Harris Wofford

As a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, chair of America's Promise, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Special Assistant to President John F. Kennedy, Harris Wofford has dedicated much of his life to making citizen service a common expectation and experience for all Americans.

Mr. Wofford played a key role in both crafting and working to pass the trailblazing legislation that created AmeriCorps, the Learn and Serve America program and the Corporation for National and Community Service. He was an instrumental figure in organizing The Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 1997.

After helping launch the Peace Corps, Mr. Wofford held the post of special assistant to President John F. Kennedy, as well as chairman of the White House Sub-Cabinet Group on Civil Rights from 1961 to 1962. He also served as counsel to Rev. Theodore Hesburgh on the first U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and trustee to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change. Mr. Wofford was president of both the State University of New York’s new College at Old Westbury (1966-70) and of Bryn Mawr College (1970-78).

Additionally, Mr. Wofford is a member of the National Commission on Service-Learning chaired by Senator John Glenn. He also serves on the boards of Youth Service America and the Points of Light Foundation. In 2000, Mr. Wofford convened and chaired the working group on human needs and faith-based community initiatives.

He is the author of numerous publications including Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties (1980). In 1950, Senator Wofford and his late wife Clare co-authored the book India Afire, which reported on the first year of independence in India and urged the civil rights movement in America to adopt Gandhi’s strategy of non-violent direct action.