Category: News and Statements by President Drew Gilpin Faust

 I write today to let you know that at the end of the coming academic year, I will conclude my service as president. On June 30, 2018, I will complete my eleventh year, and the Harvard Campaign will reach its conclusion. It will be the right time for the transition to Harvard’s next chapter, led…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, By now you have likely read President Faust’s message announcing her intention to step down as president at the end of the next academic year. My fellow Corporation members and I greeted this news with a number of emotions, the strongest of which was gratitude: for her wisdom, her vision, her…

As delivered. Thank you, David. It is wonderful to be with all of you today to mark the bicentennial of Harvard Divinity School. Like the best birthday parties, this one has been going on for many months, celebrating the work that has engaged this remarkable school for 200 years — from its beginnings as the…

“David was a visionary leader, an extraordinary philanthropist, and a devoted friend,” said Harvard President Drew Faust. “His passion for Harvard was infectious, and his commitment to the arts, to experiential learning, and to increasing knowledge of other cultures has made a lasting impact on the University and the thousands of students and scholars who…

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Sept. 17, 1862, was the bloodiest battle day in United States history. More Americans — some 3,600 — died as Northern and Southern armies clashed at the Battle of Antietam, in western Maryland, than on any other single day before or since, even more than on Sept. 11. One hundred and fifty years…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Last Friday’s executive order imposing restrictions on travel to the United States has provoked uncertainty and escalating anxiety among many people in our own University and others. Although the situation remains in flux and doubt, I write to share information about resources available to students and faculty and to…

Dear Colleagues and Friends, Following her announcement earlier today, I write to convey my deep gratitude for Martha Minow’s outstanding leadership as dean. Since joining the faculty more than 35 years ago, Martha has devoted her career to Harvard Law School, with an unrelenting concern for making it stronger and better, more inclusive and more intently focused…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, I write today to update you on our progress in tackling climate change on campus. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of individuals across the University, Harvard has attained the goal we established in 2008 of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent from 2006 levels by 2016, inclusive of growth.  Reaching…

In my message of November 15, I urged the Harvard community to affirm fundamental values of inclusion and belonging, and to model the respect for people and ideas that rest at the heart of any academic community. Our responsibility to each other requires us to demonstrate that we are enriched by difference and respectful disagreement, and to…

Dear Members of the Harvard Community, It has been one week since the end of the most divisive and contentious election any of us has ever known. Whatever our personal political views, emotions run high and feelings deep in what for many is a challenging and uncertain time. And not just acrimonious words but escalating…