Amid Ongoing Dean Search, Harvard Kennedy School Affiliates Say Diverse Faculty Should Be Top Priority

As the Harvard Kennedy School searches for its next dean, some affiliates believe increasing gender, racial, and international representation among faculty should be a top priority for the school’s next leader.

The Kennedy School — which has never had a woman or person of color hold its highest post — has a faculty that is 67 percent male and 74 percent white, according to the latest diversity report released in November 2023. HKS reported a similar trend specifically among its tenured faculty in the same report.

“The lack of diversity in the HKS faculty is definitely hindering the school and student experience,” Zubair Merchant, Kennedy School Student Government executive vice president, wrote in a message.

Jason Y. Hsu, a second-year master’s in public administration student at HKS, called the low numbers of female faculty members “shocking.”

“We need more women leadership, as well as thought leadership from our female leaders,” he said. “I certainly hope that there could be more female representation in our faculty.”

Medha Uniyal, a second-year master’s in public policy student at HKS, said the school’s faculty — which is only 14 percent international — did not reflect the 56 percent of the student body who come from abroad.

“You have American professors who’ve had American experiences,” Uniyal said. “It’s interesting to think about what the participation of a class is of international students — I don’t think students participate.”

Kennedy School spokesperson James F. Smith wrote in a statement that recruiting more professors from diverse backgrounds takes time, since faculty turnover “is slow by nature.”

“Still, the Kennedy School has achieved important progress in improving racial and gender diversity in our U.S. faculty,” he said, adding that outgoing HKS Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf has made improving diversity “a priority.”

Despite these efforts, some HKS affiliates said the school’s next dean should focus on recruiting more women and people of color to the school’s faculty.

“HKS and the next Dean should prioritize hiring faculty from more diverse backgrounds, countries,” Merchant said.

Jenny Folsom, a staff member at the Bloomberg Center for Cities, said she hopes the next dean takes into account the racial and gender disparities in HKS’s faculty.

“What I’m hoping is that we take our internal data sets regarding equity more seriously,” Folsom said.

Ayushi Gupta, a first-year MPA student, said it is “hard to relate” at HKS, given the school’s low number of female faculty of color.

“Encountering them — it does a lot for your role model effects,” Gupta said.

First-year MPA student Anjali S. Nair said having a more diverse international faculty would help support her studies in international development.

“We’re missing all of the African subcontinent,” Nair said. “If we are in the development space, it’s really important to hear those perspectives.”

Smith wrote that the school was “pleased to have added recently several faculty members from outside the United States.”

Gupta said she believes the lack of racial, gender, and geographic diversity at HKS is an issue that extends beyond the school.

“Anybody who has been at HKS knows that they’re getting the better part of the deal,” she said. “But even then to be faced with the distribution you see with female faculties or faculties of different races, it’s a hard truth to kind of digest.”

“This is the best of the better places, and it’s only going to get worse from here,” Gupta added.

—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.