Vincent Scully

Vincent J. Scully is Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art in Architecture at Yale University, and one of the world's leading architectural historians and critics. He entered Yale at age 16, earned his degree in 1940, his master's in 1947, and his doctorate in 1949. Scully taught art history classes at Yale for more than 45 years, to lecture rooms filled with enraptured students. He officially retired from Yale in 1991 but continued giving courses there and at the University of Miami. Scully inspired not only many of today's important American architects but also the field's leading historians, critics and professors. This brilliant author and commentator received an emotional farewell during his final lecture at Yale University, attended by dozens of architects whose lives he had touched, who collectively presented him with a standing ovation in tribute to their beloved professor. Scully received the National Medal of Arts in 2004, as the most influential architecture teacher in American history, and perhaps the greatest lecturer Yale has ever seen. In 1993, Professor Scully traveled to Glacier National Park in Montana to participate in the Achievement Summit and addressed the Academy's student delegates.