On Sunday, February 11, Harvard University announced that Lawrence S. Bacow become the 29th president of Harvard.
Larry Bacow is an accomplished and respected leader in higher education, having been president of Tufts and chancellor of MIT. He knows Harvard very well, earning three degrees at Harvard and serving as a member of the Harvard Corporation for the past seven years. And he has collaborated with the leaders of other colleges and universities to ensure that we are all benefiting the broader society.
As HKS Dean Doug Elmendorf shared, “We can take special pride in Larry’s connections to the Kennedy School. He received an MPP and PhD here and is currently a Hauser Leader-in-Residence at our Center for Public Leadership. Larry is deeply committed to our mission, and his experiences at the Kennedy School clearly mean a great deal to him. I was so pleased when he made time in his schedule to attend the festivities opening our transformed campus, and when I talked with him this afternoon, he said that in his introductory press conference today he referred to his experience as a student at the Kennedy School.”
Elmendorf also expressed his appreciation for getting to know Larry during his two years as dean. “He has offered me thoughtful and valuable advice about how I can be most effective in this role, and I learned this afternoon that he has been similarly helpful to a number of other Harvard deans. I have always found Larry to be forthright, wise, and gracious. I know that he will lead Harvard with intelligence, determination, and compassion.”
Larry Bacow will be succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust, whose eleven-year tenure was greatly beloved by the students and faculty of the university and whose leadership will be greatly missed.
You are invited to read more about Larry Bacow and watch a video of him at https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/02/harvard-names-lawrence-s-bacow-as-29th-president/. The video ends with Larry saying “I want to make sure that all of our graduates, no matter what they do, understand they have a responsibility to engage. What we can’t afford is to have good people not get involved. … We are responsible for making the world a better place.”