The Work of the University

From the vantage point of the president’s office, an inspiring view of the challenges and responsibilities of a great university

This engaging collection of speeches and essays, published on the occasion of Richard C. Levin’s tenth anniversary as president of Yale University, reflects both the range of his intellectual passions and the depth of his insight into the work of the university. By turns analytical, reflective, and exhortatory, Levin explores what it means to be a world-class university, how the university intersects with local and global communities, and why a liberal education matters. He offers personal recollections of schools, teachers, and traditions of particular importance in his own life. And, returning to his roots as a professor of economics, he discusses the competitiveness of American industry and the relations between the market economy and American democracy.

Throughout these writings Levin illuminates and inspires. Always his affection for the university shines through. Whether greeting incoming freshmen, meditating on September 11, remembering an intellectual hero, saluting graduating seniors, addressing the League of Women Voters, or celebrating Yale’s Tercentennial, Levin, by example, shows what a liberal education can achieve.

Richard C. Levin, the Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Economics, is the twenty-second president of Yale University. Before becoming president, he chaired the economics department and served as dean of the Graduate School. He is a director of the Hewlett Foundation and the National Academy of Science’s Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy.