Spotlight: The Yale School of Public Health Mace

In 2001, the commencement mace for the Yale School of Public Health made its debut. Designed by Gail Leavitt a media specialist and technical illustrator for Yale Media Services, the final mace underwent a few changes from the design stage (depicted on the left) to the final version (depicted on the right). Gail contributed to special projects and designed various items during her 15 year tenure at Yale, of which the most notable is the YSPH mace. “This gave me the opportunity to be more creative than my usual projects that consisted of printing projects–in this case I was working on something three-dimensional,” said Gail. This copper and mahogany mace is displayed along with the other residential college and school maces annually during commencement.The mace depicts a raised equator of metal bearing the words “Health Promotion” and “Disease Prevention” encircling a hollow, copper globe representing our fragile world. This signifies the support and protection YSPH offers the public both locally and worldwide, and represents the YSPH mission statement. There is a raised design of Hygeia at the head of the mahogany shaft. Hygeia is the Greek goddess of health and the daughter of Aesculapius, the god of medicine and healing. The school’s heraldic shield also appears on the shaft of the mace and is hand-painted with the School’s colors. The mace was crafted by Fair Haven Woodworks.To find out more about the mace please click here.      YSPH Mace making its debut at the 2001 Commencement.