Claudine Gay

Claudine Gay served as the 30th president of Harvard University and was a member of the board of directors at the Broad Institute. She is the Wilbur A. Cowett professor of Government and professor of African and African-American Studies.

Gay previously led Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences as the Edgerley Family Dean and held the position of dean of social science.

During her tenure as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gay directed initiatives to broaden student access and opportunity, promote innovation in teaching and research, and strengthen the academic culture. She emphasized areas such as quantum science and engineering, climate change, ethnicity, indigeneity and migration, and the humanities. Gay guided the faculty through the COVID pandemic, prioritizing both community health and academic continuity. She also initiated a comprehensive, faculty-driven strategic planning process to review and enhance the faculty’s academic structures, resources, and operations.

Gay is recognized for her scholarship in political behavior, with a focus on race and politics in America. Her research has examined the impact of minority officeholders on public perceptions of government, the influence of neighborhood environments on racial and political attitudes among Black Americans, intergroup relations between Black Americans and Latinos, and the effects of housing mobility programs on political participation among low-income populations. Gay’s teaching has addressed topics such as racial and ethnic politics in the United States, Black politics in the post-Civil Rights era, American political behavior, and democratic citizenship. She is the founding chair of the Inequality in America Initiative, a multidisciplinary effort addressing social and economic disparities.

Before joining Harvard, Gay was an assistant professor and later an associate professor of political science at Stanford University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Stanford University, where she received the Anna Laura Myers Prize for best senior thesis in the department. Gay completed her doctorate at Harvard, receiving the Toppan Prize for best dissertation in political science.

Gay is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has held fellowships at the Public Policy Institute of California, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. She serves on the boards of Pew Research Center, Phillips Exeter Academy, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and has contributed to the American Association of Universities advisory board on racial equity in higher education.