Editing Richard C. Levin

{{Short description|American economist}}
{{redirect|Richard Levin|the head of design at BBC Television|Richard Levin (designer)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Richard C. Levin
| image               = Richard Levin at the India Economic Summit 2008.jpg
| order               = 22nd
| title               = [[President of Yale University]]
| term_start          = 1993
| term_end            = 2013
| predecessor         = [[Howard R. Lamar]]
| successor           = [[Peter Salovey]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1947|04|07|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = [[San Francisco, California]], U.S.
| profession          = [[economics|Economist]]
| spouse              = Jane Levin
| children            = 4, including [[Jonathan Levin (economist)|Jonathan]]
| signature           = Rick Levin Signature.svg
| education           = [[Stanford University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Merton College, Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Letters|BLitt]])<br />[[Yale University]] ([[PhD]])
}}
'''Richard Charles Levin''' (born April 7, 1947) is an American [[economist]] and academic administrator. From 1993 to 2013, he was the 22nd [[President of Yale University]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelley|first=Brooks Mather|year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2aDRhohtx8C|title=Yale: A History|location=New Haven|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|isbn=0-300-07843-9}}</ref> From March 2014 to June 2017, he was chief executive officer of [[Coursera]].<ref name=blog>{{cite news|title=Welcome Rick Levin as CEO of Coursera|url=http://blog.coursera.org/post/80601201906/welcome-rick-levin-as-ceo-of-coursera|newspaper=Coursera Blog|date=24 March 2014|author=Daphne Koller|author-link=Daphne Koller|author2=Andrew Ng|author2-link=Andrew Ng|access-date=24 March 2014|archive-date=27 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327031608/http://blog.coursera.org/post/80601201906/welcome-rick-levin-as-ceo-of-coursera|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Maggioncalda">{{cite web|last1=Sawers|first1=Paul|title=Coursera gets a new CEO: former Financial Engines CEO Jeff Maggioncalda replaces Rick Levin|url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/13/coursera-ceo-rick-levin-steps-down-to-be-replaced-by-former-financial-engines-ceo-jeff-maggioncalda/|website=VentureBeat|access-date=5 July 2017|date=13 June 2017}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Born in [[San Francisco]], [[California]],<ref>{{cite news|first=N. R. |last=Kleinfeld |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/16/us/man-in-the-news-sharp-mind-minus-rough-edges-richard-charles-levin.html |title=Man in the News; Sharp Mind Minus Rough Edges: Richard Charles Levin |newspaper=New York Times |date=1993-04-16 |access-date=2010-12-27}}</ref> to [[Jewish-American]] parents, Levin graduated from [[Lowell High School (San Francisco)|Lowell High School]] in San Francisco in 1964. At Lowell, he was a member of the [[Lowell Forensic Society]] and debated in high school debate tournaments regionally. He graduated from [[Stanford University]] in 1968 with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in history. He then received a [[Bachelor of Letters]] in politics and [[philosophy]] from [[Merton College, Oxford]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Staley |first=Oliver |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKEbEMmteTF8 |title=Raising Oxford to Ivy Might Means Turning to Hamilton |publisher=Bloomberg |date=2009-10-06 |access-date=2010-12-27}}</ref> He earned his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in economics from Yale in 1974. His academic specialties include industrial research and development, intellectual property, and productivity in manufacturing.

== Career ==
Levin became an assistant professor of economics at Yale in 1974 and was elevated to associate professor in 1979. In 1982, he was promoted to Professor of Economics and Management at the [[Yale School of Management]]. In 1992, he was appointed Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Economics. Before becoming president, he served as chairman of the Economics Department and dean of Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

On February 6, 2004, Levin was appointed to the [[Iraq Intelligence Commission]], an independent panel convened to investigate U.S. intelligence surrounding the [[United States]]' [[2003 invasion of Iraq]] and Iraq's [[weapons of mass destruction]]. He had previously served on a government panel reviewing the [[U.S. Postal Service]] and an independent panel appointed by [[Major League Baseball]] to examine the sport's economics. Levin is a director of the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]], [[American Express]], and Satmetrix.

Although described in [[Marquis Who's Who|Who's Who]] as a Democrat, Levin was one of the first guests of President [[George W. Bush]] in the White House during his first term and the president stayed at Levin's house when he received an honorary degree from Yale in 2001.

Levin had been rumored as a possible replacement for [[Larry Summers]] as Director of the [[White House]] [[United States National Economic Council|National Economic Council]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/dec/06/levin-rumored-be-discussions-join-obama-administra/ |title=Levin rumored to be in discussions to join Obama administration |publisher=[[Yale Daily News]] |date=2010-12-06 |access-date=2010-12-27 |archive-date=2010-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208042017/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/dec/06/levin-rumored-be-discussions-join-obama-administra/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> until [[Gene Sperling]] was selected instead.

Levin stepped down as president of Yale on June 30, 2013. Shortly before his retirement as President of Yale University, he published a book, ''The Worth of the University'',<ref name="worth-univ">{{cite web | url=http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300197259 | title=The Worth of the University | publisher=Yale University Press | access-date=August 27, 2014}}</ref> a sequel to his previous work, ''The Work of the University''.<ref name="work-univ">{{cite web | url=http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300100013 | title=The Work of the University | publisher=Yale University Press | access-date=August 27, 2014}}</ref> He was succeeded by [[Peter Salovey]].

As president of Yale, Levin studied and helped to some extent to guide what he called "the rise of Asia's universities".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://m.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66216/richard-c-levin/top-of-the-class |title=Top of the Class &#124; Foreign Affairs |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-date=2014-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017070817/http://m.foreignaffairs.com/articles/66216/richard-c-levin/top-of-the-class |url-status=dead }}</ref> Yale's role in Asia is briefly set out below. In 2013, Levin agreed to serve on the advisory board for the newly created [[Schwarzman Scholars]] - fellowships that will take students from many countries for post-graduate study together at [[Tsinghua University]] in Beijing, with the aim of promoting international understanding.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://schwarzmanscholars.org/american-financier-stephen-a-schwarzman-endows-international-scholarship-program-in-china-2/ |title=Schwarzman Scholars » American Financier Stephen A. Schwarzman Endows International Scholarship Program in China |access-date=January 31, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216225441/http://schwarzmanscholars.org/american-financier-stephen-a-schwarzman-endows-international-scholarship-program-in-china-2/ |archive-date=February 16, 2015 }}</ref>

In March 2014, Levin became chief executive officer of [[Coursera]].<ref name=blog/> In June 2017, Coursera announced that Levin was being replaced by Jeff Maggioncalda.<ref name="Maggioncalda" />

Levin and his wife Jane, also a professor at Yale, reside in [[New Haven, Connecticut]].<ref>See, e.g., http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/04/28/at-mr-levins-side-a-first-lady-and-a-conscience/{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They have four children and eight grandchildren.  Their son, [[Jonathan Levin (economist)|Jonathan]], was appointed as the 13th president of [[Stanford University]], effective August 1, 2024.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/us/stanford-president-jonathan-levin.html|title=Jonathan Levin, Dean of Business School, Is Stanford's New President|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 4, 2024|last=Saul|first=Stephanie}}</ref>

===Yale under Levin===
During Levin's tenure, Yale's endowment grew from $3.2 billion to over $20 billion.<ref name="Fox News">{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/yale-president-stepping-down-after-20-years/ | work=Fox News | title=Yale president Levin stepping down after 20 years | date=2012-08-30}}</ref> Yale's admissions standards and academic prestige also recovered from a significant lull in the early 1990s since Levin's appointment. Applications to [[Yale College]] rose from fewer than 11,000 for the class entering in 1993 to 28,975 for the class entering in 2012,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W033_Fresh_Admissions.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-01-05 |archive-date=2010-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601190834/http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W033_Fresh_Admissions.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/mar/29/yale-offers-admission-1975-applicants/?cross-campus {{dead link|date=March 2021}}</ref> with the most recent classes reporting the highest range of standardized test scores for any college in America.<ref>http://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}}</ref> Under Levin, Yale aggressively expanded its efforts to recruit international students and students from previously underrepresented regions of the United States.

Levin helped established a program for undergraduates in [[Beijing]] and increase participation in international work/study programs. Levin has made a special effort to expand Yale's engagement with [[China]] and was elected to the board of the [[National Committee on United States-China Relations]].

Levin was president during the largest building and renovation program since the 1930s, including all of the university's residential colleges. About 70 percent of the space on campus was partially or comprehensively renovated between 1993 and 2013.<ref name="Fox News" /> Levin approved the creation of [[Yale]]'s first two new [[residential college]]s since the 1960s with the purpose of increasing the undergraduate population from around 5,400 to over 6,000. The project was delayed due to the financial crisis, but construction was begun in 2013, shortly after Levin stepped down.

Levin vastly expanded the Yale campus with the creation of Yale's West Campus. The campus was created by the purchase of the 136-acre, 17-building [[Bayer Pharmaceutical]] campus in [[Orange, Connecticut]], seven miles from Yale's main campus. The purchase was completed for $107 million in 2007 and was described at the time as a "ready-made, state-of-the-art research facility".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://westcampus.yale.edu/about/history |title=History &#124; Yale West Campus |access-date=2013-11-15 |archive-date=2014-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329093747/http://westcampus.yale.edu/about/history |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Levin's administration worked to improve Yale University's relationship with its local workers. In 2003, Levin negotiated eight-year contracts with the [[Federation of Hospital and University Employees|university's unionized workers]] that provided health care, extensive paid leave, and cumulative raises ranging from 32% to 43%, although he has also fought strongly against new unionization drives by hospital workers, [[GESO|graduate employees]], and security guards.

Levin spearheaded the creation of the first liberal arts college in Asia, [[Yale-NUS College]], a joint venture between Yale University and the [[National University of Singapore]]. [[Yale]] initially faced strong criticism that Singapore's various restrictions on press freedom and public protests, as well as its anti-homosexuality policies, would undermine [[Yale-NUS]]'s liberal arts mission.

==Honors==
In 1998, as President of Yale, Levin was awarded an honorary doctorate by the [[University of Oxford]] in a ceremony in which the President of [[Harvard University]], [[Neil Rudenstine]], was also honored.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v27.n15/story6.html |title=Yale Bulletin and Calendar - News |access-date=2014-10-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018033039/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v27.n15/story6.html |archive-date=2014-10-18 }}</ref> He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Richard+C.+Levin&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-03-17|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of presidents of Yale University]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.yale.edu/president/index.html Official Biography from the Office of the President of Yale University]
*[http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=22602 Article about Levin's 10th Anniversary As President] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105215223/http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=22602 |date=2004-11-05 }}
*[https://www.cxotalk.com/episode/disruption-education-rick-levin-ceo-coursera Video interview on CXOTALK]
*[http://thepolitic.org/content/view/53/37/ Levin's views on China]
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.1995 Richard C. Levin Papers (MS 1995).] Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Howard R. Lamar]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[University President|President]] of [[Yale University]]
| years = 1993–2013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Peter Salovey]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Yale University presidents}}
{{Iraq Intelligence Commission}}
{{American Express}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Richard C.}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Presidents of Yale University]]
[[Category:Economists from California]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:American Express people]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni]]
[[Category:Academics from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Educators from California]]
[[Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:21st-century American economists]]
[[Category:Hewlett Foundation]]
[[Category:20th-century American economists]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]