The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, a private university in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. Harvard Kennedy School offers

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

, and

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

, four

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

, and various executive education programs. It conducts research in subjects relating to

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

international affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

, and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. HKS has an endowment of $1.7 billion. It is a member of the

Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) is a non-profit educational organization of graduate schools of international affairs, with 42 members and 37 affiliates around the world as of February 2022; two members we ...

(APSIA), a global consortium of schools that trains leaders in international affairs. The primary campus of Harvard Kennedy School is on John F. Kennedy Street in Cambridge. The main buildings overlook the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

and are southwest of

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard is the oldest and among the most prominent parts of the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The yard has a historic center and modern crossroads and contains List of Harvard College freshman dormitories, most ...

and

Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue (Boston), Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, C ...

, on the site of a former MBTA Red Line train yard. The School is adjacent to the public riverfront John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. Harvard Kennedy School alumni include 21

heads of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

from around the world. Alumni also include

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

officials, military leaders, heads of

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

s, and

legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

History

Founding

Harvard Kennedy School was founded as the Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration in 1936 with a $2 million gift (equivalent to roughly $43 million as of 2023) from

Lucius Littauer Lucius Nathan Littauer (January 20, 1859 – March 2, 1944) was an American politician, businessman, and college football coach. He served in the United States House of Representatives from New York for five terms between 1897 and 1907. Littaue ...

, an 1878

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

alumnus, businessman, former U.S. Congressman, and the first coach of the

Harvard Crimson football The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Harvard's football program is one ...

team. Harvard Kennedy School's shield was designed to express the national purpose of the school and was modeled after the U.S. shield. The School drew its initial faculty from Harvard's existing government and economics departments, and welcomed its first students in 1937. The School's original home was in the Littauer Center, north of

, which is now home to

's Economics Department. The first students at the Graduate School were called Littauer Fellows, participating in a one-year course listing which later developed into the school's mid-career

Master in Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the i ...

program. In the 1960s, the School began to develop its current public policy degree and course curriculum associated with its Master in Public Policy program.

Renaming and move

In 1966, three years following the assassination of

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

and 1940

alumnus

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

, the school was renamed in his honor. In 1966, concurrent with the school's renaming, the

Harvard Institute of Politics The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politics and ...

was created with Neustadt as its founding director. Harvard Institute of Politics has been housed on the school campus since 1978, and today sponsors and hosts a series of programs, speeches and study groups for Harvard undergraduates and graduate students. Along with major Harvard Kennedy School events, the Institute of Politics holds the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, named in honor of

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...

, in Harvard Kennedy School's Littauer Building. By 1978, the faculty, including presidential scholar and adviser

Richard Neustadt Richard Elliott Neustadt (June 26, 1919 – October 31, 2003) was an American political scientist specializing in the United States presidency. He served as adviser to several presidents. His book ''Presidential Power'' has been described as "on ...

, a foreign policy scholar and later dean of the School,

Graham Allison Graham Tillett Allison Jr. (born March 23, 1940) is an American political scientist and the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is known for his contributions in the late 1 ...

Richard Zeckhauser Richard Jay Zeckhauser (born 1940) is an American economist and the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. Life Zeckhauser holds a B.A., ''summa cum laude'', and a Ph.D. in economics fro ...

, and others consolidated the school's programs and research centers at the present Harvard Kennedy School campus. The first new building opened on the southern half of the former Eliot Shops site in October 1978. Under the terms of Littauer's original grant, the current campus also features a building called Littauer.

Rebranding and campus expansion

In late 2007, the Kennedy School of Government announced that while its official name was not being altered, it was rebranding itself as Harvard Kennedy School effective Fall 2008. The goal was to make clearer the school's connection with Harvard. It was also thought that the new branding would reduce confusion with other entities named after Kennedy, including the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and the Kennedy Library in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. The rebranding had the support of John F. Kennedy's brother, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and

Caroline Kennedy Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author, diplomat, and attorney who served as the List of ambassadors of the United States to Australia, United States ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2024. She previously serv ...

, the former president's daughter. In 2012, Harvard Kennedy School announced a $500 million fundraising campaign, $120 million of which was to be used to significantly expand the Harvard Kennedy School campus, adding 91,000 square feet of space including six new classrooms, a new kitchen, and dining facility, offices and meeting spaces, a new student lounge and study space, more collaboration and active learning spaces, and a redesigned central courtyard. Groundbreaking commenced on May 7, 2015, and the project was completed in late 2017. The new Harvard Kennedy School campus opened in December 2017."HKS Campus Map & Directory"
Harvаrd Kennedy School (Namesakes on the map include

David Rubenstein David Mark Rubenstein (born August 11, 1949) is an American lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist. A former government official, he is a co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group,Leslie Wexner, Alfred Taubman, Lucius Nathan Littauer, Robert A. Belfer, Batia &

Idan Ofer Idan Ofer (; born 2 October 1955) is an Israeli billionaire businessman and philanthropist, with interests in shipping, energy, mining and sports. He is the founder of the principal of the Quantum Pacific Group, a holding company. He is majority ...

, Malcolm H. Wiener,

Joan Shorenstein Joan Shorenstein (1947 – March 10, 1985) was an American journalist for ''The Washington Post'' and producer for CBS News. She died of cancer in 1985 at the age of 38. Early life Shorenstein was born in San Francisco as one of three children ...

, etc.) From 2004 to 2015, Harvard Kennedy School's dean was David T. Ellwood, a

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Im ...

official in the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

. In 2015,

Douglas Elmendorf Douglas William Elmendorf (born April 16, 1962) is an American economist who is the dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He previously served as the director of the Congressional Budget Off ...

, a former director of the U.S.

Congressional Budget Office The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. I ...

, was named both dean of the Harvard Kennedy School and the school's Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy. Elmendorf announced in September 2023 that he would step down as dean at the end of the academic year 2023/2024. Jeremy M. Weinstein was named dean effective July 1, 2024. Jeremy was a political scientist at Stanford University who previously served as chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,

Academics

Degrees

Harvard Kennedy School offers four master's degree programs. The two-year Master in Public Policy (MPP) program focuses on

policy analysis Policy analysis or public policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement th ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

, ethics, statistics and negotiations in the public sector. There are three separate

(MPA) programs: a one-year Mid-Career Program (MC/MPA) intended for professionals who are more than seven years removed from their college graduation; a two-year MPA program intended for professionals who have an additional graduate degree and are more recently out of school; and a two-year international development track (MPA/ID) focused on

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

studies with a strong emphasis on

and quantitative analysis. Members of the mid-career MPA class also include Mason Fellows, who are public and private executives from developing countries. Mason Fellows typically constitute about 50 percent of the incoming class of Mid-Career MPA candidates. The Mason cohort is the most diverse at Harvard in terms of nationalities and ethnicities represented. It is named after Edward Sagendorph Mason, the former Harvard professor who, from 1947 to 1958, was dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Public Administration, now known as Harvard Kennedy School. In addition to the master's programs, Harvard Kennedy School administers three doctoral programs. Ph.D. degrees are awarded in

, in

social policy Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...

in conjunction with Harvard's departments of government and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

, and in

health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(archived 5 February 2011) According ...

in conjunction with FAS and the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

Joint and concurrent degrees

Harvard Kennedy School has a number of joint and concurrent degree programs within Harvard and with other leading universities, which allow students to receive multiple degrees in a reduced period of time. Joint and current students spend at least one year in residence in Cambridge taking courses. Harvard Kennedy School joint degree programs are run with

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, and

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

, and concurrent programs are offered with

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...

and

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

. Beyond Harvard, HKS has concurrent degree arrangements with other law, business, and medical schools, including the

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...

, the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (branded as MIT Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree progra ...

, the

Tuck School of Business The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1900 as the first institution in th ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

The Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

Duke University School of Law The Duke University School of Law is the law school of Duke University, a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law is a constituent academic unit that began in 1868 as the ...

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

New York University School of Law The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

Northwestern University School of Law The Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (formerly known as Northwestern University School of Law from 1891 to 2015) is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. The law school is l ...

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

, and

UCSF School of Medicine The UCSF School of Medicine is a multisite medical school of the University of California, San Francisco, with a historical campus located at the base of Mount Sutro on the Parnassus Heights campus in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1864 b ...

. Abroad, Harvard Kennedy School offers a dual degree with the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

HKS courses

Harvard Kennedy School maintains six academic divisions each headed by a faculty chair. In addition to offerings in the Harvard Kennedy School course listing, students are eligible to cross-register for courses at the other graduate and professional schools at Harvard and at

Fletcher School at Tufts University The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student bo ...

, and the

MIT School of Architecture and Planning The MIT School of Architecture and Planning (MIT SAP, stylized as SA+P) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the first ar ...

. MPP coursework is focused on one of five areas, called a Policy Area of Concentration (PAC), and includes a year-long research seminar in their second year, which includes a master's thesis called a Policy Analysis Exercise.

International collaboration

The university is an active member of the

University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...

. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region.

Rankings

Harvard Kennedy School has routinely ranked as the best, or among the best, of the world's public policy graduate schools. '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks it the best graduate school for social policy, the best for health policy, and second best for public policy analysis. In 2015 rankings, Kennedy School is ranked first in the subcategory of health policy and second in the category of public policy analysis and social policy. Kennedy's School's foreign affairs programs have consistently ranked at the top or near the top of ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' magazine's ''

Inside the Ivory Tower ''Inside the Ivory Tower'' is a ranking of the world's best university programs in international relations. The ranking is published by the ''Foreign Policy'' magazine in collaboration with the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) Pr ...

'' survey, which lists the world's top twenty academic

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

programs at the undergraduate, Master's, and Ph.D. levels. In 2012, for example, the survey ranked Kennedy School first overall for doctoral and undergraduate programs and third overall in the Master's category.

Student organizations

Harvard Kennedy School maintains a range of student activities, including interest-driven student caucuses, Kennedy School Student Government, known as KSSG, student-edited policy journals, including ''Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy'', ''Kennedy School Review'', the ''Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy'', a student newspaper, ''The Citizen'', and a number of student athletic groups. Students can join the

Harvard Graduate Council The Harvard Graduate Council (HGC) (formerly known as the HGSG and originally founded as the HGC) is the centralized student government organization for the twelve graduate schools of Harvard University. Representing the interests of more than 15 ...

, which is the centralized student government for the twelve graduate and professional schools of

. The Harvard Graduate Council is responsible for advocating student concerns to central administrators, including the

president of Harvard University The president of Harvard University is the chief academic administration, administrator of Harvard University and the ''Ex officio member, ex officio'' president of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Corporation. Each is appoin ...

, provost, deans of students, and deans for the nearly 15,000 graduate and professional students across the twelve schools, organizing large university-wide initiatives and events, administering and providing funding for university-wide student groups, and representing the Harvard graduate student population to other universities and external organizations. Harvard Graduate Council is known for spearheading the "One Harvard" movement, which aims to bring all of Harvard's graduate schools together through closer collaboration and social interaction.

Centers

Harvard Kennedy School is home to 14 centers, including: *

Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, formerly known as the Ash Institute, was established in 2003 and is part of the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Center's miss ...

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. From 2 ...

* Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University *

Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Carr Center for Human Rights Policy is a research center at Harvard Kennedy School founded in 1999. The center's scholars address issues related to human rights, including human security, global governance and civil society, economic justice, and ...

* Center for International Development *

Center for Public Leadership The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. The center works to ...

Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics is a research center at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The center's mission is to "advance teaching and research on ethical issues in public life." It is named for Edmond J. Safra and ...

* Institute of Politics *

Joint Center for Housing Studies The Joint Center for Housing Studies is a research center on housing-related issues at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Through its research, education, and public outreach programs, the center helps leade ...

Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice. Among other activities, the center or ...

* Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government *

Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston is a research and policy center housed at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The director is Jeffrey B. Liebman, a professor of economics at Harvard University ...

* Taubman Center for State and Local Government * Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy *

Women and Public Policy Program A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

The majority of centers offer research and academic fellowships through which fellows can engage in research projects, lead study groups into specific topics and share their experiences with industry and government with the student body.

Controversies

Under Dean Elmendorf, the school has tried to focus its engagement across the political spectrum, which has caused controversy at times. The school came under criticism for offering a fellowship to

Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...

on September 13, 2017. It then publicly rescinded the offer on September 15, 2017, after

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

director

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...

canceled a speaking engagement at Harvard and sent a letter condemning the university for awarding the fellowship. An investigative report in 2021 by student group Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard found that many of the centers' climate initiatives were funded in part by

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...

companies, and that some of the centers had allegedly taken several steps to cover up that fact. The Kennedy School's

in 2022 invited

Kenneth Roth Kenneth Roth (born September 23, 1955) is an American attorney, human rights activist, and writer. He was the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) from 1993 to 2022. Early life and education Kenneth Roth was born on September 23, 195 ...

, former executive director of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, a leading global

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

organizations, to join it as a senior fellow. The Kennedy School eventually rescinded the invitation to Roth because Human Rights Watch's 2021 investigation of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's treatment of

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

s concluded that it met the threshold for the "

crime of apartheid The crime of apartheid is defined by the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppres ...

". After condemnation by faculty, students, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

and others, the dean of the school reversed this decision.

Awards

The Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Public Service is awarded to "a graduating student whose commitment, activities, and contributions to public service are extraordinary". Several other awards are also awarded on Class Day annually at the end of May.

Notable faculty

Alan A. Altshuler Alan Anthony Altshuler (born March 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American educator and government official. Altshuler is the Ruth and Frank Stanton Professor in Urban Policy and Planning, Emeritus, at Harvard University's Graduate S ...

Jacinda Ardern Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician and activist who was the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was ...

* Christopher N. Avery * Mary Jo Bane * David J. Barron * Jacqueline Bhabha * Linda Bilmes * Robert Blendon * Derek Bok * George Borjas * Matthew Bunn * R. Nicholas Burns * Felipe Calderón * Albert Carnesale * Ashton Carter * Erica Chenoweth * William C. Clark * Richard A. Clarke, Richard Clarke * Susan P. Crawford * David Cutler * David Deming (economist), David Deming * Michael Dukakis * David T. Ellwood, David Ellwood * Jeffrey Frankel * Jason Furman * Marshall Ganz * David Gergen * Edward Glaeser * Robert R. Glauber * Stephen Goldsmith * Ricardo Hausmann * J. Bryan Hehir * Ronald Heifetz * John P. Holdren * Swanee Hunt * Michael Ignatieff * Sheila Jasanoff * Christopher Jencks * Alex Jones (journalist), Alex Jones * Dale Jorgenson * Juliette Kayyem * Alexander Keyssar * Alexandra Killewald * Robert Z. Lawrence * Jennifer Lerner * Tarek Masoud * Rana Mitter * Joseph Newhouse * Pippa Norris * Joseph Nye * Meghan O'Sullivan * George Papandreou * Roger B. Porter * Michael Porter * Samantha Power * Lant Pritchett * Robert Putnam * Carmen M. Reinhart * Mathias Risse * Leni Robredo * Dani Rodrik * Todd Rogers (behavioral scientist) * Kevin Rudd * John Ruggie * Juan Manuel Santos * Frederic M. Scherer * Bruce Schneier * Leslie Rogne Schumacher * Jeffrey L. Seglin * Sarah Sewall * Kathryn Sikkink * Lawrence Summers * Dennis Frank Thompson * Stephen Walt * Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby * John P. White * William Julius Wilson *

* Dorothy Zinberg * Jonathan Zittrain * Robert Zoellick

Notable alumni

Harvard Kennedy School has over 63,000 alumni, many of whom have gone on to notable careers around the world in government, business, public policy, and other fields. Its alumni include 20

heads of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and dozens of leaders of government department and agencies, non-profit public policy organizations, the military, thought leadership and advocacy, academia, and other fields:

Government and politics

Heads of government and state

* Felipe Calderón (MPA '00), former president of Mexico * Miguel de la Madrid (MPA '65), former president of Mexico * Carlos Salinas de Gortari (MPA '73, PhD '76), former president of Mexico * Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (MPA '02), former President of Mongolia, president and Prime minister of Mongolia, prime minister of Mongolia * Abdiweli Gaas (MPA '99), former List of prime ministers of Somalia, prime minister of Somalia * John Haglelgam (MPA '93), former president of the Federated States of Micronesia * Lee Hsien Loong (MPA '80), former prime minister of Singapore *Daniel Noboa (MCMPA '20), President of Ecuador * Tharman Shanmugaratnam (MPA '89), current president of Singapore * José María Figueres, José María Figueres Olsen (MPA '91), former president of Costa Rica and former World Economic Forum CEO * Maia Sandu (MPA '10), current President of Moldova, president and former Prime Minister of Moldova, prime minister of Moldova * Juan Manuel Santos (MPA '81), former president of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate * Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (MPA '71), former president of Liberia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate * Frederick Sumaye (MPA '07), former prime minister of Tanzania * Tshering Tobgay (MPA '04), former List of prime ministers of Bhutan, prime minister and current leader of People's Democratic Party (Bhutan), People's Democratic Party in Bhutan * Pierre Trudeau (MA '45), former prime minister of Canada * Donald Tsang (MPA '82), former Chief Executive of Hong Kong * Morgan Tsvangirai ('02), former prime minister of Zimbabwe * Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé (MPA '88), former president of Bolivia * Jamil Mahuad, Jamil Mahuad Witt (MPA '89), former president of Ecuador *Lawrence Wong (MPA '04), prime minister of Singapore

Government administrators and officials

* Rizwan Ahmed (civil servant), Rizwan Ahmed (MPA), former Maritime Secretary of Pakistan, Maritime Secretary of Pakistan * Sartaj Aziz (MNA), served in several Ministerial positions in Pakistan * Tariq Bajwa (MPA), former Finance Secretary (Pakistan), Finance Secretary of Pakistan * Nisrin Barwari (MPA '99), former Minister of Municipalities and Public Works of Iraq * Gankhuurai Battungalag, Director General of the Department for Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia * Charles A. Blanchard (lawyer), Charles Blanchard (MPP '85), former General Counsel of the Army and General Counsel of the Air Force * J. Richard Blankenship (MPA '08), former List of ambassadors of the United States to the Bahamas, U.S. ambassador to The Bahamas * André Boisclair (MPA '05), former leader of Parti Québécois and former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration of Quebec, Canada * Nick Boles (MPP '89), former Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Grantham and Stamford (UK Parliament constituency), Grantham and Stamford and former director of Policy Exchange in the United Kingdom * Emilia Boncodin (MPA '86), former Secretary of Budget and Management for the Philippines * Anna Escobedo Cabral (MPA '90), former Treasurer of the United States * Piper Campbell (MPA '99), former U.S. ambassador to Mongolia and Chargé d'affaires, ''Chargé d'affaires ad interim'' at the United States Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations * Rajkumar Chellaraj (MPA '86), former Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration * Frank Chikane (MPA '95), member, African National Congress and advisor to President of South Africa * Aneesh Chopra (MPP '97), former Chief Technology Officer of the United States, U.S. Chief Technology Officer * Albert Chua (MPA '00), former Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations * Henry Cisneros (MPA '73), former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development * Mark Daly (politician), Mark Daly (MPA, '11), member, Ireland's Seanad Éireann * Božidar Đelić (MPA '91), former Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, deputy prime minister of Serbia and Ministry of Finance (Serbia), Minister of Finance of Serbia * Stephen Donnelly (MPA '08), Minister for Health (Ireland), Ireland Minister of Health and member, Teachta Dála, representing Wicklow (Dáil constituency), Wicklow * Shaun Donovan (MPA '95), former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Office of Management and Budget director * Theodore L. Eliot Jr. (MPA '56), former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan * Robert S. Gelbard (MPA '79), former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia and Bolivia * Héctor Gramajo (MPA '95), former Ministry of Defence (Guatemala), Defense Minister of Guatemala * Yoshimasa Hayashi (MPA '94), Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan), Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan * Liu He (politician), Liu He (MPA '95), Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China * Teo Chee Hean (MPA '86), Coordinating Minister for National Security (Singapore), Coordinating Minister for National Security for Singapore * Pete Hegseth (MPP '13), current United States Secretary of Defense * Keith Hennessey (MPP '94), former National Economic Council (United States), National Economic Council director * Rafael Hui (MPA '83), former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong * Muhammad Ibrahim (banker), Muhammad Ibrahim (MPA '93), former Central Bank of Malaysia governor * Natalie Jaresko (MPP '89), former Ministry of Finance (Ukraine), Ukrainian Minister of Finance * Vuk Jeremić (MPA '03), former president of the United Nations General Assembly and former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Serbia), Minister of Foreign Affairs for Serbia * Ajay Narayan Jha, former Indian Administrative Service officer, former Secretary to Government of India, Expenditure Secretary, and former Finance Secretary (India), Finance Secretary of India * Mitzi Johnson (MPA '13), former Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives * Daniel J. Jones, lead investigator for Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA Torture * Phillip Jones (politician), Phillip Jones (MPA '21), Politician, Mayor of Newport News, Virginia * Lim Hng Kiang (MPA '85), former Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore), Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore * Ban Ki-moon (MPA '84), former Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (South Korea), Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea * Raymond Kelly (MPA '84), New York City Police Commissioner * Rajive Kumar (MPA), Indian Administrative Service officer and former Chief secretary (India), Chief Secretary of Government of Uttar Pradesh in India * Andrew Leigh (PhD '04), Treasurer of Australia, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury for Australia and former Australian House of Representatives member *Pita Limjaroenrat (MPP), former Member of the House of Representatives (Thailand) * Nabiel Makarim (MPA '84), former Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Minister of Environment and Forestry for Indonesia * Mark McClellan (MPA '91), former U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration * Yam Ah Mee (MPA '91), chief executive director, People's Association in Singapore * Sanjay Mitra (civil servant), Sanjay Mitra (MPA), Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and former Defence Secretary (India), Defence Secretary of India * Nripendra Misra (MPA), former Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India * Toshimitsu Motegi (MPP '83), Secretary-General of Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party and former Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan), Minister of Foreign Affairs for Japan * George Muñoz (MPP '78), former Assistant Secretary and CFO of the United States Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Treasury and former president and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC * Andrew Natsios (MPA '79), former United States Agency of International Development, U.S. Agency for International Development administrator and U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan * Amon Nikoi (MPA '56), former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Bank of Ghana governor, and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations * Patrick Nip (MPA '01), former Secretary for the Civil Service of Hong Kong * Christine Nixon (MPA '85), former chief police commissioner for Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia * Herbert S. Okun (MPA '59), former List of ambassadors of the United States to East Germany, U.S. Ambassador to East Germany and former U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations * Nóirín O'Sullivan (Exec '07), former Garda Commissioner, national police commissioner for Ireland * Marcus Peacock (MPP '86), former Deputy Administrator, U.S. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency * Brune Poirson, Secretary of State of France * Angelo Reyes (MPA '90), Secretary of Energy of the Philippines and former Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines * Jesse Robredo (MPA '99), Secretary of Interior and Local Government of the Philippines * Henry Rotich (MPA '), Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury of Kenya * Pete Rouse (MPA '77), former White House Chief of Staff * Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, Executive Governor of Kaduna State in Nigeria, former Minister of FCT, and Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises of Nigeria * T. N. Seshan (MPA '68), former Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Chief Election Commissioner and Cabinet Secretary (India), Cabinet Secretary of India * Yasuhisa Shiozaki (MPA '82), former Chief Cabinet Secretariat (Japan), Cabinet Secretary of Japan * Corazon Soliman (MPA '98), former Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines * T. S. R. Subramanian (MPA), former Indian Administrative Service officer and Cabinet Secretary of India * Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera (MPA), Commerce Secretary of Pakistan * Nancy Sutley (MPP '86), White House Council on Environmental Quality director * Syahrir (MPA '80, PhD '83), economic adviser, Republic of Indonesia's Council of Presidential Advisors * Mark E. Talisman (1972), United States Congress, U.S. congressional aide and lobbyist * William B. Taylor Jr. (MPP '77), U.S. ambassador to Ukraine * Conrad Tillard (born 1964), Baptists, Baptist minister, radio host, author, civil rights activist, and politician * John Tsang (MPA '82), Financial Secretary of Hong Kong * Paul Volcker (MA '51, GSPA), former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. presidential economic advisor * Solomon Areda Waktolla (MPA '13 and LLM'14), Judge at United Nations Dispute Tribunal, Judge of the Administrative Tribunal of the African Development Bank. Former Deputy chief justice of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia and member of Permanent Court of Arbitration at Hague Netherlands * Yin Yong (politician), Yin Yong (MPA), mayor of Beijing * Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (MPA), Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning of Indonesia * Adolfo Aguilar Zínser (MPA '78), former national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations for Mexico

Elected federal officials

* Andrea Álvarez Marín (MPA '21), member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica * Ami Ayalon (MPA '92), former member of

i Knesset and Shin Bet director * Ed Balls (MPA '90), former British Member of the Parliament, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer * Doug Bereuter (MPA '73), former U.S. Congressman for Nebraska's 1st congressional district * Brendan Boyle (MPP '05), U.S. Congressman for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district * Katherine Clark (MPA '97), U.S. Representative, Massachusetts's 5th congressional district * Gerry Connolly (MPA '79), U.S. Congressman, Virginia's 11th congressional district * Dan Crenshaw (MPA '17), U.S. Congressman, Texas's 2nd congressional district * David Cunliffe (MPA '95), Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party leader in Parliament of New Zealand * John Fetterman (MPP '99) – U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and former Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania * Roy Folkman (MPA '13) – member, Israeli Knesset * Alan Grayson (MPP '83), former U.S. Congressman, Florida's 8th congressional district * Katherine Harris (MPA '97), former Congresswoman, Florida's 13th congressional district and former Secretary of State of Florida * Brian Higgins (MPA '96), U.S. Congressman, New York's 26th congressional district * Steve Horn (MPA '55), former U.S. Congressman, California's 38th congressional district * Shane Jones (MPA '91), former member, Parliament of New Zealand, and former Minister for Building and Construction (New Zealand), Minister of Building and Construction of New Zealand * James Langevin (MPA '94), former U.S. Congressman, Rhode Island's 2nd congressional district * Stephen Lynch (politician), Stephen Lynch (MPA '99), U.S. Congressman, Massachusetts's 8th congressional district * Dan Maffei (MPP '95), former U.S. Congressman, New York's 24th congressional district * Jim Moody (MPA '67), former U.S. Congressman, Wisconsin's 5th congressional district * Taku Otsuka (MPP '05), a member of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives of Japan * Francis Pangilinan (MPA '98), Senator and the Majority Leader of the Senate of the Philippines * Yohanan Plesner (MPA '04), member, Israeli Knesset * Larry Pressler (MPA '66), former U.S. Senator from South Dakota * William Proxmire (MPA '48), former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin * Jack Reed (Rhode Island politician), Jack Reed (MPP '73), U.S. Senator from Rhode Island * Joe Sestak (MPA '80, PhD '84), former U.S. Congressman, Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district * Rob Simmons (MPA '79), former U.S. Congressman, Connecticut's 2nd congressional district * Ralf Stegner (MPA '89), former leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party in Germany * Peter G. Torkildsen (MPA '90), former U.S. Congressman, Massachusetts's 6th congressional district and former chair of Massachusetts Republican Party (United States), Republican Party * Robert Torricelli (MPA '80), former U.S. Senator from New Jersey * Chris Van Hollen (MPP '85), U.S. Senator from Maryland * David Wilhelm (MPP '90), campaign manager, 1992 United States presidential election, Clinton-Gore 1992 campaign and former Democratic National Committee chairman

Elected state and municipal officials

* Jeffrey Amestoy (MPA), Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and Vermont Attorney General. As Chief Justice, authored the opinion in ''Baker v. Vermont'', 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999), which held that the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples violated the Vermont Constitution. * Bob Anthony (MPA), Oklahoma Corporation Commission member * Robert Castelli (MPA '96), former member, New York State Assembly * Jacqueline Y. Collins (MPA '01), member, Illinois Senate, representing the 16th district * Joseph Curtatone (MPA '11), former mayor, Somerville, Massachusetts * Fernando Martín García (MPP '74), former New Hampshire House of Representatives, New Hampshire State Representative * Marilinda Garcia (MPA '10), member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives * Paul Heroux, (MPA '11), Bristol County, Massachusetts sheriff, former Attleboro, Massachusetts mayor, and former Massachusetts State Representative * Mark Levine (New York politician), Mark Levine (MPP '95), Manhattan borough president and former New York City Councilman * Elias Mudzuri (MPA ), former mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe * Charles A. Murphy, (MPA '02), member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee chairman * Naheed Nenshi (MPP '98), former mayor of Calgary, Alberta * Barry T. Smitherman (MPA), member of the Texas Railroad Commission * Kevin White (mayor), Kevin White (MA '57, GSPA), former Mayor of Boston * Anthony A. Williams (MPP '87), former Mayor of Washington, D.C. * Anthony Winza Probowo (MPA'2024), former Jakarta Regional House of Representatives member

Academia

* William Alonso (MPP '56), economist, former director of Harvard Center for Population Studies * Bernadette Atuahene (MPA '02), property law scholar, James E. Jones Chair at the University of Wisconsin Law School * Lawrence S. Bacow (MPP '76, PhD '76), former

president, former Tufts University president, former Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT chancellor * Steve Charnovitz (MPP '83), international law professor, George Washington University Law School * Ronald A. Heifetz (MPA '83), co-founder,

, and public leadership lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School * Steve Horn (MPA '55), former president of California State University, Long Beach * Ira Jackson (MPA '86), dean, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University * Nancy Koehn (MPP), author, historian, and

business history professor * Mark Lilla (MPP '80), professor of humanities, Columbia University * Bruce Ovbiagele (Exec Public Leadership, '18; Exec Non-profit Leadership, '19), professor of neurology, associate dean, and healthcare system leader at University of California, San Francisco * Hollis Robbins (MPP '90), dean of humanities, University of Utah * Mark Schuster (MPP '88), dean and founding CEO, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine * Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (MPA '66), former President of the George Washington University, president, George Washington University * William E. Trueheart (MPA '73), former president, Bryant University * Jonathan Zittrain (MPA '95), professor of international law,

and co-founder of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Arts

* Will Butler (MPA '17), musician and former member of Arcade Fire * Ashley Judd (MPA '10), actress and activist * Hill Harper (MPA '92), actor and author * Mary Lambeth Moore (MPP), writer and podcaster * Thor Steingraber (MPA '09), opera director * Damian Woetzel (MPA '07), former principal dancer, New York City Ballet

Business

* Rune Bjerke (MPA '97), CEO, DNB ASA * Gregory C. Carr (MPP '86), founder, Boston Technology * Leonard S. Coleman Jr. (MPA '75), former president of the National League (baseball), National League * Benjamin Fernandes (Exec. Ed'17), Tanzanian entrepreneur * Debra L. Lee (MPP '80), President and CEO, Black Entertainment Television * Daniel Mudd (MPA '86), former president and CEO of U.S. Fannie Mae * Carolina Müller-Möhl (Woman's Leadership Board), businesswoman, philanthropist and women's rights activist * Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg (MPA '71), founder, president, and CEO of Strategic Investment Group * Greg Rosenbaum (MPP '77), CEO, Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. * Peter Sands (banker), Peter Sands (MPA '88), Group CEO, Standard Chartered * Klaus Schwab (MPA '67), founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum * Faryar Shirzad (MPP '89), managing director, Goldman Sachs, former Deputy National Security Advisor, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor * Chris Voss, adjunct professor at McDonough School of Business

Media

* Malik Siraj Akbar (MPA, '16), editor-in-chief of ''The Baloch Hal'', exiled Pakistani journalist * Kevin Corke (MPA '04), White House Correspondent, Fox News * Komla Dumor (MPA,'03), television news presenter, BBC World News and Africa Business Report * Justin Fox (born 1964), financial journalist, commentator, and writer * Caroline Glick (MPP '00), deputy managing editor, ''The Jerusalem Post'' * Wajahat Saeed Khan, Pakistani journalist for Dunya News and NBC News * Mark A. R. Kleiman (MPP, PhD '85), author * Kaj Larsen (MPP '07), former United States Navy, U.S. Navy United States Navy SEALs, SEAL, journalist for Vice News * Dambisa Moyo (MPA '07), economist and author * Bill O'Reilly (political commentator), Bill O'Reilly (MPA '96), political commentator * Andrew Sullivan (MPA, PhD '90), journalist, ''The Atlantic''

Military

* John C. Acton (Exec '05) – retired United States Coast Guard Rear admiral (United States), rear admiral who serves as the Director of Operations Coordination for Department of Homeland Security, DHS * John R. Allen Jr. (Exec '85) – retired United States Air Force brigadier general and highly decorated command pilot * William J. Begert (Exec '95) – served as commander, Pacific Air Forces, and Air Component Commander for the Commander, United States Pacific Command * Franklin J. Blaisdell (Exec) – U.S. Air Force Major General * Sally Brice-O'Hara (MPA '93) – 27th Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard * Dan Crenshaw (MPA '17) – medically retired United States Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander * Peter V. Neffenger (MPA '95) – 29th Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and former Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration * Michael E. Fortney (Exec '11) – U.S. Air Force Brigadier General * Jeffrey Fowler (MPA '90) – United States Navy, Vice Admiral; Superintendent, United States Naval Academy * John C. Harvey (MPA '88) – United States Navy, Admiral; Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command * Muhammad Haszaimi (Exec '16) – Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, Royal Brunei Armed Forces Commander * Robert C. Hinson (Exec) – U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General * William E. Ingram Jr. (Exec '02) – U.S. Army Lieutenant General and Director of the Army National Guard * Richard C. Johnston (Exec) – U.S. Air Force Brigadier General * Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. (MPA '80) – United States Army, Lt. Col.; author of ''The Army and Vietnam'' * Rick Linnehan (MPA '09) – astronaut * Christopher Loria (MPA '04) – astronaut * Robert W. Parker (general), Robert W. Parker (Exec '91) – U.S. Air Force Major General * Timothy S. Sullivan (Exec) – U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral * Guy C. Swan III (MPA '86) – U.S. Army Major General, Commanding General of the Military District of Washington * Jack Weinstein (general), Jack Weinstein (Exec '06) – U.S. Air Force Major General

Non-profit organizations

* Ramaswami Balasubramaniam (MPA'10) – Founder and president, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement * Lester R. Brown (MPA '62) – founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute * Rick Doblin (PhD '01) – Founder and executive director, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) * Robert Kagan (MPP '91) – co-founder, Project for a New American Century * Nancy LeaMond (MPP '74) – Executive vice president, AARP * Giovanna Negretti (MPA '05) – co-founder and executive director of ¿Oiste? * Ayisha Osori – former CEO, Nigerian Women's Trust Fund * Orondaam Otto — founder, Slum2School Africa * Michelle Rhee (MPP '97) – founder of The New Teacher Project; Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public school system * Bryan Stevenson (MPP '85) – founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author of ''Just Mercy''

Science

*Susan C. Gardner, Environment scientist

Spies

* Donald Heathfield (real name: Andrey Bezrukov) (MPA '00) – KGB and Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia), SVR operative until his Illegals Program, disclosure in the United States in 2010

Royalty

* Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant(Currently attending until 2026, future Queen of the Belgians) - Heir to the Belgian throne after her father and current ruler Philippe of Belgium

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Harvard Kennedy School, 1936 establishments in Massachusetts 1966 establishments in Massachusetts Harvard University schools Monuments and memorials to John F. Kennedy in the United States, School of Government Public administration schools in the United States Public policy schools Robert A. M. Stern buildings Schools of international relations in the United States Universities and colleges established in 1936 University subdivisions in Massachusetts

History

Founding

Renaming and move

Rebranding and campus expansion

Academics

Degrees

Joint and concurrent degrees

HKS courses

International collaboration

Rankings

Student organizations

Centers

Controversies

Awards

Notable faculty

Notable alumni

Government and politics

Heads of government and state

Government administrators and officials

Elected federal officials

Elected state and municipal officials

Academia

Arts

Business

Media

Military

Non-profit organizations

Science

Spies

Royalty

See also

Notes

References

External links