Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, the title of University Professor is an honor bestowed upon a very small number of its tenured faculty members whose scholarship and other professional work have attained particular distinction and influence. The University Professorship is Harvard's most distinguished professorial post. This honor was created in 1935 for "individuals of distinction ... working on the frontiers of knowledge, and in such a way as to cross the conventional boundaries of the specialties." Note, this does not include all Professors at the campus. The number of University Professors has increased with new endowed gifts to the university. In 2006, there were 21 University Professors. , there are 24 University Professors.

Present Harvard University Professors

Carolyn Abbate Carolyn Abbate (born November 20, 1956) is an American musicologist, described by the '' Harvard Gazette'' as "one of the world’s most accomplished and admired music historians". She is currently Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Profess ...

- Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor *

Danielle Allen Danielle Susan Allen (born November 3, 1971) is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is also the Director of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. Prior to joining the faculty at Harvard in 2015, Allen ...

- James Bryant Conant University Professor * Ann M. Blair - Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor *

Peter Galison Peter Louis Galison (born May 17, 1955, New York) is an American historian and philosopher of science. He is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in history of science and physics at Harvard University. Biography Galison received his Ph.D. ...

- Joseph Pellegrino University Professor *

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

- Alphonse Fletcher University Professor *

Annette Gordon-Reed Annette Gordon-Reed (born November 19, 1958) is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She ...

- Carl M. Loeb University Professor * Stephen Greenblatt - John Cogan University Professor * Rebecca M. Henderson - John and Natty McArthur University Professor * Gary King - Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor *

Marc Kirschner Marc Wallace Kirschner (born February 28, 1945) is an American cell biologist and biochemist and the founding chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. He is known for major discoveries in cell and developmental biolog ...

- John Franklin Enders University Professor *

Charles M. Lieber Charles M. Lieber (born 1959) is an American chemist, a pioneer in nanoscience and nanotechnology. In 2011, Lieber was named the leading chemist in the world for the decade 2000–2010 by Thomson Reuters, based on the impact of his scientific p ...

- Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor *

Eric Maskin Eric Stark Maskin (born December 12, 1950) is an American economist and mathematician. He was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson "for having laid the foundations of mechanism ...

- Adams University Professor *

Barry Mazur Barry Charles Mazur (; born December 19, 1937) is an American mathematician and the Gerhard Gade University Professor at Harvard University. His contributions to mathematics include his contributions to Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem ...

- Gerhard Gade University Professor *

Douglas A. Melton Douglas A. Melton is an American medical researcher who is the Xander University Professor at Harvard University, and was an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until 2022. Melton serves as the co-director of the Harvard Stem C ...

- Xander University Professor *

Martha Minow Martha Louise Minow (born December 6, 1954) is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School sin ...

- Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor * Stephen Owen - James Bryant Conant University Professor * Michael Porter - Bishop William Lawrence University Professor *

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...

- Thomas W. Lamont University Professor *

Irwin I. Shapiro Irwin Ira Shapiro is an American astrophysicist and Timken University Professor at Harvard University. He has been a professor at Harvard since 1982. He was the director of the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian from 1982 to 20 ...

- Timken University Professor *

Lawrence Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...

- Charles W. Eliot University Professor *

Cass Sunstein Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author ...

- Robert Walmsley University Professor *

Helen Vendler Helen Hennessy Vendler (born April 30, 1933) is an American literary critic and is Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University. Life and career Helen Hennessy Vendler was born on April 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George ...

- A. Kingsley Porter University Professor *

George M. Whitesides George McClelland Whitesides (born August 3, 1939) is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his work in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecula ...

- Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor *

William Julius Wilson William Julius Wilson (born December 20, 1935) is an American sociologist. He is a professor at Harvard University and author of works on urban sociology, race and class issues. Laureate of the National Medal of Science, he served as the 80th P ...

- Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor

Past Harvard University Professors

Paul Farmer Paul Edward Farmer (October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022) was an American medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University, where he was a University Professor and the chair of the Department of Glob ...

(late) - Kolokotrones University Professor *

Dale W. Jorgenson Dale Weldeau Jorgenson (May 7, 1933 – June 8, 2022) was the Samuel W. Morris University Professor at Harvard University, teaching in the department of economics and John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served as chairman of the department ...

(late) - Samuel W. Morris University Professor *

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...

- Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, resigned chair and left Harvard in 2002 Cornel West Quitting Harvard
''The Washington Post''. April 13, 2002. Retrieved 17 April 2022.

References

{{Authority control Professorships at Harvard University Lists of people by university or college in Massachusetts Harvard University-related lists Professorships