The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of

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 high ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. The school offers

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

, and international development, four

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

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

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

international affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

, and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. As of 2021, HKS had an endowment of $1.7 billion. The School 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 40 members and 26 affiliates around the world. Starting as a network of Americ ...

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

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

and are southwest of

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the oldest part of the Harvard University campus, its historic center and modern crossroads. It contains most of the freshman dormitories, Harvard's most important libraries, Memorial Church, sever ...

and Harvard Square, on the site of a former

MBTA Red Line The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south and east underground from Alewife station in North Cambridge through Somerville and Ca ...

trainyard. The School is adjacent to the public riverfront John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. Harvard Kennedy School alumni include 17

heads of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

, the most of any graduate institution in 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 * Filing ...

officials, military leaders, heads of central banks, and

legislators A legislator (also known as a deputy 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 of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

. In independent rankings, Harvard Kennedy School routinely ranks at the top of the world's graduate schools in public policy, social policy, international affairs, and government.

History

Harvard Kennedy School Littauer Building

Founding

The Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration was founded in 1936 with a $2 million gift (equivalent to roughly $30 million in 2010) 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. Littauer ...

, an 1878

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

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

Harvard Crimson football The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun ...

. 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 The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

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 and 1940

alumnus

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, the school was renamed in his honor. 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 also served as adviser to several presidents. He was the author of the books ''Presidential Power' ...

, 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 renowned for his contribution in the late ...

Richard Zeckhauser Richard Jay Zeckhauser (born 1940) is an American economist and the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, BA (''summa cum laude'') and a PhD in econo ...

, and Edith Stokey, 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. In 1966, at the same time as the school was renamed, 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, as well as to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politi ...

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 its events are held at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, named in honor of the late

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 lawyer, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kenn ...

in Harvard Kennedy School's Littauer Building.

Rebranding and campus expansion

In late 2007, the Kennedy School of Government announced that it while its official name was not being altered, it was rebranding itself as the Harvard Kennedy School, with the change to be rolled out during the first part of 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, such as the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

and the

Kennedy Library The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...

. The rebranding had the support of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, as well as of

Caroline Kennedy Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author, attorney, and diplomat serving in the Biden administration as the United States Ambassador to Australia since 2022. She previously served in the Obama administration as th ...

. 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 Kenedy School campus was opened in December 2017. From 2004 to 2015, Harvard Kennedy School's dean was

David T. Ellwood David T. Ellwood is an American economist and university administrator. He served as the dean of Harvard Kennedy School and as the Scott M. Black Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. Early life Ellwood grew up Minnesota. His fathe ...

, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official in the Clinton administration. In 2015, Douglas Elmendorf, 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. Ins ...

, was named both dean of the Harvard Kennedy School and the school's Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy.

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 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 the goals of laws and elected ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

, 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 hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

studies with a strong emphasis on

and quantitative analysis. Members of the mid-career MPA class are 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 four doctoral programs.

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degrees are awarded in

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

and government in conjunction with Harvard University's departments of economics and government in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), in

and social policy in conjunction with Harvard's departments of government and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, and in health policy 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 of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...

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 Law School, and Harvard Graduate School of Design, 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 academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

and

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. Beyond Harvard, HKS has concurrent degree arrangements with other law, business, and medical schools, including the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or 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 programs, ...

, the

Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

The Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

Duke University School of Law Duke University School of Law (Duke Law School or Duke 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 t ...

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

New York University School of Law 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 is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law s ...

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (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 Comparative Law (MCL ...

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

, and

UCSF Medical Center The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center is a research and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California and is the medical center of the University of California, San Francisco. It is affiliated with the UCSF School of Med ...

. 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, or the Geneva Graduate Institute (french: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement), abbreviated IHEID, is a government-accredited postgraduate institution ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

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 the

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, 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, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the f ...

. 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.

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'' magazine's Inside the Ivory Tower survey, which lists the world's top twenty academic

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

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, the student government (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" efunct, and originally founded as the HGC is the centralized student government organization for the twelve graduate schools of Harvard University. Representing the interests of m ...

, 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, 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 mis ...

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 within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...

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 The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

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. Located at Harvard ...

* Institute of Politics * Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics *

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

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 ...

* Women and Public Policy Program 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. Under Dean Elmendorf, the school has tried to focus its engagement across the political spectrum, which has caused controversy at times. Recently, 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 A ...

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

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

director

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

canceled a speaking engagement at Harvard and sent a letter condemning the university for awarding the fellowship. A 2021 investigative report by student group Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard found that many of the center's climate initiatives were funded in part by fossil fuel companies, and that some of the centers had allegedly taken several steps to cover up that fact.

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" at the end of May each year.

Notable faculty

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

Mary Jo Bane Mary Jo Bane is an American political scientist who focuses on children and welfare. She is currently the Thornton Bradshaw Professor at Harvard Kennedy School, and formerly the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Malco ...

David J. Barron David Jeremiah Barron (born July 7, 1967) is an American lawyer who serves as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and former S. William Green Professor of Public Law at Harvard Law Sc ...

* Jacqueline Bhabha *

Linda Bilmes Linda J. Bilmes (born 1960) holds the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer Chair in Public Policy and Public Finance at Harvard University. She is a full-time faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School where she teaches public policy, budge ...

* Robert Blendon *

Derek Bok Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University. Life and career Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and siste ...

George Borjas George Jesus Borjas ( born Jorge Jesús Borjas, October 15, 1950) is a Cuban-American economist and the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has been described as "America’s leading immigr ...

R. Nicholas Burns Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022. Burns has had a 25 year career in the State Department, and served as United States Under Secre ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...

Albert Carnesale Albert Carnesale (born July 2, 1936) is an American academic and a specialist in arms control and national security. He is a former chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, provost of Harvard University, and dean of the Harvard K ...

Ashton Carter Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...

Antonia Handler Chayes Antonia "Toni" Handler Chayes (born July 21, 1929) is a United States lawyer and educator who served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) from 1977 to 1979 and as United States Under Secretary of the Air Force fr ...

William C. Clark William Cummin Clark is the Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. William Clark known for his long-term efforts to promote sustainabi ...

* Richard Clarke * Susan P. Crawford *

David Cutler David Matthew Cutler (born June 22, 1965) is the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University. He was given a five-year term appointment of Harvard College Professor, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate teaching. H ...

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...

* David Ellwood *

Jeffrey Frankel Jeffrey Alexander "Jeff" Frankel (born November 5, 1952, in San Francisco, California) is an international macroeconomist. He works as the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard Kennedy School. Education Frankel gr ...

Jason Furman Jason Furman (born August 18, 1970) is an American economist and professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. On June 10, 2013, Furman was named ...

Marshall Ganz Marshall Ganz (born March 14, 1943) is the Rita T. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Introduced to organizing in Civil Rights Movement, he worked on the s ...

David Gergen David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...

Edward Glaeser Edward Ludwig Glaeser (born May 1, 1967) is an American economist and Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He is also Director for the Cities Research Programme at the International Growth Centre. He was educated ...

* Robert R. Glauber *

Stephen Goldsmith Stephen "Steve" Goldsmith (born December 12, 1946) is an American politician and writer who was the 46th mayor of Indianapolis. He also served as the deputy mayor of New York City for operations from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Republican P ...

* Ricardo Hausmann * J. Bryan Hehir *

Ronald Heifetz Ronald Heifetz (born February 7, 1951) is the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Founding Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and co-founder of ...

A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. Aloysius Leon Higginbotham Jr. (February 25, 1928 – December 14, 1998) was an American civil rights advocate, historian, presidential adviser, and federal court judge. From 1990 to 1991, he served as chief judge of the United States Court of ...

John P. Holdren John Paul Holdren (born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1944) is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and ...

* Swanee Hunt *

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...

Sheila Jasanoff Sheila Sen Jasanoff is an Indian American academic and significant contributor to the field of Science and Technology Studies. In 2021 she was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Her research has been recognized with many awards, includ ...

* Christopher Jencks *

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...

Dale 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 departmen ...

* Juliette Kayyem * Alexander Keyssar * Robert Z. Lawrence *

Jennifer Lerner Jennifer S. Lerner is an American experimental social psychologist known for her research in emotion and decision theory. She is the first psychologist at the Harvard Kennedy School to receive tenure. At Harvard, her titles include Professor of P ...

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (born 1966) is Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. He conducts research into the network economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard's ...

Joseph Newhouse Joseph P. Newhouse (born February 24, 1942) is an American economist and the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard University, as well as the Director of the Division of Health Policy Research and of the Inter ...

Pippa Norris Pippa Norris (born 10 July 1953) is a political scientist specializing in comparative politics. She is the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and she has served as the Australian ...

Joseph Nye Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. (born January 19, 1937) is an American political scientist. He and Robert Keohane co-founded the international relations theory of neoliberalism, which they developed in their 1977 book ''Power and Interdependence''. Togethe ...

* Rafael O'Ferrall *

Meghan O'Sullivan Meghan L. O'Sullivan (born September 13, 1969) is a former deputy national security adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan. She is Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and a board member of the Be ...

George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from ...

* Roger B. Porter *

Michael Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of t ...

Samantha Power Samantha Jane Power (born September 21, 1970) is an American journalist, diplomat and government official who is currently serving as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. She previously served as the 28th ...

Lant Pritchett Lant Pritchett (born 1959) is an American development economist. He is the RISE Research Director at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. He was born in Utah in 1959 and raised in Boise, Idaho. He graduated from Brigham Yo ...

Robert Putnam Robert David Putnam (born 1941) is an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Putnam devel ...

* Carmen M. Reinhart *

Dani Rodrik Dani Rodrik (born August 14, 1957) is a Turkish economist and Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was formerly the Albert O. Hirschman Professor of t ...

* Todd Rogers (behavioral scientist) *

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

John Ruggie John Gerard Ruggie (18 October 1944 – 16 September 2021) was the Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University and an affiliated professor in international legal studie ...

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade ...

Frederic M. Scherer Frederic Michael Scherer (born 1932 in Ottawa, Illinois) is an United States of America, American economist and expert on industrial organization. Since 2006, he continues as a professor of economics at the JFK School of Government at Harvard Unive ...

Jeffrey L. Seglin Jeffrey L. Seglin (born December 26, 1956) is an American columnist, author, and teacher. Since 2011, he has been a faculty member and director of the communications program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His w ...

Sarah Sewall Sarah Sewall (born August 21, 1961) is Executive Vice President for Policy at In-Q-Tel, a strategic investor for the national security community. A national security expert whose career spans government service and academia, she most recently serv ...

Kathryn Sikkink Kathryn Sikkink (born 1955) is an author, human rights academic, and scholar of international relations working primarily through the theoretical strain of constructivism. She is currently at professor at Harvard Kennedy School. Academic career Ka ...

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 ...

Dennis Frank Thompson Dennis Frank Thompson (born 12 May 1940, in Hamilton, Ohio) is a political science, political scientist and professor at Harvard University, where he founded the university-wide Center for Ethics and the Professions (now the Edmond J. Safra Center ...

* Stephen Walt *

Marilyn Waring Dame Marilyn Joy Waring (born 7 October 1952) is a New Zealand public policy scholar, international development consultant, former politician, environmentalist, feminist and a principal founder of feminist economics. In 1975, aged 23, she beca ...

Martin Weitzman Martin Lawrence Weitzman (April 1, 1942 – August 27, 2019) was an economist and a professor of economics at Harvard University. He was among the most influential economists in the world according to Research Papers in Economics (RePEc). His late ...

Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, (' Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from ...

* John P. White *

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 ...

* Dorothy Zinberg *

Jonathan Zittrain Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1969) is an American professor of Internet law and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School. He is also a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer sc ...

Robert B. Zoellick Robert Bruce Zoellick (; ; born July 25, 1953) is an American public official and lawyer who was the eleventh president of the World Bank, a position he held from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sach ...

Notable alumni

Harvard Kennedy School has over 63,000 alumni, many of whom have gone on to notable careers in government, business, public policy, and other fields, including:

Government and politics

Heads of government and state

* Pierre Trudeau (MA '45) – former

prime minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...

* Miguel de la Madrid (MPA '65) – former

president of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monro ...

(MPA '71) – President of Liberia,

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

laureate *

Carlos Salinas de Gortari Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wor ...

(MPA '73, PhD '76) – former

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

(MPA '80) –

Prime Minister of Singapore The prime minister of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The president appoints the prime minister, a Member of Parliament (MP) who in their opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority of ...

(MPA '81) –

President of Colombia The president of Colombia ( es, Presidente de Colombia), officially known as the president of the Republic of Colombia ( es, Presidente de la República de Colombia) or president of the nation ( es, Presidente de la Nacion) is the head of stat ...

laureate *

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

(MPA '82) – Hong Kong

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé (born 2 March 1956) is a Bolivian judge who briefly served as the 64th president of Bolivia from 2005 to 2006 on an interim basis following the resignation of President Carlos Mesa during the 2005 political crisis. P ...

(MPA '88) – former

president of Bolivia The president of Bolivia ( es, Presidente de Bolivia), officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia ( es, Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the ca ...

* Jamil Mahuad Witt (MPA '89) – former

president of Ecuador The president of Ecuador ( es, Presidente del Ecuador), officially called the Constitutional President of the Republic of Ecuador ( es, Presidente Constitucional de la República del Ecuador), serves as both the head of state and head of govern ...

José María Figueres Olsen José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

(MPA '91) – former

president of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two vice presidents are ...

, CEO of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

* John Haglelgam (MPA '93) former

president of the Federated States of Micronesia The president of the Federated States of Micronesia is the head of state and government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The FSM president, by virtue of his or her office, is the head of the FSM Cabinet and is in charge of the admin ...

Abdiweli Gaas Abdiweli Mohamed Ali GaasBriefi ...

(MPA '99) – former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

(MPA '00) – former

* Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (MPA '02) – former president of Mongolia * Tshering Tobgay (MPA '04) – Prime Minister of Bhutan * Morgan Tsvangirai ('02) - Prime Minister of Zimbabwe * Frederick Sumaye (MPA '07) former Prime Minister of Tanzania, prime minister of Tanzania * Maia Sandu (MPA '10) former Prime Minister of Moldova, prime minister of Moldova, current president of Moldova

Others

* Rizwan Ahmed (civil servant), Rizwan Ahmed (MPA) – Maritime Secretary of Pakistan * Yam Ah Mee (MPA '91) – Chief Executive Director of People's Association, Singapore * Bob Anthony (MPA) – United States Republican Party, Republican politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma * Ami Ayalon (MPA '92) – member, Israeli Knesset *Tariq Bajwa (MPA) – former Finance Secretary of Pakistan * Ed Balls (MPA '90) – former British Member of the Parliament, and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer * Nisrin Barwari (MPA '99) – Minister of Municipalities and Public Works of Iraq * Doug Bereuter (MPA '73) – former U.S. Congressman, Nebraska * Charles A. Blanchard (lawyer), Charles Blanchard (MPP '85) – General Counsel of the Army 1999–2001, General Counsel of the Air Force 2009-2013 * J. Richard Blankenship (MPA '08) – former U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas * André Boisclair (MPA '05) – former leader of Parti Québécois, former Quebec Minister of Citizenship and Immigration * Nick Boles (MPP '89) – former director of Policy Exchange and former Member of Parliament for Grantham_and_Stamford_(UK_Parliament_constituency), Grantham and Stamford (United Kingdom). * Emilia Boncodin (MPA '86) – Secretary of Budget and Management (Philippines), Secretary of the Philippine Department of Budget and Management in the Philippines * Brendan Boyle (MPP '05) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 13th District of Pennsylvania * David A. Bray (Exec '11) – recipient of the Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership for lifelong public service * Anna Escobedo Cabral (MPA '90) – former Treasurer of the United States, U.S. Treasurer * Piper Campbell (MPA '99) – diplomat, currently serves as the 9th U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia * Robert Castelli (MPA '96) – member, New York State Assembly, 89th District * Rajkumar Chellaraj (MPA '86) – former Assistant Secretary of State for Administration, United States Department of State * Frank Chikane (MPA '95) – member, African National Congress; South African adviser to the President * Aneesh Chopra (MPP '97) – Chief Technology Officer of the United States, U.S. Chief Technology Officer under President Barack Obama * Albert Chua (MPA '00) – former Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations * Henry Cisneros (MPA '73) – former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development * Jacqueline Y. Collins (MPA '01) – Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 16th district since 2003 * Gerry Connolly (MPA '79) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 11th District of Virginia * Dan Crenshaw (MPA '17) - U.S. House of Representatives * David Cunliffe (MPA '95) – Leader of the Opposition, Parliament of New Zealand * Joseph Curtatone (MPA '11) – mayor, Somerville, Massachusetts * Mark Daly (politician), Mark Daly (MPA, '11) – Irish Seanad Éireann, Senator * Božidar Đelić (MPA '91) – Vice-president of Serbia, former Minister of Finance * Stephen Donnelly (MPA '08) – Irish Teachta Dála (Member of Parliament) for the Wicklow (Dáil constituency), Wicklow constituency * Shaun Donovan (MPA '95) – U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development * Theodore L. Eliot Jr. (MPA '56) – former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan * Benjamin Fernandes (Exec. Ed'17) - Tanzanian entrepreneur * John Fetterman (MPP '99) – Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania (2019–present) * Roy Folkman (MPA '13) – member, Israeli Knesset * Fernando Martín García (MPP '74) – Puerto Rican politician and former Senator * Marilinda Garcia (MPA '10) – member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives * Robert S. Gelbard (MPA '79) – former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia and Bolivia * Hector Gramajo (MPA '95) – former Defense Minister of Guatemala * Alan Grayson (MPP '83) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 8th District of Florida * Katherine Harris (MPA '97) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 13th District of Florida; former Florida Secretary of State * Yoshimasa Hayashi (MPA '94) – former Minister of Defense, former Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, Japan * Liu He (politician), Liu He (MPA '95) – Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, Vice Premier of China * Teo Chee Hean (MPA '86) – Senior Minister, Co-ordinating Minister for National Security of Singapore * Keith Hennessey (MPP '94) – former director, White House United States National Economic Council, National Economic Council * Paul Heroux, (MPA '11) Mayor, Attleboro, Massachusetts; former State Representative from Massachusetts * Brian Higgins (MPA '96) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 27th District of New York * Stephen Horn (MPA '55) – former U.S. Congressman, California * Rafael Hui (MPA '83) – former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong * Muhammad bin Ibrahim (MPA '93) – 8th Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia * Natalie Jaresko (MPP '89) – former Minister of Finance in Ukraine * Vuk Jeremić (MPA '03) – 2012 President of the United Nations General Assembly; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia * Ajay Narayan Jha — Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and Secretary to Government of India, Expenditure Secretary of India. * Daniel J. Jones, lead investigator for "Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, The Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program," which is better known as "The Torture Report." Jones is portrayed by Adam Driver in the film ''The Report (2019 film), The Report''. * Shane Jones (MPA '91) – member, Parliament of New Zealand, and chair of finance committee * Mitzi Johnson (MPA '13) - Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives * Lim Hng Kiang (MPA '85) – Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore; member of the Cabinet of Singapore * Ban Ki-moon (MPA '84) – United Nations Secretary General * Raymond W. Kelly (MPA '84) – New York City Police Commissioner * Rajive Kumar (MPA) – Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and Chief Secretary (India), Chief Secretary of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. * Jim Langevin (MPA '94) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District of Rhode Island * Andrew Leigh (PhD '04) – member, Australian House of Representatives * Mark D. Levine (MPP '95) – member, New York City Council, 7th District * Stephen F. Lynch (MPA '99) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 9th District of Massachusetts * Dan Maffei (MPP '95) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 25th District of New York * Nabiel Makarim (MPA '84) – former Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Indonesia * Mark McClellan (MPA '91) – former Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration (United States), Food and Drug Administration * Sanjay Mitra (civil servant), Sanjay Mitra (MPA) – Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and Defence Secretary (India), Defence Secretary of India. * Nripendra Misra (MPA) – Retired Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019. * Jim Moody (MPA '67) – former U.S. Congressman, Wisconsin * Toshimitsu Motegi (MPP '83) – Financial Services Minister of Japan * Elias Mudzuri (MPA ) – former Mayor of Harare * George Muñoz (MPP '78) – former CFO of the U.S. Department of Treasury; former president and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC * Charles A. Murphy, (MPA '02) – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee * Andrew Natsios (MPA '79) former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, and administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development * Naheed Nenshi (MPP '98) mayor of Calgary since 2010 *Amon Nikoi (MPA '56) – former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Governor of the Bank of Ghana and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations * Patrick Nip (MPA '01) - Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs of Hong Kong * Christine Nixon (MPA '85) – Chief Commissioner of Victoria, Australia Police * Herbert S. Okun (MPA '59) – former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations * Nóirín O'Sullivan (Exec '07) – Police Commissioner of Garda Síochána, Ireland's national police service * 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 * Marcus Peacock (MPP '86) – former Deputy Administrator, U.S. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency * Robert E. Perez - former Deputy Commissioner of U. S. Customs and Border Protection * Yohanan Plesner (MPA '04) – member, Israeli Knesset * Brune Poirson - Secretary of State, France - Macron Government * 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 * Angelo Reyes (MPA '90) – Secretary of Energy of the Philippines; former Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines * Jesse Robredo (MPA '99) – Secretary of Interior and Local Government of the Philippines; received the Quezon Service Cross (the highest Philippine honor) * Henry Rotich (MPA ') – Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, 2013-date Kenya * Pete Rouse (MPA '77) – White House Chief of Staff under President of the United States, President Barack Obama * Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai - Executive Governor of Kaduna State in Nigeria; former Minister of FCT, Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises both under Obasanjo Administration * T. N. Seshan (MPA '68) – retired Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Chief Election Commissioner and Cabinet Secretary (India), Cabinet Secretary of India * Joe Sestak (MPA '80, PhD '84) – member, U.S. House of Representatives, 7th District of Pennsylvania * Tharman Shanmugaratnam (MPA) – Senior Minister, Co-ordinating Minister for Social Policies of Singapore * Yasuhisa Shiozaki (MPA '82) – former Chief Cabinet Secretariat (Japan), Cabinet Secretary, Japan * Rob Simmons (MPA '79) – former U.S. Congressman, Connecticut * Barry Smitherman (MPA) – member of the Texas Railroad Commission * Corazon Soliman (MPA '98) – former Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines * Ralf Stegner (MPA '89) – former Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany * T. S. R. Subramanian (MPA) – retired Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and former Cabinet Secretary of India * Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera (MPA) – Commerce Secretary of Pakistan * Nancy Sutley (MPP '86) – Director of White House Council on Environmental Quality * Syahrir (MPA '80, PhD '83) – Economic Adviser in the Republic of Indonesia's Council of Presidential Advisors * Mark E. Talisman (1972) – congressional aide and lobbyist * William B. Taylor Jr. (MPP '77) – U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine *Conrad Tillard (born 1964) - Baptist minister, radio host, author, civil rights activist, and politician * Peter G. Torkildsen (MPA '90) – former U.S. Congressman, Massachusetts; former chair of Massachusetts Republican Party (United States), Republican Party * Robert Torricelli (MPA '80) – former U.S. Senator from New Jersey * John Tsang (MPA '82) – Financial Secretary of Hong Kong * Chris Van Hollen (MPP '85) – member, United States Senate, U.S. Senate, Maryland * Paul Volcker (MA '51, GSPA) – former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve; economic advisor to President Barack Obama * Solomon Areda Waktolla (MPA '13 and LLM'14) – Deputy Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia, Member of the Court of the Permanent Court of Arbitration * Kevin White (mayor), Kevin White (MA '57, GSPA) – former Mayor of Boston * David Wilhelm (MPP '90) – campaign manager, 1992 United States presidential election, Clinton/Gore '92; former chair, Democratic National Committee * Anthony A. Williams (MPP '87) – former Mayor of Washington, D.C. * Yin Yong (politician), Yin Yong (MPA) – Mayor of Beijing * Adolfo Aguilar Zínser (MPA '78) – former Mexican National Security Adviser and Ambassador to the United Nations

Non-profit

* Ayisha Osori – former CEO, Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund * 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? * 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'' * Ramaswami Balasubramaniam (MPA'10) – Founder & President, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement

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 * 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

Academia

* William Alonso (MPP '56) – economist, former director of Harvard Center for Population Studies * Lawrence S. Bacow (MPP '76, PhD '76) – president,

, President of

, and Chancellor of MIT * Steve Charnovitz (MPP '83) – associate professor, George Washington University * Ronald A. Heifetz (MPA '83) – co-founder,

* Stephen 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) – historian; professor, Harvard Business School; author * Mark Lilla (MPP '80) – professor, Columbia University * Hollis Robbins (MPP '90) – dean, University of Utah * Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (MPA '66) – former president, George Washington University * William E. Trueheart (MPA '73) – former president, Bryant University *

(MPA '95) – professor, Harvard Law School; co-founder Berkman Center at Harvard * Mark Schuster (MPP '88) – dean and founding CEO, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine

Journalism

* Komla Dumor (MPA,'03) – television news presenter, BBC World News and Africa Business Report * Mark A. R. Kleiman (MPP, PhD '85) – author * Kevin Corke (MPA '04) – White House Correspondent, Fox News * Caroline Glick (MPP '00) – deputy managing editor of ''The Jerusalem Post'' * 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 ''New York Times'' best-selling author * Bill O'Reilly (political commentator), Bill O'Reilly (MPA '96) – political commentator * Malik Siraj Akbar (MPA, '16) – editor-in-chief of ''The Baloch Hal'', exiled Pakistani journalist * Andrew Sullivan (MPA, PhD '90) – journalist, ''The Atlantic'' * Wajahat Saeed Khan – Pakistani journalist for Dunya News & NBC News

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 * Debra L. Lee (MPP '80) – President and CEO, Black Entertainment Television * Daniel Mudd (MPA '86) – former president and CEO of U.S. Fannie Mae * Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg (MPA '71) – founder, President, 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,

* Faryar Shirzad (MPP '89) – managing director, Goldman Sachs, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor * Chris Voss – adjunct professor at McDonough School of Business

Arts

* William Butler (musician), William Butler (MPA '17) – musician and composer, Arcade Fire * Ashley Judd (MPA '10) – Actress, activist * Hill Harper (MPA '92) – Actor * Thor Steingraber (MPA '09) – Opera Director * Damian Woetzel (MPA '07) – former Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet

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.

Notes

References

External links

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