About Us

• Integrate, synthesize & apply scientific and environmental knowledge to foster sustainable cities including solving pressing 21st century problems such as the UHI, flooding and inequities

• Educate the public and train students and future leaders with deep knowledge of urban environments.

  We pursue our mission by providing interdisciplinary research, teaching, outreach, and collaboration opportunities for students, scholars, practitioners, and community members, including:

• Convene workshops, conferences, and seminars to disseminate research findings
• Collaborate and equip practitioners with tools they need to improve policy and management toward more sustainable cities
• Disseminate research findings and case studies to serve practitioners and the public
• Support graduate student research through the annual Hixon Student Fellowship program.

History

The Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability was established as the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology in 1998 with a generous gift from Alec ’38 and Adelaide Hixon. The work of the Center reflects the Hixon’s interest in encouraging local Yale-New Haven environmental initiatives, as well as global public-private partnerships for a better urban environment.

“Adelaide and Alec recognized early the emerging environmental challenges cities would face in the 21st century,” says Colleen Murphy-Dunning, director of the Center. “Their generosity has fostered research that has advanced the growing field of urban ecology, and has made it possible to test novel solutions in New Haven.”

The Hixon family rose to prominence in the 1860s when Gideon Cooley Hixon made his fortune investing in lumber, railroads, and banking following the Civil War. When Alec and Adelaide married in 1938, they set about putting their time and money into the service of causes and institutions whose work supported their liberal and humanitarian values. Adelaide felt that her wealth and social position demanded that she be aware of and of assistance to people who struggled in life. She was a nurse’s aide during World War II. In their late forties, the couple volunteered to work for the United Nations Development Program, aiding developing countries by serving in a diplomatic post for five years in Accra, Ghana, and a second for three years in Western Samoa.

Adelaide strongly believed in the importance of education and in addition to the couple’s generosity to Yale, she and her husband meaningfully supported the Pacific Oaks School, Westridge School, Polytechnic School, Pasadena City College, Harvey Mudd College (a Center for Sustainable Environmental Design), and California Institute of Technology (a Writing Center to assist engineers and scientists), to name just a few. Adelaide was also a life-long patron of the arts, a member of The Pasadena Art Alliance, The Conservatory of Music, a board member of the Pasadena Art Museum (now the Norton Simon) and the Center Theater Group, and was involved with the Art Center College of Design.

At Yale, the Hixons were consistently generous and active in the University’s affairs. Alec received the Yale Medal in 1984 and was a founding member of the Sterling Fellows. The couple endowed the Lex Hixon ’63 Professorship of World Religion in memory of their son. Alec died in 2001.

Adelaide remained vibrant and engaged with YSE into her later years, funding the Adelaide Hixon Scholarship and serving on the School’s Leadership Council, passing away in 2019 at the age of 101. Today, the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability continues to advance thanks to the Hixons’ tremendous foresight, with additional thoughtful support from newfound friends of the Center, both individuals and foundations.

YSE Leadership Council member Dylan Hixon ’88 has remained engaged with the Center and has sustained his grandmother’s charitable worldview. In addition to being a member of the YSE Leadership Council, Dylan serves on the advisory boards of the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, Caltech’s Resnick Sustainability Institute, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) of New York City, and several private companies in industries ranging from software to agriculture. The Center was renamed the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability at the 10th Annual Hixon Conference on September 15, 2023.