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

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.

A roundup of University news from the summer of 2026

FAS leaders say restructuring will be complete by mid-October.

Most popular

After a final round of layoffs, University leaders say 165 staff jobs were eliminated across the division.

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

Court finds the government’s arguments that the University continues to violate civil rights laws unpersuasive.

Explore More From Current Issue

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

A smiling William C. Kirby in a suit with glasses stands outdoors, surrounded by greenery.

The president of Harvard Magazine’s Board of Directors will step down in September.

A vase of yellow flowers on a table next to an orange and a glass.

Harvard Art Museums restores a rare glimpse of an American master.