Faculty, staff committees for presidential search named

Harvard’s presidential search committee, including the 12 members of Harvard Corporation other than the president and three members of the Board of Overseers, today announced the membership of the faculty and staff advisory committees for the search. The composition of a third advisory committee, consisting of students from across the University, will be announced at a later date. The members of the faculty committee are:

• Archon Fung (chair), Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government and director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Martin Bechthold, Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and co-director of the master in design engineering program
• Gabriella Blum, Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and vice dean for the graduate program and international legal studies, Harvard Law School
• Marcia Castro, Andelot Professor of Demography and chair of the Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
• Suzannah Clark, Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and director of the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University
• Susan Dymecki, professor of genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School
• Lakshminarayanan “Maha” Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, professor of physics and professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and faculty dean of Mather House, Harvard College
• Tsedal Neeley, Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean for faculty development and research, Harvard Business School
• Meghan O’Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Harvard Divinity School, and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church
• Eric Rubin, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases, Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine
• Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy and chair of the Department of African and African American Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Jeremy Stein, Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Amy Wagers, Forst Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and co-chair of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Medical School.

“Harvard’s faculty are the lifeblood of our academic enterprise, and it will be invaluable to have the varied perspectives of such an outstanding group of faculty members as we pursue the search for Harvard’s next president,” said Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation and chair of the presidential search committee. “Their expertise across various disciplines and fields and their deep knowledge of different parts of Harvard will be integral to the search process, as we continue to seek out and benefit from the views of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and others with thoughts to share about the search.”

“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to work on this task with such remarkable colleagues from across the University,” said Fung, the faculty committee chair. “We will strive to advise the search committee on opportunities and challenges in this distinctive period, to encourage and facilitate input from colleagues throughout the University, and to develop illuminating faculty perspectives that help the search committee to find an excellent new president.”

The staff advisory committee consists of a subset of the University’s Administrative Council, which comprises the administrative deans of the various Schools along with senior officers in the central administration. The members of the committee are:

• Meredith Weenick (chair), executive vice president
• Kristen Anderson, administrative dean, Harvard Divinity School
• Tim Bowman, dean for administration and finance, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Kate Calvin, executive dean for administration, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
• Sherri Charleston, chief diversity and inclusion officer
• Angela Crispi, executive dean for administration, Harvard Business School
• Manuel Cuevas-Trisán, vice president for human resources
• Mark Goble, associate dean for operations and finance, Harvard Graduate School of Design
• Klara Jelinkova, vice president and University chief information officer
• Jack Jennings, executive dean for administration, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Scott Jordan, dean of administration and finance, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• Stacey Kane, director of risk and compliance and IT strategy and security, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
• Nisha Mongia, executive dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
• Lisa Muto, executive dean for administration, Harvard Medical School
• Martha Whitehead, vice president for the Harvard Library and University librarian
• Tracee Whitley, dean for administration, Harvard Law School
• Janney Wilson, executive dean, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The members of the committee will play a lead role in soliciting advice related to the search from the much wider population of staff members throughout Harvard and in conveying key findings and observations to the search committee.

“Harvard wouldn’t and couldn’t be Harvard without the indispensable work of our staff members,” said Pritzker. “Their creativity, initiative, resilience, and adaptability have made a huge difference in navigating these past few years, and the search committee expects to learn a great deal from how staff members across the University see the possibilities ahead.”

“Searches like this one are pivotal moments of transition, and an important occasion to lift our sights beyond our day-to-day work and look forward,” said Weenick, who assumed her role as executive vice president this month after eight years as Harvard’s vice president for campus services. “The staff advisory committee will provide opportunities for staff from across the Schools and the central administration to share insights and aspirations that will benefit the search committee as it seeks to identify Harvard’s next leader.”

As noted in the message launching the search, members of the Harvard community are encouraged to send advice and nominations directly to the search committee in any of three ways:

• By sending an email to psearch@harvard.edu.
• By providing answers to the questions posted here.
• By addressing a letter to the Harvard Presidential Search Committee, Loeb House, 17 Quincy St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

The search committee will hold replies in confidence.