From West Point to Kirkland: The New Kirkland Deans

A simple misspelling on a brochure anticipated a decades-long marriage between interim Kirkland faculty deans Peter J. Huybers and Downing Lu.

The couple, who first met as cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, both competed on the school’s martial arts team. At one competition, their names were listed right next to each other on the promotional brochure — but some letters were misprinted, spelling “martial” as “marital.”

Now, more than 30 years later, the pair are happily married with two teenage sons and a cat (who they promised has not brought back “presents” yet). After former Kirkland faculty dean David J. Deming assumed his new role as College dean in July, Huybers and Lu were selected as the interim faculty deans of Kirkland House and moved into their new residence.

We sat down to talk with them about their military service and career paths, and how their shared background has informed their approach to leadership and their new roles.

Lu recounts growing up in a proud immigrant family and the deep sense of patriotism she felt towards the U.S. as a result. At 17, she chose to join the U.S. Army because it “prized human interaction and human leadership.” So off to the Academy she went.

After graduating from West Point, Lu attended medical school at Tulane University, while Huybers served on various military missions, including peacekeeping in Bosnia.

Both Huybers and Lu describe their experiences in the military with a sense of respect — many of their values and leadership experiences come from their time in the Army. Lu describes it as a constant test of one’s internal compass: “What is your true north? What are you true to under all sorts of conditions, regardless of what’s happening?”

After leaving the Army, Huybers went on to earn a Ph.D. at MIT in Climate Physics & Chemistry in 2004, before receiving the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 2009. Meanwhile, Lu finished residency training in pediatrics and earned a master’s degree in public health from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2008.

The couple lived in a Cambridge co-op when Huybers was a postdoc in Harvard’s department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Lu was a student at HSPH. In 2007, Huybers accepted a faculty role at Harvard.

“Harvard feels like a place where people are invested and are deeply committed,” Huybers says. “I think that always resonated with me.”

Huybers has been a professor since 2007, and he became EPS department chair in 2023. Lu reached the rank of colonel while serving as a pediatric physician, before she retired from the Army in May of 2024 and rejoined Huybers at Harvard.

Huybers and Lu both agree that the military has left lasting impacts on their leadership style and what they value in a community — character, trust, and service leadership — values they also hope to bring to Kirkland.

Hyuber and Lu’s dynamic is evident. “Medicine and life is a team sport,” Lu says, a statement that describes their approach to both their careers and family life. When one of them spoke, the other instinctively turned to listen. Often, glances and smiles were exchanged before answering a question.

When the topic turned to their sons — who have already been embraced by the Kirkland community — Lu’s expression brightened instantly. They often take their sons on outdoor adventures, including sailing and Nordic skiing. “We’re a very gear-heavy family,” she says with a laugh.

They’ve begun to impart this passion on Kirkland students. This fall, they took 50 students on a hiking trip to the White Mountains, and they hope to run a cross-country skiing trip in the winter. For Huybers and Lu, nature isn’t just their recreation, but a love rooted in “stewardship and responsibility for not just yourself, but the world around you.”

Though they have only been at Kirkland for four months, they have already made the House their home — in the deans’ residence, a large Kirkland flag sits above teal armchairs and next to a watercolor drawn by one of Huybers’s former students.

Huybers and Lu are also well-versed in Kirkland’s unique traditions. Lu says she’s enjoyed Boat Club, when tutors and students bake cookies every Monday, while Huybers mentions that he’s looking forward to Secret Santa — a Kirkland holiday tradition where students set up elaborate presents or their giftee over the course of a week. Amusement twinkled in both of their eyes as Downing recounted students singing the classic Kirkland Ode in the dining hall.

“O Kirkland, O Kirkland, you are so good to me. O Kirkland, O Kirkland, you are the place to be.”