Jeremy Weinstein Will Serve as Next Harvard Kennedy School Dean, Garber Confirms

Jeremy M. Weinstein, a political scientist at Stanford University who previously served as chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will serve as the next dean of the Harvard Kennedy School.

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced the appointment in an email to HKS affiliates Monday afternoon. The announcement comes more than two weeks after The Crimson first reported that Garber had offered Weinstein the position.

Weinstein’s selection concludes a seven-month search process for the school’s next dean, after Douglas W. Elmendorf announced in September that he intended to step down from the post at the end of the academic year. Weinstein will begin his tenure on July 1.

Garber praised Weinstein’s “energetic and empowering leadership style” in his email to HKS affiliates.

“Jeremy is an exceptional scholar and leader with significant high-level policy experience who will bring to the deanship a rare combination of talents at a pivotal moment for HKS,” Garber wrote.

Weinstein applauded the Kennedy School and “its combination of cutting-edge social science, breadth in public policy, and abiding commitment to public engagement” in a statement to the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication.

The appointment is a homecoming of sorts for Weinstein, who earned his Ph.D. at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Science in 2003. Weinstein’s wife, Rachel L. Gibson, is an alumna of the Kennedy School herself, receiving a master’s in public policy degree in 2000.

“I am thrilled to return to Harvard to become Dean and simply can’t imagine a better platform for working with extraordinary scholars, students, and practitioners,” he said.

Though some HKS affiliates called for the Kennedy School to appoint its first woman or person of color dean, Weinstein’s selection continues the Kennedy School’s streak of men leading the school.

But as a political scientist, Weinstein breaks the Kennedy School’s two-decade stretch of having economists in its top post — a change that some students and faculty called for in the months leading up to his selection.

He inherits Harvard’s most political school during the University’s most politically fraught moment in recent memory. The Kennedy School, in particular, lost several major donors in the aftermath of the University’s initial response to the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Weinstein will be charged with mending ties with donors and uniting a faculty divided over the school’s handling of discussions related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Elmendorf, the outgoing dean, faced intense backlash from students and faculty over his decision to deny former Human Rights Watch Director Kenneth C. Roth a fellowship at the school over Roth’s criticism of Israeli human rights abuses.

Weinstein — who joined Stanford in 2004 and received tenure in 2009 — studies ethnic politics, democracy, and governance, with a particular focus on political development in Africa. In addition to his teaching at Stanford, Weinstein has spent considerable time in Washington, most recently serving as a senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State from 2021 to 2022.

At Stanford, Weinstein is known for working on the cutting-edge of social science research. In 2018, he co-founded the Stanford Impact Labs, a $315 million dollar initiative to support scholars creating innovative solutions for pressing social issues.

In 2022, he launched a new undergraduate major in data science and social systems at Stanford, and in 2019, he co-founded and began teaching the popular Stanford undergraduate course Computer Science 182, which explores the intersection of philosophy, political science, and computer science.

Weinstein’s appointment indicates that the University wants the Kennedy School to become the premier academic center for research at the intersection of public policy and technology.

In interviews with The Crimson, students and colleagues praised Weinstein for his mentorship of students and ability to bridge the divide between different disciplines and between public policy and academic research.

Interim Provost John F. Manning ’82 called Weinstein “a superb and collegial leader for the HKS community in the years ahead.”

“He is a proven institution builder who has helped bring about innovation across disciplines and impactfully connected his teaching and research to real-world questions that shape the global landscape,” he said.

—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.