Harvard to name first female president

The appointment of a new president will be announced on Sunday after a special meeting of the university's board of overseers, the alumni governing body that must approve the selection, according to a university official with knowledge of the selection process.

Ms Faust, a historian who specialises in the civil war and the US south, arrived at Harvard six years ago. Before that, Ms Faust, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, taught at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her doctorate, for 25 years. She has never run a big institution.

Howard Gardner, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said he was "very pleased". "She is not afraid to say what she thinks and to follow through on it," he said.

The expected announcement comes nearly a year after Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary, resigned as Harvard president, amid increasing tension with faculty after he suggested that "intrinsic aptitude" might explain why fewer women reached top academic positions in maths and science.

Prof Gardner said the appointment of Ms Faust "puts the kibosh on the notion that people at Harvard do not have a high opinion of women".

Source: MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17073809/
6:43:15 PM    

Howard E. Gardner '65 submitted this op-ed on January 29, 2007. He appended Faust's name and the final paragraph after today's news reporting.

With the nomination of Drew Gilpin Faust as the 28th president of Harvard University, the lengthy, largely secretive process has come to at an end. Whatever one thought of the Summers era and its ending, those who love Harvard are grateful to interim President Derek C. Bok for his calm, steady, and productive stewardship. Now that the Faust era will shortly begin, it is timely to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that confront our new president. As a student of leadership, who has had the opportunity to observe universities, and especially Harvard, over the decades, I would like to offer my thoughts from three, increasingly focused perspectives.

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8:12:15 AM