Deputy Secretary
Martha C. Highsmith
Ms. Highsmith is in charge of public safety for the University. She oversees the University Police and the University Security Departments, Emergency Management, and all related security and emergency management matters at Yale for the West Campus. With Linda Lorimer, she is the University’s primary resource for crisis management. In addition, she is involved with Commencement and similar other major events, and assists with policy and other governance issues. Ms. Highsmith has undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina and a doctorate from Harvard. In 1995 she graduated summa cum laude from Yale Divinity School. Prior to coming to Yale in 1994, she held positions in state government, including chief of staff for the Connecticut Department of Economic Development and assistant commissioner in the Department of Higher Education. She is an ordained Presbyterian minister and has held a variety of pastoral positions, including serving as the Pastor of the University Church of Yale in 2007–08.
