Claudine Gay at Harvard: a powerful step towards equality

Times Higher Education (THE) by Paul Basken

When major barriers are broken, it’s common for the trailblazer to thank those whose sacrifices came first and to then try to define the next set of challenges. In making one of the biggest professional and symbolic breakthroughs in all of US higher education – becoming the first black female president of Harvard University
– Claudine Gay is getting some predictable help on identifying what comes next.

Professor Gay, to be clear, brings top academic credentials to the job. She earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University, winning the Anna Laura Myers Prize for best undergraduate thesis. She earned a doctorate in government from Harvard, winning the Top pan Prize for best dissertation in political science. She became a tenured faculty member at both institutions, before her promotions by Harvard to become dean of social science and then dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

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