President of Harvard University

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President of Harvard University
Alan Garber at the George W. Gay Lecture at Harvard Medical School (2015) 04.png
Incumbent
Alan Garber
(interim)
since January 2, 2024 (2024-01-02)
Appointer Harvard Corporation
Formation1640 (1640)
First holder Henry Dunster
Website Office of the President

The president of Harvard University is the chief administrator of Harvard University and the ex officio president of the Harvard Corporation. [1] Each is appointed by and is responsible to the other members of that body, who delegate to the president the day-to-day running of the university.

Contents

Harvard's current interim president is Alan Garber, who took office on January 2, 2024, following the resignation of Claudine Gay.

Role

The president plays an important part in university-wide planning and strategy. Each names a faculty's dean (and, since the foundation of the office in 1994, the university's provost), and grants tenure to recommended professors. However, the president is expected to make such decisions after extensive consultation with faculty members.

Recently, however, the job has become increasingly administrative, especially as fund-raising campaigns have taken on central importance in large institutions such as Harvard. Some have criticized this trend to the extent it has prevented the president from focusing on substantive issues in higher education. [2]

Each president is professor in some department of the university and teaches from time to time.

The university maintains an official residence for the president's use, which from 1912 until 1971, was President's House, and since then has been Elmwood. [3]

Influence

Five Harvard University presidents, sitting in order of when they served. Left-to-right: Josiah Quincy III, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, James Walker and Cornelius Conway Felton. HarvardUniversityPresidents1829-1862.jpg
Five Harvard University presidents, sitting in order of when they served. Left-to-right: Josiah Quincy III, Edward Everett, Jared Sparks, James Walker and Cornelius Conway Felton.

Harvard presidents have traditionally influenced educational practices nationwide. Charles W. Eliot, for example, originated America's familiar system of a smorgasbord of elective courses available to each student; James B. Conant worked to introduce standardized testing; Derek Bok and Neil L. Rudenstine argued for the continued importance of diversity in higher education.

History

At Harvard's founding it was headed by a "schoolmaster", Nathaniel Eaton. In 1640, when Henry Dunster was brought in, he adopted the title of president. Since Harvard was founded for the training of Puritan clergy, and even though its mission was soon broadened, nearly all presidents through the end of the 18th century were in holy orders.

All presidents from Leonard Hoar in 1672 through Nathan Pusey in 1971 were graduates of Harvard College. Of the presidents since Pusey, nearly all earned a graduate degree at Harvard. The only exception has been Drew Gilpin Faust, who was the first president since the seventeenth century with no earned Harvard degree.

Presidents of Harvard

No.ImagePresidentsTerm of officeLengthNotes
Nathaniel Eaton 1637–16392 yearsReferred to as "schoolmaster" of Harvard College
Fired for "embezzlement and beating students" [4]
1 Henry Dunster 1640–165414 years, 1 month and 27 daysForced to resign for speaking out against and interrupting infant baptisms [5]
2 HarvardPresidentCharlesChauncy.jpg Charles Chauncy 1654–167217 years, 3 months and 17 daysDied in office at the age of 79 [6]
3 Leonard Hoar 1672–16752 years, 3 months and 5 daysForced to resign [7]
4 Urian Oakes 1675–1680 (acting); 1680–16816 years, 3 months and 18 days (total);

4 years, 9 months and 26 days (acting); 1 year, 5 months and 23 days

Died in office [8] [6]
5 Harvard president John Rogers.png John Rogers 1682–16842 years, 3 months and 2 daysDied in office [9] [10] [6]
6 Appletons' Mather Richard - Increase.jpg Increase Mather 1685–1686 (acting); 1686–1692 (rector); 1692–170116 years and 18 days (total); 1 year and 12 days (acting); 6 years and 4 days (rector); 9 years and 2 daysForced to resign [11] [6]
Appletons' Willard Simon - Samuel.jpg Samuel Willard 1701–1707 (acting)6 years and 6 daysResigned due to illness [12]
7 John Leverett.gif John Leverett 1708–172416 years, 3 months and 19 daysFirst lawyer and jurist to serve as president. Died in office. [6] [13]
8 BenjaminWadsworth 1stChurch Boston.png Benjamin Wadsworth 1725–173711 years, 8 months and 9 daysDied in office [10] [6]
9 John Singleton Copley - Edward Holyoke (1689-1769) - H6 - Harvard Art Museums.jpg Edward Holyoke 1737–176932 yearsAt 79, the oldest president; died in office. [10] [6]
JohnWinthropAstronomer.jpg John Winthrop 1769 (acting)Declined presidency on a permanent basis on grounds of old age
10 Samuel Locke 1770–17733 years, 6 months and 10 daysResigned after fathering a child out of wedlock [14]
JohnWinthropAstronomer.jpg John Winthrop 1773–1774 (acting)Declined presidency again on a permanent basis on grounds of old age
11 Samuel Langdon 1774–17806 years, 1 month and 12 daysStudents petitioned the Corporation to dismiss him, and he resigned. [6] [15]
Edward Wigglesworth II.jpg Edward Wigglesworth 1780–1781 (acting)
12 Joseph Willard 1781–180423 years and 20 daysDied in office [16]
Eliphalet Pearson.png Eliphalet Pearson 1804–1806 (acting)Acting president after death of Willard
13 Samuel Webber 1806–18104 years, 2 months and 11 daysDied in office [17]
Henry Ware Sr. (1764-1845).jpeg Henry Ware 1810 (acting)Served as acting president after Webber's death.
14 JohnThorntonKikland.jpg John Thornton Kirkland 1810–182817 years, 4 months and 19 daysSuffered a stroke, was accused of financial mismanagement by the Harvard Corporation, and resigned
Henry Ware Sr. (1764-1845).jpeg Henry Ware 1828-1829 (acting)Served as acting president after the resignation of Kirkland
15 Josiah Quincy 1772-1864.jpg Josiah Quincy III 1829–184516 years, 6 months and 29 daysRetired [18]
16 Edward Everett, 1794-1865, three-quarter length portrait, standing, facing left (cropped closein 3x4).jpg Edward Everett 1846–18482 years, 11 months and 27 daysResigned. Everett spent several years after resignation lecturing and raising funds to preserve George Washington's Mount Vernon home. He resigned as president of Harvard due to apparent stress. [19]
17 Jared Sparks.jpg Jared Sparks 1849–18534 years and 9 daysResigned due to poor health [20]
18 James Walker Harvard.jpg James Walker 1853–18606 years, 11 months and 16 daysResigned due to arthritis [21]
19 Cornelius Conway Felton (cropped).jpg Cornelius Conway Felton 1860–18622 years and 10 daysDied from a disease of the heart en route to Washington, D.C. for a meeting at the Smithsonian Institution [22]
Andrew Preston Peabody.jpg Andrew Preston Peabody 1862 (acting)Served as acting president after the death of Felton
20 Thomas Hill b1818.jpg Thomas Hill 1862–18685 years, 11 months and 24 daysResigned due to poor health [23]
Andrew Preston Peabody.jpg Andrew Preston Peabody 1868-1869 (acting)Served as acting president after the resignation of Hill due to illness [24]
21 Appletons' Eliot Charles William.jpg Charles William Eliot 1869–190940 years, 2 months and 7 days [25] At 35, the youngest president. [26] Longest term of office (40 years). [27] [28] For a portion of 1900-1901 [29] and 1905, Henry Pickering Walcott served as acting president while Eliot was on vacation.
22 Picture of Abbott Lawrence Lowell.jpg A. Lawrence Lowell 1909–193324 years, 1 month and 2 daysRetired [30] [31]
23 James Conant 1932.jpg James B. Conant 1933–195319 years, 6 months and 22 daysRetired to become Allied High Commissioner for Occupied Germany and later U.S. ambassador to Germany [32]
24 Nathan Pusey Boston College 1963 (cropped).JPG Nathan Pusey 1953–197118 years and 29 days"Pusey called in the Cambridge police to end a student sit-in" in 1969. "Sharply criticized for his handling of the situation, he announced in 1970 that he would retire the following year". [33] [34]
25 Derek Bok 1971–199119 years, 11 months and 29 days [35] Henry Rosovsky served as acting president in 1984 and 1987 when Bok traveled and took brief sabbaticals. [36] [37]
26 Neil Rudenstine 1991–2001 [38] 9 years, 11 months and 29 daysProvost Albert Carnesale served as acting president for three months, from November 1994 to February 1995, during Rudenstine's medical leave of absence. [39]
27 Lawrence Summers 2012.jpg Lawrence Summers 2001–20064 years, 11 months and 29 daysFirst Jewish president [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] Shortest tenure since Civil War. Resigned following several clashes with faculty resulting in a no-confidence vote. [45] [46] [47] [48]
Derek Bok 2006–2007 (interim)11 months and 29 daysServed as acting president after the resignation of Summers [49] [6]
28 Women in Economic Decision-making Drew Gilpin Faust (8414040540) (cropped).jpg Drew Gilpin Faust 2007–201810 years, 11 months and 29 daysFirst female president [6] [50]
29 Lawrence Bacow in San Francisco pictured 2006.jpg Lawrence Bacow 2018–20234 years, 11 months and 29 daysRetired [6] [51]
30 Inauguration of Claudine Gay as President of Harvard University (2) (cropped).jpg Claudine Gay 2023–20246 months and 1 dayShortest serving president; resigned following congressional hearings into antisemitism on campus and multiple allegations of plagiarism [52] First black president. [53]
Alan Garber at the George W. Gay Lecture at Harvard Medical School (2015) 04.png Alan Garber 2024– (interim)4 months and 25 daysServed as acting president after Gay's resignation [54] [55]

Timeline of Harvard University presidential terms

Alan GarberClaudine GayLawrence BacowDrew Gilpin FaustDerek BokLawrence SummersNeil RudenstineNathan PuseyJames B. ConantA. Lawrence LowellCharles William EliotAndrew Preston PeabodyThomas HillCornelius Conway FeltonJames WalkerJared SparksEliphalet PearsonJosiah Quincy IIIHenry WareJohn Thornton KirklandSamuel WebberEliphalet PearsonJoseph WillardEdward WigglesworthSamuel LangdonJohn WinthropSamuel LockeEdward HolyokeBenjamin WadsworthJohn LeverettSamuel WillardIncrease MatherJohn RogersUrian OakesLeonard HoarCharles ChauncyHenry DunsterNathaniel EatonPresident of Harvard University

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