Bill Purcell

Lecturer in Public Policy
Director
Institute of Politics
Office Address
Littauer-266
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 63
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-1363
Fax: 617-495-8957
Email: Bill_Purcell@ksg.harvard.edu
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Profile

Bill Purcell is Lecturer in Public Policy and the Director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government. Purcell has spent more than 30 years in public service, law, and higher education. During his eight-year tenure as Mayor of Nashville (1999-2007) the city saw unprecedented economic expansion, an increase in Metro school funding of more than 50 percent, and the development and preservation of more than 26,000 affordable housing units. His accomplishments as a civic leader earned him “Public Official of the Year” honors in 2006 by Governing Magazine. Purcell was an IOP Fellow in the fall of 2007. Purcell served as founding Dean of the College of Public Service and Urban Affairs at Tennessee State University in 2008 and was founder and director of the Child and Family Policy Center at Vanderbilt University (1996-99). He served five terms as a legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1986-96) and as Majority Leader (1990-96). Previously, Purcell worked as a senior assistant public defender in the Nashville Metro Public Defender’s Office (1981-85). He earned his bachelor’s degree at Hamilton College and his law degree at Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus.

 

Courses

Year

  • DPI-150Y Seminar: Politics and Advocacy