Harvard Board of Overseers
The Harvard Board of Overseers (more formally The Honorable and Reverend Board of Overseers) is one of Harvard University's two governing boards. Although its function is more consultative and less hands-on than the President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Board of Overseers is sometimes referred to as the "senior" governing board because its formation predates the fellows' 1650 incorporation.
Today there are 30 overseers, all directly elected by alumni; at one point the board was self-perpetuating. Originally the overseers included, ex officio, the public officials and puritan clergy of Cambridge and the neighboring towns (hence the "honorable and reverend" of the title).
Each year, Harvard alumni elect five new overseers to serve six-year terms. Overseers candidates are nominated by the Harvard Alumni Association, and those not nominated by the HAA (petition candidates) must gather signatures from Harvard alumni to appear on the ballot.
Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. quipped famously of the election of John F. Kennedy, his son, to the Board in 1957: "Now I know his religion won't keep him out of the White House. If an Irish Catholic can get elected as an Overseer at Harvard, he can get elected to anything."[1]
Contents |
[edit] Current Overseers
The current Overseers are:
- Mitchell L. Adams (2005–2011), Executive Director, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
- Photeine Anagnostopoulos (2009–2015), Chief Operating Officer, New York City Department of Education
- Joshua Boger (2009–2012), Founder and CEO (retired), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
- Lynn Wan-Hsin Chang (2008–2014), Concert violinist
- Morgan Chu (2009–2015), Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
- Walter Clair (2009–2015), Director of Arrhythmia Consultation Services, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Ronald Cohen (2007–2013), Chairman, Portland Capital, The Portland Trust & Bridges Ventures
- Cheryl Dorsey (2010–2016), President, Echoing Green
- Sandra M. Faber (2006–2012), University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
- Anne Fadiman (2008–2014), Author; Writer-in-Residence, Yale University
- Leila Fawaz (2006–2012), Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University
- Paul J. Finnegan (2008–2014), Co-CEO, Madison Dearborn Partners
- Lucy Fisher (2007—2013), Film Producer and Co-Head, Red Wagon Entertainment
- Linda Greenhouse (2009–2015), Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law, Yale University
- Eve J. Higginbotham (2008—2014), Senior Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences, Howard University
- Walter Isaacson (2010–2016), CEO, The Aspen Institute
- Gerald R. Jordan, Jr. (2005–2011), Chairman, Hellman, Jordan Management Company
- Nicholas D. Kristof (2010–2016), Columnist, The New York Times
- Richard A. Meserve (2007–2013), President, Carnegie Institution for Science
- Karen Nelson Moore (2010–2016), U.S. Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- Diana Nelson (2010–2016), Director, Carlson Companies
- David W. Oxtoby (2008–2014), President and Professor of Chemistry, Pomona College
- Emily Rauh Pulitzer (2006–2012), Founder and Chairman, Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
- Lisbet Rausing (2005–2011), Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College London
- Cristián Samper (2009–2015), Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- Richard R. Schrock (2007–2013), Frederick G. Keyes Professor of Chemistry, MIT
- Robert N. Shapiro (2006–2012), Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP
- Susan S. Wallach (2005–2011), Former Special Counsel, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
- Seth P. Waxman (2005–2011), Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
- Stephanie Wilson (2007–2013), Astronaut, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University (Ex officio)
- James F. Rothenberg, Treasurer, Harvard University (Ex officio)
[edit] Petition candidates
In the late-1980s, a group calling for a withdrawal of Harvard's investments in Apartheid South Africa helped nominate petition candidates for overseers elections. Known as the Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA), this group supported the first petition candidate to win an overseers' seat.[2] The HRAAA also backed South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his successful bid to join the board in 1989.[3] Since Tutu's election in 1989 (and the altering of election rules[4]), no petition candidate has been successful, including Barack Obama, who lost in 1991.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Kenneth P. O'Donnell and David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy, "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, p. 147, Little Brown and Company, New York, N.Y., 1972, Standard Book Number: 671-78640-7
- ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=346877
- ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=169989
- ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=230393
- ^ http://harvardmagazine.com/alumni-in-the-news/barack-obama-of-harvard-law-school
[edit] External links
- Harvard University Board of Overseers
- Central Administration Governance of the University, from Office of the Provost
 |
This article on a northeastern United States institution of higher education is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
