Grace Hopper College is one of the fourteen residential colleges at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1933 as one of the original eight residential colleges funded by Edward Harkness. The college is located on the corner of Elm and College Streets, designed in the Collegiate Gothic style by architect James Gamble Rogers.
Originally named Calhoun College after John C. Calhoun—an alumnus, former U.S. Vice President, and prominent advocate for slavery—the institution was the subject of long-standing controversy. Following decades of student and faculty protests regarding Calhoun’s legacy, the Yale Corporation announced on February 11, 2017, that the college would be renamed in honor of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.
Grace Hopper (1906–1992) was a pioneering computer scientist and United States Navy officer. She earned her master's degree (1930) and her PhD (1934) in mathematics from Yale. Her professional achievements include the development of the first compiler for a computer programming language and her influential role in the creation of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages.
As part of the Yale residential college system, Grace Hopper College serves as a smaller community within the larger university, providing housing, dining, and social facilities for its undergraduate members. The college is led by a Head of College and a Dean who oversee its academic and administrative functions. Physical features of the college include a central courtyard, a dining hall, a library, and common rooms, many of which contain architectural details characteristic of mid-20th-century academic Gothic revivalism.