Heather Gerken

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Heather Gerken

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|2|19}}

| birth_place = Bolton, Massachusetts, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = David Simon

| education = Princeton University (BA)
University of Michigan (JD)

| birth_name = Heather Kristin Gerken

| office = 17th Dean of Yale Law School

| predecessor = Robert C. Post

| term_start = 2017

| image =

| caption = Gerken in 2014

| president = Peter Salovey
Maurie D. McInnis

}}

Heather Kristin Gerken (born February 19, 1969) is an American legal scholar, currently the 17th dean of Yale Law School, has been appointed as the next President of the Ford Foundation, succeeding Darren Walker, with her tenure set to begin in November 2025.{{Cite web |date=2025-07-01 |title=Yale's law school dean will be the Ford Foundation's new president |url=https://apnews.com/article/ford-foundation-heather-gerken-darren-walker-trump-administration-1daf4476fc04e2109796e47bcfdf8911 |access-date=2025-07-03 |website=AP News |language=en}}

Early life and education

Gerken grew up in Bolton, Massachusetts.{{cite news |last1=Neyfakh |first1=Leon |date=October 7, 2012 |title=How to fix America from below: A bold new vision for improving democracy has propelled a charismatic young professor into the legal firmament. She calls it 'federalism all the way down.' |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/10/06/heather-gerken-how-fix-america-from-below/KZMC5AYrBBWSgw0jMESc5M/story.html |access-date=February 19, 2017 |work=The Boston Globe}} She was educated at Nashoba Regional High School, graduated in 1987,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=December 2009 |title=Uncommon Conversation: Heather Gerken |url=https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/archive/2009/12/02/uncommon-conversation-heather-gerken/40424697007/ |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=Wicked Local |publisher=WCVB-TV |language=en-US}} and received a Presidential Scholarship.{{Cite news |date=May 24, 1987 |title=Presidential Scholars Named |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/24/nyregion/presidential-scholars-named.html |access-date=April 17, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}

In 1991, Gerken graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in history after completing a 123-page long senior thesis titled "Stepping Out of the Bounds of Womanhood: An Analysis of the Popular Image of Women and Women's Experiences during World War II".{{Cite web|last=Gerken|first=Heather Kristin|editor-last=Princeton University. Department of History|title=Stepping Out of the Bounds of Womanhood: An Analysis of the Popular Image of Women and Women's Experiences during World War II|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/dsp01pr76f4635|language=English}} She was the recipient of the university's Dodds Prize, given to top seniors, and the Kenneth C. Harris Award for research.{{Cite web |last=Gerken |first=Heather |date=2023 |title=CV |url=https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/faculty/gerken_cv_2023_webversion_.pdf |access-date=April 17, 2024 |website=Yale Law School}}

After college, Gerken enrolled in the University of Michigan Law School on a full-tuition scholarship. She graduated in 1994 with a Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, and membership in the Order of the Coif. She was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review and was named the commencement speaker of her class.

Gerken was a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1994–1995, and then for Justice David Souter at the U.S. Supreme Court from 1995–1996.Gerken, Heather (March 31, 2016). "Lecture: The Loyal Opposition: Is it time for the nationalists to put up or shut up?" [https://lapa.princeton.edu/content/heather-gerken-yale-law-school Program in Law and Public Affairs], Princeton University. Retrieved February 20, 2017.

Career

She was an associate at Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C., from December 1996 to July 2000. From July 2000 to June 2006, she was a professor at Harvard Law School, where she was also a fellow at the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Profession from September 2003 to July 2004. In 2006 Gerken joined Yale Law School and in 2008 she became the inaugural J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law.{{Cite web|url=https://law.yale.edu/heather-gerken|title=Heather Gerken - Yale Law School|website=law.yale.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-04-23}}{{cite news |last1=O'Leary |first1=Mary E. |title=Supreme Court ruling on health care lauded by Connecticut advocates; others vow to keep fighting it |url=https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Supreme-Court-ruling-on-health-care-lauded-by-11502683.php |access-date=October 2, 2018 |work=New Haven Register |date=June 28, 2012}}

In 2009, in her book The Democracy Index (Princeton University Press), she proposed an index that would rate and compare the performance of elections systems at the state and local levels, to evaluate and improve the U.S. elections system.{{cite web|url = http://www.tobinproject.org/public-policy-engagement/democracy-index | title = Public policy engagement – Democracy index}} She became dean of Yale Law School in 2017, and in the same year she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite news |title=New Yale Law dean stresses standing up for rule of law |url=https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/New-Yale-Law-dean-stresses-standing-up-for-rule-11311258.php |access-date=October 2, 2018 |work=New Haven Register |date=February 23, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://news.yale.edu/2017/04/11/five-professors-elected-american-academy-arts-and-sciences|title=Five professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences|website=Yale News|date=11 April 2017|access-date=2017-04-18}} In 2021, she was named to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, created by President Joe Biden in order to "provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform" in the context of evaluating the history and future of the court and its practices.{{Cite web|title=President Biden to Sign Executive Order Creating the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/09/president-biden-to-sign-executive-order-creating-the-presidential-commission-on-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=The White House|date=9 April 2021|language=en}}

In January 2022, Yale University President Peter Salovey announced that Gerken had been reappointed as dean of Yale Law School for a second five-year term.{{cite web |title=Announcement - Reappointment of Dean Heather Gerken|date=18 January 2022 |url=http://president.yale.edu/president/statements/announcement-reappointment-dean-heather-gerken |publisher=Yale University |access-date=February 2, 2022}} While at Yale Law, she also serves as the Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law.

In July 2025, Yale announced that Gerken will step down in August to become president of the Ford Foundation.[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/us/ford-foundation-heather-gerken-yale-law-school.html Ford Foundation’s New Leader Is From Yale Law School]

Personal life

Gerken is the great-granddaughter of Sir Ernest Bland Royden.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

Gerken is married to David Simon.{{cite news |last1=Bhayani |first1=Paras D. |title=Con Law Prof Off to New Haven |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/4/18/con-law-prof-off-to-new/ |access-date=October 2, 2018 |work=Harvard Crimson |date=April 18, 2006}}{{cite web |title=Faculty Bio-David Simon |url=https://politicalscience.yale.edu/people/david-simon |publisher=Yale University Department of Political Science |access-date=October 2, 2018}}

Bibliography

The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System is Failing and How to Fix It (Princeton University Press 2009) {{ISBN|9780691154374}}
"[http://harvardlawreview.org/authors/heather-k-gerken/ Slipping the Bonds of Federalism]", 128 Harvard Law Review 85 (2014)
"The Political Safeguards of Horizontal Federalism", 113 Michigan Law Review 57 (2014) (with Ari Holtzblatt)
"The Real Problem with Citizens United: Campaign Finance, Dark Money, and Shadow Parties", 97 Marquette Law Review 904 (2014)
"Uncooperative Federalism", 118 Yale Law Journal 1256 (2009) (with Jessica Bulman-Pozen)