Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, is awarded to a tenured faculty member considered the best in his or her field. It is akin to the rank of university professor at other universities. The appointment, made by the President of Yale University and confirmed by the Yale Corporation, can be granted to any Yale faculty member, and up to forty professors can hold the title at the same time. The position was established through a 1918 bequest from John William Sterling, and the first Sterling Professor was appointed in 1920.

History

The professorships are named for and funded by a $15-million bequest left by

John W. Sterling John William Sterling (May 12, 1844 – July 5, 1918) was a founding partner of Shearman & Sterling LLP and major benefactor to Yale University. Early life and career John William Sterling was born in Stratford, Connecticut, the son of Cat ...

, partner in the New York law firm Shearman & Sterling and an 1864 graduate of Yale College. In addition to financing the university’s largest construction projects throughout the 1920s, including the Sterling Memorial Library and flagship facilities for many of its professional schools, Sterling stipulated the bequest would allow ”to some extent, the foundation of Scholarships, Fellowships or Lectureships, the endowment of new professorships and the establishment of special funds for prizes.” Sterling’s trustees eventually left the university more than $5 million for this purpose—about $225,000 per chair. The first Sterling Professor was chemist John Johnston, who was awarded the rank in 1920, and was joined later that year by school administrator Frank E. Spaulding, biochemist