On September 13, 2026, Yale SOM will celebrate its 50th anniversary! To prepare for this milestone, we are launching a blog that will capture some of SOM’s rich history as an innovator in management education and a pioneer in preparing individuals to lead for both business and society. Posts will drop regularly for the two years leading up to the anniversary, starting today.
I’m Michelle Spinelli, SOM’s resident historian, and I’ll be writing these posts. I have a PhD in American history and study institutions, including universities.
In addition to featuring important events, people, programs, and scholarship from the school’s history, I’ll look back at SOM’s campus life and culture, including its buildings and traditions.
Stay tuned for upcoming posts on the Charter Class of 1978, the SOM coat of arms, the original SOM campus, the first raw case study, the evolution of computing power on campus, the Internship Fund, and more!
Most of the time, I’m huddled in the archives. But I do venture out once in a while, and I’ll be checking my email. If you have an idea for a blog post, memories or photos to share, or just an inquiry about SOM history, please reach out to me at michelle.spinelli@yale.edu. I love to talk history!
I hope that you’ll join me as I turn the pages of my “historian’s notebook” and reflect upon what has made SOM the special and unique school that it is.
