Reflecting on Our Shared Purpose

May 6, 2025

Dear Graduate Students,

As we come to the conclusion of the academic year, it is a time for both celebration and for reflection. Over the last few months, our Graduate School community has faced upheaval and uncertainty. While the recent changes to federal policies may not directly affect everyone, they impact the entire community, causing concern about the future. However, adversity can bring with it a greater sense of clarity and renewed resolve. This moment has challenged us to think deeply about our purpose — why Yale’s research mission matters — and how we as scholars can better articulate the impact of our work.

Yale is both an institution rooted in its over 300-year history and a dynamic organization that is constantly adapting, refining itself, and moving forward. We are proud to reaffirm the core values that it has long stood for, including the freedom to pursue and share knowledge and to preserve cultural and scientific information for future generations.  

Research universities are not ivory towers, but engine rooms churning out new ideas and discoveries that benefit everyone. Each of us has a responsibility to share our specialized expertise with the world beyond Yale and to hone our ability to translate complex, scholarly ideas into everyday language. In March, I was delighted to serve as a judge for the Graduate School’s annual “3-Minute Thesis” competition, which challenges PhD students to distill their dissertation research into a compelling, three-minute presentation for a general audience.

The Graduate School’s motto, “Discover Together,” underscores the importance that we place on collaboration and working across disciplines to tackle problems and create new knowledge to benefit humanity. Earlier this year, I was thrilled to announce the Graduate School’s new planetary solution fellowship and Impact! projects. We aim to continue building multidisciplinary cohort programs—look for an upcoming announcement of our data science fellowship.

Our motto also refers to the importance of community and the relationships that we create in graduate school. We all benefit from the intellectual contributions and diverse life experiences of our global community. We recently announced the 2025 Graduate Mentor Award winners and Prize Teaching Fellows, each of whom reminds us of the strength of that community and the importance of engagement.   

We recently completed our admissions season and look forward to welcoming our new class of incoming students in August. During Commencement weekend, we will celebrate the many achievements of our fellow GSAS community members. This year, we will award over 500 Master’s and nearly 300 PhD degrees to scholars who will go on to serve society in myriad ways. Please join me in congratulating our graduating class on reaching this important milestone!

Graduate students are crucial to Yale’s mission. Thank you for your hard work, commitment to excellence, and resilience in challenging times. I hope the summer months are both restful and productive, and I look forward to continuing our journey of discovery—together.
 
With regards, 
 
Lynn Cooley
Dean, Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 
Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Affairs 
C.N.H. Long Professor of Genetics 
Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology