Marshall Ganz

Marshall Ganz

Few who drop out of college for 27 years later return to join the Harvard faculty. But Marshall Ganz ’64, M.P.A. ’93, Ph.D. ’00, who left after his junior year to register black Mississippi voters (he wrote his senior tutor: “How can I come back and study history, when we are busy making history?”) didn’t complete his A.B. until 1992. He’s now a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School and a lecturer on social studies at the College. In the interval, he worked as an organizer with César Chávez and the United Farm Workers from 1965 to 1981; his 2009 book, Why David Sometimes Wins, recounts that saga and extracts its lessons. Toward the end, “The organization began to implode,” he recalls. “They were fruitful years that ended with a lot of hurt. A tragic story of success consuming itself. ” The son of a rabbi and a teacher, Ganz imbibed an ardor for social justice, but explains, “I never got engaged in the theoretical, ideological stuff. I was really engaged by meeting the people involved.” He later worked on electoral campaigns for politicians like Robert F. Kennedy ’48, Nancy Pelosi, and Jerry Brown; in 2008, he helped set up a Camp Obama operation that trained 3,000 organizers. Ganz met his late wife, Susan Eaton ’79, M.P. A. ’93, at his twenty-fifth class reunion; she died of leukemia in 2003. His training in “leadership through community organizing” has reached organizations ranging from the Sierra Club to the Episcopal Church to grassroots groups in Jordan and Syria. Ganz teaches courses on moral leadership, organizing, and “public narrative”--stories that transform values into action. “They’re not courses about leadership,” he says. “They’re courses in leadership.”

 

You might also like

More Housing in Allston

Toward another apartment complex on Harvard-owned land

General Counsel Diane Lopez to Retire

Stepping down after 30 years of University service

Navigating Changing Careers

Harvard researchers seek to empower individuals to steer their own careers.

Most popular

William Monroe Trotter

Brief life of a black radical: 1872-1934

Romare Bearden

Brief life of a textured artist: 1911-1988

A Real-World Response Paper

In Agyementi, Ghana, Sangu Delle ’10 brings clean water to a village.

More to explore

Illustration of a box containing a laid-off fossil fuel worker's office belongings

Preparing for the Energy Transition

Expect massive job losses in industries associated with fossil fuels. The time to get ready is now.

Apollonia Poilâne standing in front of rows of fresh-baked loaves at her family's flagship bakery

Her Bread and Butter

A third-generation French baker on legacy loaves and the "magic" of baking

Illustration that plays on the grade A+ and the term Ai

AI in the Academy

Generative AI can enhance teaching and learning but augurs a shift to oral forms of student assessment.