Harvard Divinity School dean William A. Graham announced that he would relinquish his post at the end of this academic year, concluding a decade of service (he began serving as acting dean in January 2002). Following a year of leave, he will resume teaching as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. Graham, a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences since 1973, has been director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Master of Currier House, and chair of the department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations and the committee on the study of religion. His scholarly work focuses on early Islamic religious history and the history of world religion.
In a statement in the news release, President Drew Faust said, “Bill Graham has been a dedicated leader of the Divinity School, helping to build on its important legacy within Harvard while also guiding the significant expansion of its work across religious and cultural divides. I am deeply grateful for his long and varied service to the University—as a scholar, teacher, and dean—and I am pleased that he will remain an active faculty member in the years ahead.”
The news release cited his role in broadening the school's faculty and programs by “by building strength in the study and teaching of Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and other traditions” and noted that more than half of the school’s current faculty members were appointed during Graham’s deanship. He also oversaw revision of the school’s degree programs.
