Incoming faculty receives Honorary Masters of Arts degrees

There are plenty of paths to a Yale degree — but only one that doesn’t require earning a single credit from the university.

Each year, every incoming professor, senior officer, and member of the Yale Corporation without an advanced degree from Yale receives an Honorary Master of Arts (M.A.H.) diploma. (The tradition is a remnant of a more insular campus culture, when one was required to have a Yale diploma to join the faculty.)

M.A.H. degrees are awarded annually in a closed-door Privatim ceremony. Pictured here with President Peter Salovey is Kerwin Charles, who joined the Yale School of Management in July as the Indra K. Nooyi Dean & Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Economics, Policy, and Management.