Penelope Laurans (Special Tribute)

Special Assistant to the President, and Lecturer in English, Master of Jonathan Edwards College 

Penny Laurans, B.A. Mount Holyoke, Ph.D. Harvard, member of the Yale Faculty since 1973: You came to Yale in 1973 as an assistant professor of English, and you remained a member of this faculty and a classroom teacher throughout your career as an academic administrator. You taught an array of courses, but you are best known for your popular course in Versification, which has brought poetry to life for generations of Yale undergraduates and inspired more than a few to become significant poets themselves. In that context you brought to the larger Yale community many of the world’s most notable poets and writers, most of whom are your friends. 

Not long after you arrived, you began a journey through Yale’s offices, where you became what Dean Brodhead once termed the “swiss army knife” of the Yale College administration. One measure of your breadth is the offices where you have held positions, including Admissions, where you have been a member of the standing committee and senior counselor for decades. You were the Associate Editor of the Yale Review, Dean of Summer Programs and Director of Conference Services, Associate Dean of Yale College, Faculty Representative to the NCAA, Secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, Special Assistant to Presidents Levin and Salovey, and finally, the beloved Master of Jonathan Edwards. In each of these roles you have brilliantly served this faculty, its programs, and especially the students it is our privilege to teach. 

With your wise perspective and skill as a writer, you have been a member and often the author of many of Yale’s most important committees, including those on Yale College Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tenure Appointments Procedures, and two committees on the new residential colleges. Each of these, as well as countless ad hoc initiatives you have led—from the academic program for Yale’s Tercentennial to the design of the Koerner Center—benefitted from your comprehensive knowledge of Yale and your good judgment of what is best for the institution. As one of Yale’s most passionate supporters, you have helped to admit and then advised generations of Yale’s best athletes. As a spokesperson for the performing arts—especially music, theater, and dance—you have supported countless students, facilitated hundreds of performances, and created lasting programs that enhance Yale’s preeminent reputation in the humanities and arts. 

Your own initiative and legendary persistence have positively affected every corner of the physical space of your University, from the improvement you made in the appearance and function of the campus, from making trash disappear to installing floors suitable for dancers in Yale performance spaces. You have also added immeasurably to the grace and spirit of the place by designing and managing celebrations and ceremonies, from Bulldog Days to Class Day, award ceremonies for staff, faculty tributes at retirement, and memorial services for both faculty and staff. Because you are a gifted poet and lyricist, your occasional poems and songs on many of these occasions are now part of Yale history. 

You have worked tirelessly to make Yale a better place. Few indeed have done so much so well. And in the process, you have inspired your colleagues with your passion to hold Yale’s standards high, and your unerring eye for the right outcome. 

For those of us who meet in this room, it will be a unique experience next fall to attend a Yale College faculty meeting without you. You have been a significant presence in everything this body has undertaken over four decades. We are comforted to know that you plan to remain in the Yale community after your retirement, but you will leave a gap in this room and in many others that can never be filled. So it is with lasting gratitude for your devoted commitment to Yale, and the intensity and effectiveness with which you have served Yale College and the University, that this faculty salutes you with our respect, our gratitude, and our very best wishes.