“You’ve got to give back”

For more than three decades, Julie Howell MPP 1997, PhD 1980 has quietly embodied the spirit of loyalty at Harvard Kennedy School. A steadfast donor since 1991 and a longtime Loyalty Society and Littauer Society member, Julie sees her philanthropy as both a responsibility and a privilege. 

“I just feel like you’ve got to give back,” she says. “I’m fortunate to have resources that I can share, and I want to contribute.” 

A biology major who began a PhD program in biological chemistry at Harvard Medical School, Julie soon realized that her passions were elsewhere. Or, as she puts it, “I was more interested in reading the New York Times than the Journal of Biological Chemistry.” She left the program, worked at the policy research firm Abt Associates, and earned her master’s in urban studies and planning at MIT.  

She and her husband  then moved to Washington, DC, where she served as a research associate  in the Department of Community Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. This work persuaded her she needed to get a PhD—and when her family returned to the Boston area, she chose the Kennedy School. 

“Even back in the late 1970s, the emphasis on implementation analysis at HKS was so important,” she says. “The core curriculum provided the intellectual framework for everything else I did.” 

That framework shaped a career at the intersection of health care and public policy. Julie’s doctoral research at HKS examined how Massachusetts’ determination-of-need regulations affected hospital expansion, blending econometric analysis with case studies  in 10 hospitals around the state. The dissertation led directly to a role at UC San Diego, where her husband had joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine and the  National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. She rose to become director of planning for the entire health sciences enterprise. Her commitment to public service extended to Washington, D.C., where, as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, she worked on Senator John Kerry’s staff to develop the Medicare Modernization Act.  

Throughout her career, she has welcomed HKS students to learn from her through programs like Alumni Career Connections—and these experiences deepen her conviction that supporting the Kennedy School matters. “The Kennedy School provided the intellectual framework that has been so important to me. I’ve been fortunate to be in positions where I could apply what I learned there.” 

Today, Julie continues to give each year because she believes in HKS’s role in preparing principled public leaders. “The School’s values and whole philosophy are essential,” she says. “No other organization can provide this kind of community—across fields and across local, state, national, and international levels.” 

From her home in San Diego, she regularly joins HKS events virtually, strengthening her sense of connection to the School even from afar. And while she says she wishes she could give more, Julie hopes that her support encourages others to follow her example. 

“Part of being fortunate is doing your part to give back,” she says.