John E. Pepper Jr., former Yale vice president of finance and administration and current co-chair of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, will return to campus March 25–26 as Dwight Hall at Yale’s third annual Curran Distinguished Mentor.
The Curran Mentor Program brings to campus a diverse array of role models who have demonstrated life-long commitments to promoting the public good of the nation.
Pepper will give a free, public address on March 26 at 2 p.m. in the Dwight Hall Chapel, 67 High St.
During his stay, he will also engage in a series of activities, including small group meetings with Dwight Hall student member organizations.
Pepper hopes to communicate to students, faculty, staff and members of the community the value of engaging in public service and social justice.
“I’m excited about coming to Dwight Hall, especially to be able to see the students and be able to share a message about the importance of mentoring that I’ve learned over the last 20 years of my life,” Pepper said.
After graduating from Yale College in 1960, Pepper served in a number of positions at manufacturing giant Proctor & Gamble, including chair of the board of directors, chief executive officer and president. He returned to Yale to take on the University’s top financial and administrative post 2004-2005. After two years at Yale, Pepper became chief executive officer of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a museum in downtown Cincinnati. Pepper is also the current chair of the board of The Walt Disney Company. He was instrumental in founding the nationally-acclaimed Cincinnati Youth Collaborative in the late 1980s, chaired the 1994 Greater Cincinnati United Way campaign, and has served on the boards of a number of local and national non-profit organizations. Before becoming vice president at Yale, Pepper was senior fellow of the Yale Corporation, a board on which he served for eight years.
The Curran Distinguished Mentor program was endowed by William Curran, Yale College ’49. The first two Dwight Hall Distinguished Mentors were former Mayor of Baltimore Kurt Schmoke, Yale College ’71, in the fall of 2004, and Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke, also Yale College ’71, in the fall of 2006.
