Image of Associate Dean Mary Jo Bane.

Faculty

Harvard Kennedy School is a place where ideas meet practice and nowhere is this spirit embodied more than in the school’s exceptional faculty.

Our faculty contains a distinguished group of scholars representing 15 different academic disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, public policy, and history. The school’s faculty members also include high-level, experienced practitioners who come from varied backgrounds in international, national, and state governments, as well as the nonprofit and private sectors.

This unique blend of academics and practitioners brings intellectual rigor as well as hands-on experience into our classrooms. Not only do students receive the most thorough academic training, frequently from teachers who have written the seminal works of their field, they are also constantly challenged on the real-world application of that learning.

A critical reason is that our faculty remains actively engaged in the affairs of the world. They generate solutions-oriented research, shape public policy, and help leaders think critically about the issues we face. They remain engaged through their writing, public appearances, testimony, outreach activities, and scholarship on issues ranging from education, housing, and international development to immigration, foreign policy and civic participation. Through this critical research, our faculty is helping to develop innovative solutions to some of the world’s most entrenched public problems.

Such work has helped reduce nuclear stockpiles, influenced sustainable development practices, brought needed attention to human rights abuses, strengthened relationships between business and government, launched the community policing approach to law enforcement, and much more.