Three Women Scholars Appointed to Named Chairs at Yale University

Karen C. Seto was named the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science. Her central research focus is on how urbanization will affect the earth’s climate. Dr. Seto joined the Yale faculty in 2008 after teaching at Stanford University. She was promoted to full professor in 2013. Professor Seto is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Boston University. Dr. Seto is the executive producer of the documentary film 10,000 Shovels: Rapid Urban Growth in China.

Heather K. Gerken, who will become dean of Yale Law School on July 1, was named the Sol and Lillian Goldman Professor of Law. She joined the Yale faculty in 2006 after teaching at Harvard Law School for six years. Earlier, she was a clerk for Justice David Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Gerken is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University and currently sits on the university’s board of trustees. She earned her law degree at the University of Michigan.

Francesca Trivellato was appointed the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History. Her research focuses on early modern Europe. Professor Trivellato is the author of The Familiarity of Strangers: The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period (Yale University Press, 2009). She joined the faculty at Yale in 2004 and was promoted to full professor in 2007. Professor Trivellato is a graduate of the University of Venice. She holds a Ph.D. in economic and social history from the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan and a Ph.D. in history from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.