Penelope Laurans is currently senior advisor at the University, working with the dean of Admissions, the office of the President, and the dean of FAS. She was Master of Jonathan Edwards College from January 2009- June 2016. She started teaching in the departments of English and Literature in the 1970s, was the DUS in the Literature Major, and continued to teach her signature course in Versification while holding a series of senior administrative roles in Yale College, and as associate editor of The Yale Review. For nearly two decades she was special assistant to President Richard Levin. She had a leading role on the Committee on Yale College Education, was the principal author of several of the University’s accreditations, led the academic program for the Yale Tercentennial, and was vice chair of both study reports on the new residential colleges. For 25-years she represented Yale as the NCAA Faculty Representative and was a member of the Faculty Committee on Athletics, acting as its chair in 2015. She has been heavily involved in the arts and the administration of the arts at Yale, particularly music, was long an adviser to the Opera Theater of Yale College, writes Notes on Yale History to members of the University community, and continues to advise many Yale undergraduates around campus.
