Members of the Yale Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, converged on New Haven this past weekend for the board’s third meeting of the year.

Following tradition, the corporation spent much of its February meeting exploring one area of the University in depth, University President Richard Levin said in a Sunday night interview. This year, the corporation chose the School of Medicine, which recently celebrated its 200-year anniversary, Levin said. In between meetings, the officers and corporation members found time to travel to Ingalls Rink and watch the Yale vs. Colgate men’s hockey game on Friday night.

Members of the board spent much of Friday at the School of Medicine, hearing from both School of Medicine Dean Richard Alpern and Yale-New Haven Hospital CEO Marna Borgstrom about the future of both institutions, Levin said. In addition, the corporation heard two presentations from leading researchers at the school: one on cancer research and the other on stem cells and tissue engineering, he added.

“The corporation very much enjoyed hearing about what’s going on [at the Medical School],” Levin said.

On Saturday morning, members of the corporation gathered for a meeting to discuss the University at large, but Levin said there were no major discussions or decisions of note.

Last February, the corporation also focused on the sciences as it examined the plans for Yale’s West Campus. In recent years, the topic of the corporation’s February meeting has often been Yale’s graduate and professional schools. In 2009, the corporation looked at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the 2008 meeting focused on the University’s four arts schools: the Drama School, the Art School, the Music School and the Architecture School.

The corporation will next meet in April, at which time its members will vote on the University’s budget for the 2011-’12 school year, Levin said.

The Yale Corporation meets at least five times each year.