K-School Dean Search Heats Up

With Kennedy School of Government (KSG) Dean Joseph S. Nye slated to step down at the end of the semester, academics who have held high-profile posts in the Clinton administration headline the list of potential successors, according to former and current KSG faculty.

Speculation has centered upon Black Professor of Political Economy David T. Ellwood ’75, a two-time KSG academic dean who served as assistant secretary of health and human services under President Clinton.

When asked if he would accept the deanship, Ellwood declined to comment.

University President Lawrence H. Summers has had a series of one-on-one sessions with candidates this month, and the school’s academic dean, Belfer Professor of International Affairs Stephen M. Walt, said he thought Summers might announce his choice as early as April.

Though KSG dean searches have historically led to internal appointments, members of the school’s faculty predict that Summers—given his broad experience in federal government—might tap a former or current public official for the post.

Three KSG faculty said that Laura D. Tyson, current dean of the London School of Economics, would have a strong shot at winning Nye’s post—if she wants it.

Tyson chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) under Clinton.

Senior KSG faculty members said that the school’s current and former academic deans are also leading candidates for Nye’s post.

Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein, who taught Ellwood at the College, said his former student “combines, in the Kennedy School tradition, actual work in public policy with research in public policy issues.”

A former KSG administrator said that Walt—although widely admired for his academic gravitas and his skills as an administrator—lacks Ellwood’s extensive network of support within the school’s faculty.

Walt declined to comment on whether, if offered, he would accept the post.

Stanton Professor of the First Amendment Frederick Schauer—another potential contender—served as KSG academic dean from 1997 to 2002.

One senior KSG professor said that Ellwood, Walt and Schauer are the “most prominent” internal candidates mentioned.

Weatherhead Professor of Public Management Steven J. Kelman ’70, a member of the 10-person committee that Summers has appointed to advise him on the search, said that experience as a public official and academic administrator is a “plus” but not a prerequisite for the job.

“Among the things that everyone on the committee and the president are looking for are scholarly and academic distinction and also participation and identification with public policy and service,” Kelman said.

Several sources pointed to Robert D. Reischauer ’63—one of seven members of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body—as a contender. Reischauer, who was the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995, would bring valuable management experience to a school recently plagued by fiscal woes, according to one tenured KSG professor.

But that same source noted that Reischauer’s close ties to University leadership might hurt his chances. “It would look like an inside job,” the professor said.

And a source close to Reischauer said he was unlikely to cede his place on the Corporation or his position as president of the Urban Institute.

Reischauer, speaking from his Washington, D.C. office, said he has not discussed a potential candidacy for the deanship.

“This is the first discussion I have had about the dean search outside my responsibilities as a Corporation member,” he said in an interview.

One senior KSG professor said that a former CEA chair R. Glenn Hubbard is also being considered as an external candidate.

But a former KSG administrator said that Hubbard’s conservative political views could undermine his candidacy.

Hubbard—currently a tenured professor at Columbia University—was a principal architect of Bush’s tax cuts. Hubbard worked under President Bush from 2001 to 2003.

Several KSG sources said that Ford Foundation Professor of Science and International Affairs Ashton B. Carter is also among the top internal candidates.

Both Carter and Nye were top Pentagon officials in the Clinton administration.

And KSG faculty members said that Carter’s experience in foreign affairs could boost his candidacy at a school where nearly half the student population is international.

But the former KSG administrator said that Carter might prefer to focus on his high-profile research investigating the safety of global nuclear stockpiles.

Carter was traveling and could not be reached for comment.

While one senior KSG professor mentioned Princeton economist Alan B. Krueger as a candidate, others said that Krueger’s inexperience as an academic administrator made him an unlikely choice.

Another KSG professor said that Krueger’s boss at Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter, would be a strong candidate for Nye’s post.

The professor speculated that Slaughter—a former Harvard Law School professor—might rejoin her husband, Professor of Government Andrew Moravcsik, in Cambridge.

According to the professor, Moravcsik failed to secure a tenured professorship at Princeton.

Moravcsik declined to comment, and Slaughter could not be reached by The Crimson.

KSG professors also cited three economists from the Faculty of Arts and Scientists (FAS) as potential contenders: Associate Dean for Social Sciences David M. Cutler ’87, Feldstein and Allison Professor of Economics Lawrence F. Katz.

Katz, who is on the 10-person advisory committee, and Feldstein both said they were not interested in the post. Cutler could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Many of the candidates cited by KSG sources have worked with Summers in the past, both in Cambridge and Washington.

Cutler, Ellwood, Feldstein, Katz and Krueger all co-authored papers with Summers, an economist.

Others collaborated with the former treasury secretary in the White House on Clinton’s economic team.

But one senior KSG professor said that choosing an economist for the deanship could potentially exacerbate tensions between the school’s economists and academics from other disciplines.

The professor said that “economists tend to give higher weight to academic rigor,” while other social scientists are more focused on shaping public policy.

But the professor called Ellwood “multi-dimensional in a way some other economists are not.”

KSG students praised Summers for soliciting their input in the opening stages of the dean search.

Summers met with 15 student leaders in December to discuss the values they hoped to see reflected by the next dean, said Elizabeth J. Carr, a mid-career professional studying at KSG.

According to Carr, students stressed academic credentials, commitment to public service and fund-raising capabilities.

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.