University People

Administrator-in-Chief

Sally Zeckhauser, the University’s vice president for administration since 1988, will retire effective June 30, concluding a 35-year Harvard career. Working in Massachusetts Hall during five Harvard presidencies, she has provided senior-level continuity while overseeing the principal staff operations responsible for everything from buildings and grounds, real-estate planning and management, and dining services to oversight of affiliated institutions including the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University Press, and the financial affairs of this magazine. Significant renovations carried out on her watch included the renewal of the Harvard Yard residences, Barker Center, Widener Library, and Memorial Hall, and Zeckhauser played a leading role in acquiring the land for future academic development in Allston. She is known across campus for the annual “Harvard Heroes” recognition for high-performing staff members, and for the Bridge to Learning and Literacy Program, which offers skills and language training to hundreds of service and clerical/technical workers and has helped many attain citizenship. Zeckhauser also chairs the board of trustees at Bryn Mawr College, her alma mater.

 

Headed for Hanover

François-Xavier Bagnoud professor of health and human rights Jim Yong Kim, chair of Harvard Medical School’s department of global health and social medicine, has been named president of Dartmouth College. Kim helped found and lead Partners in Health with Presley professor of social medicine Paul Farmer, and has overseen AIDS programs for the World Health Organization. Kim’s work on tuberculosis is described in “A Plague Reborn” (July-August 2008, page 38). With his new appointment, he will become the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League institution.

 

House Heads

Clinical professor of law Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., J.D. ’93, and Stephanie Robinson, J.D. ’94, a lecturer at the law school, have been appointed master and co-master of Winthrop House. The couple, who also operate Robinson Sullivan Group, a consulting firm, succeed Kaneb professor of national security and military affairs Stephen Rosen and Mandana Sassanfar, tutor in biochemical sciences, who have served for six years. At Pforzheimer House, Nicholas Christakis, M.D. ’88, M.P.H. ’89, professor of medical sociology and professor of sociology, and Erika Christakis ’86, director of a cooperative preschool, have been appointed master and co-master. They succeed James J. McCarthy, professor of biological oceanography, and Sue McCarthy, who are completing 12 years of service. These are the first appointments of new House masters made by Harvard College dean Evelynn Hammonds.