Harvard University interim president Alan M. Garber ’76 has offered Jeremy M. Weinstein, a political science professor at Stanford University, the deanship of Harvard’s Kennedy School, according to people familiar with the matter.
Weinstein’s selection ends a seven-month search for the school’s next dean. Mr. Weinstein will replace outgoing HKS Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf, who announced in September that he plans to step down from his position at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year.
In response to a request for comment Friday afternoon, a university spokesperson would not confirm or deny that Mr. Weinstein had been offered the position. It is unclear whether the terms of the offer have been finalized.
Mr. Weinstein did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Mr. Weinstein was one of several external finalists considered for the position, according to people familiar with the search process. He was considered along with two internal finalists, Arkon Huang, director of the Ash Center for Democracy, Governance and Innovation, and David Deming, dean of the Kennedy School.
The Kennedy School has never had a woman or person of color permanently serve as dean, and Weinstein’s selection upset students and faculty who had hoped it would be a historic first for the school. It can be disappointing.
But as a political scientist, Weinstein broke the Kennedy School’s 20-year record of keeping economists in top positions.
Mr. Weinstein earned a master’s degree in political economy from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 2001 and a doctorate in 2003. Weinstein joined Stanford University shortly after in 2004 as an assistant professor in the political science department, and was granted tenure in 2015.
In addition to teaching at Stanford University, Weinstein is a member of Stanford Impact, a cross-university initiative that designs evidence-based interventions to “advance some of the world’s most pressing and enduring societal challenges.”・Established and leads a laboratory.
Mr. Weinstein has also held several positions in Washington, most recently as a senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State from 2021 to 2022.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
