Home
Politics
Faust, now an eminent historian and outstanding academic leader, was recently named the new president of Harvard University on Feb. 11, 2007. With this appointment Faust is to become the first woman to lead Harvard in its 371-year history. Elected by the university’s Board of Overseers, Faust is set to begin her leadership as Harvard’s 28th president on July 1.
“This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard,” said James R. Houghton, the senior member of the ruling board, called the Harvard Corporation, in a statement. “She combines a powerful, broad-ranging intellect with a demonstrated capacity for strong leadership and a talent for stimulating people to do their best work, both individually and together.”
This is the feeling of most everyone involved, but the decision of appointment was not an easy one. Faust was chosen from a number of competitive candidates. One such candidate was Thomas Cech, Nobel Prize winner and president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. And, Faust’s nomination did not come without criticism. With the future of this prestigious University at stake, Faust’s lack of big-administration experience has sparked concerns as to how efficiently Faust will handle the position. However, many committee members argue that her outstanding personal qualities overshadow her relative lack of experience.
A year ago, Harvard President Lawrence Summers announced his resignation after his comments about genetic differences between the sexes sparked controversy. This is when the search for a new president began. In light of her previous work with gender issues, the schools governing body found Faust to be best suited to cool tensions within the faculty divided during Summer’s tenure. This, among the other outstanding leadership qualities she has demonstrated, made Faust a highly qualified candidate for what is often viewed as the most prestigious position in the field of academia. “I am deeply honored by the trust the governing boards have placed in me,” said Faust. “I will work with all my heart, together with colleagues across the University and the broader community, to reward that trust.”
Faust will take over in July for former President Derek Bok who has been serving as interim president for the current academic year.
Life, Education and Accomplishment
Drew G. Faust was born to a privileged family in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley where she was then raised. Faust then went on to attend Concord Academy, located in Massachusetts. She is now married to Charles Rosenberg, Monrad professor of social sciences at Harvard and one of the nation’s leading historians of medicine. Faust and Rosenberg live in Cambridge and have two daughters.
Faust will be the first non-Harvard alumni to be elected since 1672. She received a bachelor's degree in History from Bryn Mawr College, a women's school in suburban Philadelphia, and her American Civilization master's and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Since the completion of her studies Faust has written five books, including “Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War,” a work that won the Francis Parkman Prize in 1997 for the best book on U.S. history. She is also know for her memoir, “Shapers of Southern History: Autobiographical Reflection,” in which she openly discusses her feminist ideals.
In 2001 Faust was selected to be the dean of Radcliff Institute. Faust was assigned to the post in hopes that she would effectively transform the existing independent women's college into a functioning part of the university. The assumption that Faust was the perfect woman for the job proved to be an accurate one. In fact, her past success in institutional reform at Radcliffe was a deciding factor in her current nomination. On appointment, senior member of the Harvard Corporation and chair of the presidential search committee, James Houghton, applauded Faust for being “both mindful of tradition and effective in leading innovation.” Noting her successful reign as dean of Radcliffe, Houghton praised Faust for showing “an uncommon skill in designing and fulfilling a forward-looking agenda of institutional change.”
Faust currently serves on the board of trustees at Bryn Mawr, the Andre W. Mellon Foundation in New York and the National Humanities Center. She was president of the Southern Historical Association1999-2000, was on the Harvard task force on Women Faculty and on Women in Science and Engineering in 2005, and on the Harvard Committee on the Status of Women, 2001-2006. She is also a former Annenberg Professor of History professor at the University of Pennsylvania where she taught for 25 years. Faust has also served on numerous editorial boards and selection committees, including the Pulitzer Prize jury 1986-1990.
Priorities and Goals
Now that the search for a new president is finally over, Faust will begin defining her role as the leader of this prestigious educational institution, while outlining her plans for the future. Through various upcoming projects, Faust plans to undertake: plans for expansion, curriculum changes, addressing the gender gap and fund raising.
Among other projects addressing university growth, Faust will oversee the development of a new campus across the Charles River in Boston, the biggest expansion in Harvard History. The proposed 250-acre (100-hectare) campus located in Boston’s Allston neighborhood, the university plans to set up a new science-research facility as well as an arts center. This, Faust says, will help the University in its efforts to break down barriers between the humanities and the sciences that have for so long resulted in student division. First priority for Faust is to fill deanships for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the medical school, the design school, and replace her own position as dean of Ratcliffe Institute. And, as donations hit a 17 year low in 2006, fundraising will also be on the top of the agenda for Faust this upcoming year.
What this means for higher education
Faust has indicated that she not only sees her new job as an opportunity to lead one of America’s most prestigious universities, but also as a chance to champion the cause of higher education in America. She has noted that America’s view of the University system is filled with contradictions as it is often hailed as ‘world-class’ and at the same time, criticized for being hidebound and poorly managed. Through her position as president, Faust intends to change this view and she says that “what Harvard does in the next decade,” “will help to define the character and meaning of universities for the 21st century.”
Although Faust insists it is more important that she be known as the president of Harvard rather than as the “woman president of Harvard,” she still recognizes the enormous symbolic meaning of the occasion. “I think it symbolizes important changes in the place of women in higher education, the place of women in public life, the place of women in America, and the world more generally,” she says.
“I hope that my own special appointment can be one symbol, of an opening of opportunities that would have been inconceivable even a generation ago.”
Women Leaders
Faust is one of the many adding to a growing number of women in leadership positions at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities. The first woman to lead an Ivy League was Judith Rodin who was president for Penn from 1994 to 2004. There are three women currently running other Ivy Leagues and with Faust joining the group, half of the 8 Ivy League schools will now have female presidents. These 3 women leaders are: Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, Shirley Tilghman of Princeton University, and Ruth Simmons of Brown University.
Today, according to a Feb. 12 report by the American Council on Education’s Center for Effective Leadership in Washington, women make up 23 percent of college and university presidents nationwide. And, as numbers continue to grow, some are wondering; Do women make better university presidents? In a recent study done by James L. Fisher, James V. Koch, and Alice R. McAdory, it was found that “female college presidents are more innovative and entrepreneurial than male presidents. Further, females are more inclined to take measured risks in their jobs than are males.” Results from the study were presented in an article from Inside Higher Ed, an online source for news, opinions and jobs for all of higher education. Although, gender favoritism is an issue the higher education system attempts to avoid, the monumental success of current female academic leaders is well recognized.
Now, it seems Faust may be faced with her toughest job yet; following in the footsteps of those who have already set a high standard for all female higher-education leaders to come.
“This is a great day, and a historic day, for Harvard,” said James R. Houghton, the senior member of the ruling board, called the Harvard Corporation, in a statement. “She combines a powerful, broad-ranging intellect with a demonstrated capacity for strong leadership and a talent for stimulating people to do their best work, both individually and together.”
This is the feeling of most everyone involved, but the decision of appointment was not an easy one. Faust was chosen from a number of competitive candidates. One such candidate was Thomas Cech, Nobel Prize winner and president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. And, Faust’s nomination did not come without criticism. With the future of this prestigious University at stake, Faust’s lack of big-administration experience has sparked concerns as to how efficiently Faust will handle the position. However, many committee members argue that her outstanding personal qualities overshadow her relative lack of experience.
A year ago, Harvard President Lawrence Summers announced his resignation after his comments about genetic differences between the sexes sparked controversy. This is when the search for a new president began. In light of her previous work with gender issues, the schools governing body found Faust to be best suited to cool tensions within the faculty divided during Summer’s tenure. This, among the other outstanding leadership qualities she has demonstrated, made Faust a highly qualified candidate for what is often viewed as the most prestigious position in the field of academia. “I am deeply honored by the trust the governing boards have placed in me,” said Faust. “I will work with all my heart, together with colleagues across the University and the broader community, to reward that trust.”
Faust will take over in July for former President Derek Bok who has been serving as interim president for the current academic year.
Life, Education and Accomplishment
Drew G. Faust was born to a privileged family in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley where she was then raised. Faust then went on to attend Concord Academy, located in Massachusetts. She is now married to Charles Rosenberg, Monrad professor of social sciences at Harvard and one of the nation’s leading historians of medicine. Faust and Rosenberg live in Cambridge and have two daughters.
Faust will be the first non-Harvard alumni to be elected since 1672. She received a bachelor's degree in History from Bryn Mawr College, a women's school in suburban Philadelphia, and her American Civilization master's and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Since the completion of her studies Faust has written five books, including “Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War,” a work that won the Francis Parkman Prize in 1997 for the best book on U.S. history. She is also know for her memoir, “Shapers of Southern History: Autobiographical Reflection,” in which she openly discusses her feminist ideals.
In 2001 Faust was selected to be the dean of Radcliff Institute. Faust was assigned to the post in hopes that she would effectively transform the existing independent women's college into a functioning part of the university. The assumption that Faust was the perfect woman for the job proved to be an accurate one. In fact, her past success in institutional reform at Radcliffe was a deciding factor in her current nomination. On appointment, senior member of the Harvard Corporation and chair of the presidential search committee, James Houghton, applauded Faust for being “both mindful of tradition and effective in leading innovation.” Noting her successful reign as dean of Radcliffe, Houghton praised Faust for showing “an uncommon skill in designing and fulfilling a forward-looking agenda of institutional change.”
Faust currently serves on the board of trustees at Bryn Mawr, the Andre W. Mellon Foundation in New York and the National Humanities Center. She was president of the Southern Historical Association1999-2000, was on the Harvard task force on Women Faculty and on Women in Science and Engineering in 2005, and on the Harvard Committee on the Status of Women, 2001-2006. She is also a former Annenberg Professor of History professor at the University of Pennsylvania where she taught for 25 years. Faust has also served on numerous editorial boards and selection committees, including the Pulitzer Prize jury 1986-1990.
Priorities and Goals
Now that the search for a new president is finally over, Faust will begin defining her role as the leader of this prestigious educational institution, while outlining her plans for the future. Through various upcoming projects, Faust plans to undertake: plans for expansion, curriculum changes, addressing the gender gap and fund raising.
Among other projects addressing university growth, Faust will oversee the development of a new campus across the Charles River in Boston, the biggest expansion in Harvard History. The proposed 250-acre (100-hectare) campus located in Boston’s Allston neighborhood, the university plans to set up a new science-research facility as well as an arts center. This, Faust says, will help the University in its efforts to break down barriers between the humanities and the sciences that have for so long resulted in student division. First priority for Faust is to fill deanships for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the medical school, the design school, and replace her own position as dean of Ratcliffe Institute. And, as donations hit a 17 year low in 2006, fundraising will also be on the top of the agenda for Faust this upcoming year.
What this means for higher education
Faust has indicated that she not only sees her new job as an opportunity to lead one of America’s most prestigious universities, but also as a chance to champion the cause of higher education in America. She has noted that America’s view of the University system is filled with contradictions as it is often hailed as ‘world-class’ and at the same time, criticized for being hidebound and poorly managed. Through her position as president, Faust intends to change this view and she says that “what Harvard does in the next decade,” “will help to define the character and meaning of universities for the 21st century.”
Although Faust insists it is more important that she be known as the president of Harvard rather than as the “woman president of Harvard,” she still recognizes the enormous symbolic meaning of the occasion. “I think it symbolizes important changes in the place of women in higher education, the place of women in public life, the place of women in America, and the world more generally,” she says.
“I hope that my own special appointment can be one symbol, of an opening of opportunities that would have been inconceivable even a generation ago.”
Women Leaders
Faust is one of the many adding to a growing number of women in leadership positions at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities. The first woman to lead an Ivy League was Judith Rodin who was president for Penn from 1994 to 2004. There are three women currently running other Ivy Leagues and with Faust joining the group, half of the 8 Ivy League schools will now have female presidents. These 3 women leaders are: Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, Shirley Tilghman of Princeton University, and Ruth Simmons of Brown University.
Today, according to a Feb. 12 report by the American Council on Education’s Center for Effective Leadership in Washington, women make up 23 percent of college and university presidents nationwide. And, as numbers continue to grow, some are wondering; Do women make better university presidents? In a recent study done by James L. Fisher, James V. Koch, and Alice R. McAdory, it was found that “female college presidents are more innovative and entrepreneurial than male presidents. Further, females are more inclined to take measured risks in their jobs than are males.” Results from the study were presented in an article from Inside Higher Ed, an online source for news, opinions and jobs for all of higher education. Although, gender favoritism is an issue the higher education system attempts to avoid, the monumental success of current female academic leaders is well recognized.
Now, it seems Faust may be faced with her toughest job yet; following in the footsteps of those who have already set a high standard for all female higher-education leaders to come.
