Harvard begins search for new dean of graduate school of education

Harvard president appoints advisory committee.

President Drew Faust has established the advisory committee for the search to identify the successor to Kathleen McCartney, departing dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). McCartney will become president of Smith College on July 1.

According to Faust’s announcement, the committee comprises nine HGSE senior faculty members (Monica Higgins, Nancy Hill, Thomas Kane, Robert Kegan, Nonie Lesaux, Bridget Terry Long, Richard Murnane, Jack Shonkoff, and Hiro Yoshikawa) and professors from other schools with perspectives on HGSE’s work and mission: Christopher Avery (Kennedy School), Amy Edmondson (Business School), Jennifer Hochschild (Faculty of Arts and Sciences, department of government), Lawrence Katz (FAS, department of economics), and Herman (Dutch) Leonard (Business School/Kennedy School). This multidisciplinary, multischool perspective fits well with McCartney’s overhaul of HGSE’s academic doctoral program along three tracks (human development; culture, society, and institutions; and policy and program evaluation) closely aligned with other fields (respectively: psychology, sociology, and economics).

Faust wrote that she and University provost Alan Garber would reach out to faculty members, students, staff, alumni, and others to solicit information about HGSE’s challenges and opportunities, and to identify decanal candidates. Observations and nominations can be sent, in confidence, to gsesearch@harvard.edu.

You might also like

Paul Ryan Warns Congress Is Losing Power—and Blames Both Parties

At Harvard Kennedy School, the former House speaker reflected on executive overreach, DEI, and “wokeism.”

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim to Speak at Harvard in June

The American Navy SEAL, born to immigrants, is a doctor and a space traveler.

Chan School of Public Health Department Chair Departs for UCLA

Kari Nadeau, an environmental health leader, will serve as the dean of the Fielding School of Public Health.

Most popular

Ken Burns on America’s Unfinished Revolution

At Radcliffe, the filmmaker joined Harvard historians to discuss what the nation’s founding means today.

The Harvard Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Explore More From Current Issue

Graduates celebrate joyfully, wearing caps and gowns, with some waving and smiling.

Inside Harvard’s Most Egalitarian School

The Extension School is open to everyone. Expect to work—hard.

A woman gazes at large decorative letters with her reflection and two stylized faces beside them.

The True Cost of Grade Inflation at Harvard

How an abundance of A’s created “the most stressed-out world of all.”

Illustration of a person sitting on a large cresting wave, writing, with a sunset and ocean waves in vibrant colors.

How Stories Help Us Cope with Climate Change

The growing genre of climate fiction offers a way to process reality—and our anxieties.