Junior Faculty Member Gains K-School Tenure

The Kennedy School of Government has named one of its junior faculty members the first Baker Professor of Public Management.

Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard '74, an expert on public sector financial management, received the lifetime appointment after seven years as a Kennedy School junior faculty member.

In addition to his work in the financial management field, Leonard has published writings on housing, hazardous waste and the applicability of econometric predictions.

Most recently, Leonard has focused his work on how the financial structure of public organizations influences their accountability.

Although the Kennedy School conducts national searches before offering permanent positions, the school taps its own junior faculty for lifetime posts with greater regularity than the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where about 30 percent of senior positions go to in-house junior faculty.

"The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is appointing people in established fields. That is, of course, most often not true here, where we are pioneering the fields we study," said Kennedy School Secretary Edith M. Stokey.

Kennedy School Dean Graham T. Allison '62 stressed Leonard's contributions to the life of the school in announcing the apointment this week.

"In his seven years on the Kennedy School faculty, Dutch Leonard has had a major impact on the School's activities, including teaching, curriculum development, research, and institution building," the dean said.

Allison also commended Leonard for his work away from the school.

"He [Leonard] has made significant contributions to the process of public policy formation, serving on various advisory committees and testifying before legislative groups at all levels of government," Allison said. "He has a deep commitment to policymaking as a professional activity."

Leonard is a member of an advisory council of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. He also serves as an urban policy advisor for the National Academy of Sciences.

A summa cum laude graduate of The College, Leonard received the PhD in economics here in 1979. He was a junior fellow in the society of fellows.