About Kimberly M. Goff-Crews
Kimberly M. Goff-Crews, B.A., J.D.
Kimberly Goff-Crews is the Secretary and Vice President for University Life at Yale. The University Secretary role dates to the founding of the institution, with Secretaries appointed pro tempore until 1770, and thereafter created by vote of the Yale Corporation, now known as the Yale Board of Trustees. The University Secretary oversees university ceremonies, diplomas, the academic calendar, and other university functions.
Ms. Goff-Crews is the 20th trustee-appointed University Secretary and the first to hold the joint title of Vice President for University Life. As Vice President for University Life, she oversees non-academic aspects of student and university life in service of the university’s mission, including the university chaplaincy, free expression and peaceable assembly, and institutional equity and accessibility.
Ms. Goff-Crews brings to the role of Secretary and Vice President for University Life a wealth of student affairs experience and extensive knowledge of Yale. She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School. After several years in private law practice, she became an assistant dean in Yale College and director of the Afro-American Cultural Center. Before returning to Yale, Ms. Goff-Crews was vice president for campus life and dean of students at the University of Chicago. She also served as the dean of students at Wellesley College and as chief of staff to the president and director of planning at Lesley University.
She is a member of the board of United Educators, an insurance company that supports educational institutions and a member of the MIT Division of Student Life Visiting Committee. In the community of New Haven, she is the chair of the Audit committee for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. Ms. Goff-Crews was a commissioner for the NECHE (New England Commission of Higher Education). She is a long-time member of NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) and is a former chair of the 2020 NASPA Annual Conference VPSA Initiatives Committee (canceled due to COVID).