[9] The school is named after Florence G. Heller the first female president of the National Jewish Welfare Board.

Charles I. Schottland, a former Federal Commissioner on Social Security, was appointed as the first dean of the school.

In 2019, it had $19 million of sponsored research from corporations, foundations, and agencies including from United States Department of Justice, the National Institutes of Health and the World Bank.

Heller is one of only two New England graduate schools of public affairs to be ranked in either specialty area.

Dean David Weil previously served as the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor under President Obama.

Prominent current faculty members at the Heller School include Stuart Altman, Peter Conrad, Anita Hill, Robert Kuttner, and Thomas Shapiro.

[29] The school currently houses Our Generation Speaks, a fellowship program and startup incubator whose mission is to bring together young Israeli and Palestinian leaders through entrepreneurship.