Searches under way for new Harvard provost and Fellows

Searches are under way for new Fellows of Harvard College and for a successor to Steven E. Hyman.

In the wake of the Harvard Corporation’s early December decision to increase its membership from seven—the President, Treasurer, and five Fellows—to 13 (see “The Corporation’s 360-Year Tune-Up,”  January-February, page 43), nominations for candidates to serve on the senior governing board are now being sought. An early-January announcement from President Drew Faust and Senior Fellow Robert D. Reischauer solicited ideas and names from the Harvard community at large; they may be submitted to corporationsearch@harvard.edu or by mail to Corporation Search Committee, Harvard University, Loeb House, 17 Quincy Street, Cambridge 02138; all communications will be held in confidence.

Consistent with the Corporation’s earlier steps to include members of the Board of Overseers in its review of its governance structure and procedures, the search for new Corporation members will include three Overseers: Joshua Boger, Ph.D. ’79, founder and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and chair of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows; Diana Nelson ’84, director of the Carlson Companies and former co-chair of the Harvard College Fund; and Robert Shapiro ’72, J.D. ’78, a partner at Ropes & Gray, past president of both the Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard Law School Association. (Shapiro also served on the governance-review committee.)

Faust and Reischauer reiterated their earlier expectation that the Corporation’s expanded membership would be put in place within the next two to three years.

A week later, Faust announced the appointment of a faculty advisory committee to help her search for a successor to Provost Steven E. Hyman. Comments from the wider Harvard community on the provost’s role and nominations of candidates may be sent in confidence to provostsearch@harvard.edu or by letter addressed to her at Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge 02138.

Most popular

Lafayette’s Unexpected Gift to George Washington: Pheasants

The two birds will be on display at Harvard this summer.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

Explore More From Current Issue

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

Modern building with large glass windows, surrounded by greenery and pedestrians.

A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026

Two laboratory researchers, one seated and one standing, in a scientific lab with equipment.

The stakes are high for this husband and wife: one of them will die if they don’t find a cure.