Claudine Gay Appointed the Thirtieth President of Harvard University

Claudine Gay will become the thirtieth president of Harvard University. When she takes office on July 1, she will be the first African American to lead the university since its founding nearly 400 years ago.

“Today, we are in a moment of remarkable and accelerating change — socially, politically, economically, and technologically,” said Dr. Gay. “So many fundamental assumptions about how the world works and how we should relate to one another are being testedYet Harvard has a long history of rising to meet new challenges, of converting the energy of our time into forces of renewal and reinvention. With the strength of this extraordinary institution behind us, we enter a moment of possibility, one that calls for deeper collaboration across the university, across all of our remarkable Schools. There is an urgency for Harvard to be engaged with the world and to bring bold, brave, pioneering thinking to our greatest challenges. As I start my tenure, there’s so much more for me to discover about this institution that I love, and I’m looking forward to doing just that, with our whole community.”

Dr. Gay served as an assistant professor and then tenured associate professor at Stanford University before being recruited to Harvard in 2006 as a professor of government. She was also appointed a professor of African and African American Studies in 2007. In 2015, Dr. Gay was named the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government. Since 2018, Dr. Gay has served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Gay is recognized as a highly influential expert on American political participation. Her research and teaching explore how various social and economic factors shape political views and voting behavior. She is the co-editor of Outsiders No More?: Models of Immigrant Political Incorporation (Oxford University Press, 2013).

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Dr. Gay grew up in New York and Saudi Arabia, where her father worked for the Army Corps of Engineers. Dr. Gay received her bachelor’s degree in 1992 from Stanford, where she majored in economics and was awarded the Anna Laura Myers Prize for best undergraduate thesis. In 1998, she received her Ph.D. in government from Harvard, where she won the Toppan Prize for best dissertation in political science.

Related Articles

1 COMMENT

  1. This is a choice that ticks a few boxes for the Woke Crowd, and we know Penny Pritzker was in her corner. Even after the Obama Project, the Pritzker family is still working hard to re-shape the institutions and the culture.

    Why?

    I would have thought, too, that after some of her decisions in the Roland Fryer case and at least two others involving claims of “sexual harassment,” Claudine would have seemed too controversial, even for Harvard.

    So what is happening to America?

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Placed on Accreditation Probation

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education stated that the university fell short in meeting requirements in financial planning and budget processes and compliance with laws, regulations, and commission policies.

Two Black Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New Assignments in Higher Education

Penelope Andrews was appointed the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law at New York Law School and Angela D. Dillard, the Richard A. Meisler Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, was given the added duties of the inaugural vice provost for undergraduate education.

Tuskegee University Partners With Intel to Boost Black Presence in the Semiconductor Industry

Participating Tuskegee students will have a chance to gain hands-on skills in engineering design, semiconductor processing, and device fabrication technologies and an overall valuable experience working in the microelectronics cleanroom fabrication facility at Tuskegee University.

K.C. Mmeje Honored by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Foundation

K.C. Mmeje is vice president for student affairs at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The NASPA Pillars of the Profession Award acknowledges remarkable individuals within the student affairs and higher education community who demonstrate exceptional contributions to both the profession and the organization.

Featured Jobs