James Bundy, longtime dean at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, will step down from the position in June 2026 to retire.
Bundy will also step down as artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre, but will continue to teach at the School of Drama and at Yale College. Bundy, who is also a Yale alumnus, was first named dean in 2002.
The prestigious graduate school has trained the likes of Meryl Streep, Angela Bassett, Brian Tyree Henry, Paul Giamatti and more, and has consistently ranked as one of the top drama schools in the world. An estimated 1,500 students have attended the school under his leadership.
During his tenure, Bundy oversaw efforts to bring greater financial support to students studying dramatic arts at Yale, including establishing 70 of the school’s 91 named scholarships. In 2021, the school received $150 million from the David Geffen Foundation, making tuition free for all degree and certificate students.
Bundy also saw the school through the COVID-19 pandemic and temporarily lengthened its three-year M.F.A program to four years, with the fourth year fully subsidized, in order to make up for any lost learnings.
He has also worked with others to raise more than $100 million toward a new Dramatic Arts Building, which is set to be the new home of the school, Yale Rep and the undergraduate program in theater, dance and performance studies.
While at Yale, Bundy also produced four world-premiere plays that went on to Broadway and collectively received a total of 11 Tony nominations and two Tony Awards. Two other plays were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
“Working in this community has been a sustaining source of joy since my first day as a student here in the fall of 1992,” Bundy said. “My three years of training at Yale completely changed the course of my life.”
“On top of that, I’ve been fortunate to have my dream job right here for nearly 23 years. I feel a near-overwhelming sense of gratitude to all of the students, interns, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, members of the board of advisors, guest artists and artisans, donors, audience members, critics and reporters, university colleagues, and professional colleagues, in Connecticut, across the United States, and internationally, who have enriched my life over many years,” Bundy said.
The provost’s office will form a search advisory committee this spring to help identify Bundy’s successor.
Source: Hollywoodreporter
