Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to share that Heather Tookes, professor of finance at the Yale School of Management (SOM), has been appointed the inaugural vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, effective September 1. I am grateful to Heather for accepting this leadership role while continuing her research and teaching.
In this new position, Heather will lead the efforts of provost’s office colleagues who support faculty and academic affairs, each of whom will continue to direct their existing portfolios. Heather will provide strategic, university-wide leadership for programs and services that enable Yale faculty to advance exceptional research, scholarship, and teaching. Working closely with relevant campus partners, including the deans of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professional schools, she will also oversee faculty workforce planning, development, and support programs outside the School of Medicine. In addition, Heather will offer leadership on matters related to academic policies and procedures, faculty mentorship and community, and faculty data stewardship and strategic reporting.
Heather joins the Office of the Provost with significant experience in faculty affairs. From 2022 to 2025, she was deputy dean for faculty at SOM, overseeing faculty recruitment, retention, promotion, and development. She is also a deeply engaged university citizen, having served as a faculty member of the Budget Advisory Group and the Gift and Grant Risk Assessment Committee and as chair of the President’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility. In these roles, Heather has advised university leaders on a wide range of issues affecting different schools and units, as well as Yale more broadly. Her experience and commitment to thinking across the institution will serve her well in advancing priorities that support faculty excellence.
Heather, who joined Yale in 2004, is an accomplished scholar whose research focuses on how market liquidity, leverage, and trading frictions impact firms and financial markets. She has published many papers, served on editorial boards, and received numerous teaching awards. Her expertise as a non-profit and for-profit board member is widely sought, and she currently serves as a trustee of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
As a longtime member of the Yale faculty and a colleague known for her commitment to shared governance, academic excellence, and community engagement, Heather is well-positioned for this new role. I am grateful that she will leverage her many experiences to expand and improve the resources, programs, and operations that support the faculty experience. I am also thankful to the colleagues whose ongoing dedication anchors these efforts and whose work will continue to shape and strengthen faculty affairs under Heather’s leadership — Emily Bakemeier, Gary Desir, Stephanie Spangler, Karen Anderson, Lakia Scott, Lisa Grivalsky, and Nashae Henry. Finally, I extend my appreciation to the members of the search advisory committee — Sunil Amrith, Elizabeth Conklin, Mike Crair, Toby Crawford, Nilakshi Parndigamage, Cristina Rodriguez, and Steven Wilkinson — for their support throughout the search process.
Please join me in welcoming Heather to her new role.
Sincerely,
Scott Strobel
Provost
Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry