mellon. The Foundation will be based at Oak Spring near Upperville, Virginia. Oak Spring includes one of the great gardens of North America and the Oak Spring Garden Library, which houses a collection of books, prints, and drawings tracing the history of landscape architecture and garden design, including the early history of plant science. The mission of the Foundation will be to facilitate scholarship and public dialogue on the uses, history, and future of plants. I look forward to continuing my relationship with the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and with Yale, in my new role.
However, this transition is still almost a year away and in the coming months I will redouble my efforts to secure the School’s most important priorities for the future. These include further strengthening our research portfolio, enhancing the breadth and quality of our pedagogy, completing the renovation of Greeley Laboratory, and securing the F&ES campus at Yale Myers Forest to support expanded research and outreach.
In my years at Yale I have learned from, and been supported by, many friends in F&ES and across the entire campus. It is my hope that these friendships will endure well into the future.
With my deepest thanks for all we have accomplished so far, and all we will accomplish together in the coming year.
peter
Sir Peter Crane
Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean
Yale University
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Beginning July 1, 2016 I will become President of the newly created Oak Spring Garden Foundation originating from the estate of Mrs. Rachel Lambert (Bunny) Mellon. The Foundation will be based at Oak Spring near Upperville, Virginia. Oak Spring includes one of the great gardens of North America and the Oak Spring Garden Library, which houses a collection of books, prints, and drawings tracing the history of landscape architecture and garden design, including the early history of plant science. The mission of the Foundation will be to facilitate scholarship and public dialogue on the uses, history, and future of plants. I look forward to continuing my relationship with the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and with Yale, in my new role.
However, this transition is still almost a year away and in the coming months I will redouble my efforts to secure the School’s most important priorities for the future. These include further strengthening our research portfolio, enhancing the breadth and quality of our pedagogy, completing the renovation of Greeley Laboratory, and securing the F&ES campus at Yale Myers Forest to support expanded research and outreach.
In my years at Yale I have learned from, and been supported by, many friends in F&ES and across the entire campus. It is my hope that these friendships will endure well into the future.
With my deepest thanks for all we have accomplished so far, and all we will accomplish together in the coming year.
peter
Sir Peter Crane
Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean
Yale University
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Published
September 11, 2015