Harvard Appoints Interim Winthrop House Leaders

After a tumultuous semester, Mark and Mary Herlihy-Gearan take up the reins.

Winthrop House interim faculty deans Mary Herlihy-Gearan and Mark Gearan

Photograph by Kevin Colton

Harvard College dean Rakesh Khurana today announced that Mark Gearan ’78 and Mary Herlihy-Gearan will serve as interim deans of Winthrop House for the new academic year. They succeed Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Climenko clinical professor of law, and Stephanie R. Robinson, lecturer on law, whose Winthrop appointment was not renewed following a tumultuous semester punctuated by student protests over Sullivan’s legal representation of movie producer Harvey Weinstein in criminal proceedings concerning his alleged sexual assaults and harassment of many women, and by a College survey of the climate within the House during the then-faculty deans’ tenure (see “Faculty-Dean Denouement,” July-August, page 27).

Mark Gearan is director of the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. He was president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges from 1999 to 2017, after serving as director of the Peace Corps. He lived in Winthrop House as an undergraduate—as did the Gearans’ daughter, Madeleine ’15 (daughter Kathleen is enrolled at Hobart and William Smith). Prior to the couple’s service at Hobart and William Smith, Mary Herlihy-Gearan worked for two members of the U.S. Congress and on the presidential campaign of Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, LL.B. ’60.

A search for a permanent dean will begin this fall.

Read the announcement here.

Read more articles by John S. Rosenberg

You might also like

‘Passengers’ at A.R.T. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

Harvard Research Funding Cuts Are Illegal, Judge Rules

The Trump administration violated the University’s First Amendment rights and must restore all funding, the court said.

In Sermon, Garber Urges Harvard Community to ‘Defend and Protect’ Institutions

Harvard’s president uses traditional Memorial Church address to encourage divergent views.

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Man in gray sweater standing in hallway with colorful abstract art on wall.

How Do Single-Celled Organisms Learn and Remember?

A Harvard neuroscientist’s quest to model memory

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Julie Riew, wearing a white dress, playing guitar and singing into a microphone on stage.

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.