Dean of Students Sherilyn Scully Departs After 17 Years at the Heart of the SOM Community

This fall, Yale SOM will mark the end of an era. Sherilyn Scully, who has served as dean of students for over 17 academic years and done as much as anyone to shape the supportive and inclusive SOM culture, will retire.

In a letter announcing Scully’s approaching departure, Deputy Dean Anjani Jain praised Scully for her “unstinting dedication and extraordinary leadership in a role that has been vital to shaping and sustaining the unique culture of SOM’s community.” He described her as “an inexhaustible source of wisdom, caring, and warmth to students and colleagues.”

Scully first experienced SOM in 1984, when she arrived as the partner of Jon Rubin YC ’81 SOM ’86. Considerably smaller at the time, the school was “a very intimate place” with a “lovely, welcoming environment,” Scully says. When the couple married at the end of Rubin’s first month of school, his classmates threw them a wedding shower.

Rubin and three of his classmates spearheaded Food for Thought, a student-run snack bar whose proceeds benefited the Internship Fund, and Scully pitched in to help when she could. Food for Thought, which lasted for almost 30 years, was the precursor to the student-operated gym Fit for Thought and had multiple purposes—giving management students experience running a business, supporting students through the Internship Fund, feeding students, and creating a sense of community. “When I arrived back again in 2007, I immediately signed up for counter shifts at FFT on a regular basis to help the effort for the Internship Fund,” Scully says.

After SOM, the couple moved to Boston, where Scully practiced commercial real estate law. With two small children, they returned to Connecticut during the 1990s, and Scully embarked upon a career in higher education, eventually arriving at SOM in 2007.

While there is a very public side to Scully’s position—officiating at orientation, running commencement, leading international trips, and interfacing with student government—she says that much of her work takes place “behind closed doors,” helping students who are struggling with academic concerns, challenging decisions, family matters, health issues, team dynamics, or work-life balance.

Andrew Weinman ’09 says, “I was expecting my first child during my first year at SOM, and Sheri went above and beyond to ensure I could focus on my family and balance my personal life and schoolwork.” He adds, “I will always be grateful to Sheri for the role she played during my SOM experience and for her friendship since graduation.”

Scully counsels her students not to feel alone if they experience challenges during their time at SOM and refers them to additional resources inside and outside the university when appropriate. The most important thing is to treat students with “empathy,” she says.

“Her door was always open—literally and metaphorically—and she was the person I could rely on whenever I needed support or advice, no matter the challenge,” says Catherine Feng ’09. Scully’s “wisdom and genuine care for students,” Feng says, “transcended” her role as an administrator.

Over the years, faculty have also come to appreciate Scully’s wisdom. Nicholas Barberis, the Stephen and Camille Schramm Professor of Finance, recalls the many times that “a colleague has shown up in my office worried about something that has come up related to teaching—something unusual happened in the classroom, or there was a problem with a student, and so on. Everyone’s concerned about it, and there’s a lot of anxious conversation. But then someone will say, ‘Why don’t we see what Sheri thinks?’ And right away, everyone feels better, because we just know that Sheri will have the wisest and most thoughtful advice as to what to do.”

While Scully has found that “helping students privately who are going through a challenging or unusual time” is the most rewarding part of her job, other experiences also stand out for her.

Scully has led or co-led several student trips abroad and says she enjoyed the challenges and excitement of “being part of a Yale group, outside of what we’re used to, in an international location.” Reflecting on some of these experiences, she had this to say: “Learning together as a group and experiencing something new has been incredibly gratifying to me. We have also had a lot of fun on these trips, and I have never laughed so much as with students in some of our adventures. A group of us put on a talent show in Japan, held a bachelor party in Germany for the professor on an International Experience course, and found the highest elevation Irish pub in the world (it’s in Peru) to celebrate a holiday. I could go on and on.”

Another fond memory for Scully is when the student body moved from SOM’s original campus to the brand-new Evans Hall during the winter of 2014. Scully marked the monumental occasion with a parade, which she says was “just amazing.” Led by Scully and her colleague Rebecca Udler, hundreds of students marched down Sachem Street to the theme song of the movie Rocky, escorted by police on motorcycles.

As SOM has grown, Scully has worked hard to maintain the sense of belonging she experienced as a student spouse in the 1980s. Given that the school’s population has more than doubled since Scully began her tenure in 2007, this task has been a challenging one. But warmth, generosity, and kindness go a long way.

Ron Livne ’15, a graduate of the Master of Advanced Management (MAM) program, calls Scully “the warmest presence at SOM, ensuring that everyone feels at home, regardless of the miles they’ve traveled to study in New Haven or their chosen degree program.” When the MAM program was still young and fragile, Livne says, Scully “was instrumental in ensuring our integration” into the wider SOM community.

At SOM and at her own house, Scully has always made people feel at home. Cliff Sakutukwa ’19 comments that, “When I come back to Yale SOM, it feels as if I am coming back home, in large part because of Sheri.” He remembers visiting Scully in her office, where a photograph of his family still hangs, with his mother one day. Later he told her, “My mother had coffee in your office and now thinks I am some big shot given how you treated me.”

Visits with Scully were important to Sakutukwa in other ways as well. She took the time, he says, to discuss “the future of Zimbabwe and what role myself and other young Zimbabweans could play in it.”

For Feng, Scully’s “beautiful house” became a “home away from home” whenever she visited Yale after graduation. Scully and Rubin, her husband, “always made me and my family feel welcomed and cherished,” Feng says. “Such gestures exemplify her warm and inclusive approach, making her not just a dean but a lifelong friend, a big sister.”

As Scully departs this fall, she will have created many lasting friendships and impacted countless lives. Weinman calls her a “lifelong friend and mentor.” Similarly, Feng is grateful to Scully for her “friendship and years of devoted service” to SOM.

Scully has served as a mentor to colleagues and students alike. For Christina Mainero ’15, she was “a counselor and mentor during the good, the bad, and the complicated.”

“I don’t think I’d be quite the person I am now,” Mainero says, “nor would I have had the same transformative experience at SOM, without her guidance, counsel, encouragement, and friendship.”

Scully has also been “a wonderful mentor and colleague” to Udler. “I have learned so much from her and appreciate and respect how she works with students, faculty, and staff,” Udler says. “Her wisdom, kindness, and sense of humor will be greatly missed.”

As Scully reflects on the SOM she experienced when she first arrived in the 1980s and the school today, she says that one thing has remained constant: “Inside the DNA of the school is the predisposition to give back to society, in whatever individual form that takes.”

Although she will officially depart SOM this fall, Scully’s impact will be felt for years to come. “I am confident,” says Feng, “that her legacy will continue to inspire and uplift the Yale SOM community.”

“Dean Scully embodies the true spirit of SOM,” MiChaela Barker ’24 says. Speaking for many at SOM, she adds: “We love you so much, Dean Scully! Job well done!”