Surbhi Bharadwaj, Senior Photographer

Less than two hours before the Yale Corporation held its first listening session to solicit input on the University’s ongoing presidential search, four faculty members — Steven Berry, Daniel Colón Ramos, Jacqueline Goldsby and Anjelica Gonzalez GRD ’98 — were appointed to the Presidential Search Committee. Joshua Bekenstein ’80, senior trustee of the Yale Corporation, announced the new faculty appointments in a Wednesday morning email to the Yale community.

The email comes almost a month after University President Peter Salovey announced that he plans to step down this summer. 

Berry is a professor of economics and management, as well as the faculty director of the Tobin Center for Economic Policy. 

Colón-Ramos is a professor of neuroscience and cell biology, as well as the director of the Wu Tsai Institute’s Center for Neurodevelopment and Plasticity. 

Goldsby is a professor of African American studies, English and American studies. 

Gonzalez is a professor of biomedical engineering, the faculty director of Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale and the head of Davenport College.

“After incorporating your comments and recommendations, and consulting with other university leaders, we are excited to announce the faculty participants of the search committee for the next president of Yale,” Bekenstein wrote in an email to the University. 

Bekenstein added that the chosen faculty are “deeply engaged” in the Yale community and have broad-ranging experiences including teaching, research and University leadership.

The News could not reach the four faculty members for comment, and the University instead referred the News to Bekenstein.

“Josh [Bekenstein] responds on behalf of the Committee,” University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote to the News in a text message.

Davenport College Council co-president Mandy Buster ’25 told the News that she has worked closely with Gonzalez in her role on the Council and also on the search committee to elect Yale College’s new dean.

Buster also said that Gonzalez’s place in the committee makes her “feel a lot better” that students and student leaders are not formally involved in the search process.

“I have a lot of faith in HOC Gonzalez,” she said. “She’s proven herself to be an incredible advocate for the students of Davenport, and I have all the faith that she’s going to do the same when it comes to students across Yale.”

Wednesday’s faculty announcement and listening session directly precede the Corporation’s first meeting of the academic year, which will take place this Saturday.

Salovey told the News that the Corporation has set aside “a lot of time” to discuss presidential succession and how to conduct outreach to determine “what kind of a person” students, staff and alumni would like to see as the next President.

He added that although he will remain removed from the selection process for his successor, he is open to discussing the role of the president with the search committee.

“The Corporation has to make decisions about when to speak publicly about their meeting and when not to,” Salovey said. “I am absolutely happy to be helpful to the search committee in explaining anything about the position, but I will stay removed from anything having to do with selecting the next president.”

The presidential search committee is composed of eight trustees of the Yale Corporation and four faculty members.