HKS Affiliated Authors
Summary
Dear Friends of the Carr Center,
I write with the news that Sushma Raman, the Executive Director of the Carr Center, will be leaving the Carr Center and starting a new journey as President and CEO of the Heising-Simons Foundation in California. We are sorry to see her leave the Center, but we look forward to hearing more as she takes on her exciting new endeavor.
During her tenure at the Carr Center, Sushma worked strategically to significantly expand the Center’s programming and reach. We worked together to launch both the Racial Justice Program and the Technology & Human Rights Program, which house significant fellowships and have brought together faculty, practitioners, and students to research these vital areas of human rights.
At the start of the pandemic, Sushma piloted the Center’s pivot from in-person events to online webinar convenings, adapting popular series such as “Human Rights in Hard Places” and “Life 3.0” for the digital world. Her Justice Matters podcast is listened to in over 150 countries, and her two co-authored books written with colleagues at the Carr Center have been regarded as innovative and groundbreaking in the world of human rights.
Our Advisory Board will also deeply miss Sushma's strategic wisdom in expanding the Carr Center's footprint in the world. "Over the past seven years, Sushma has helped take the Carr Center to the next level, spearheading the launch of several highly impactful new programs, research topics, webinar series, and more, promoting the visibility of the Center's unique and powerful work to advance human rights around the world. Sushma has helped us expand our strong and committed Advisory Board while also serving as an upbeat and indefatigable thought partner to us all. We will greatly miss her expertise, her guidance, and her warm presence at the Center," said Michael Decker, Advisory Board Chair.
Sushma has been an integral part of the Carr Center and the Harvard Kennedy School, sharing with us her deep knowledge as a human rights practitioner to consistently carry out the Center’s mission to educate the next generation of human rights leaders. It will be a while before anyone can think of the Carr Center as a place that does not have Sushma Raman as its Executive Director. Her warmth, energy, reliability, and integrity have served as an inspiration for her colleagues to continue pushing forward for a better world, and she will continue inspire us even as she moves on to her exciting new journey.
Sincerely,
Mathias Risse, Faculty Director, Carr Center; Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy