HKS 2036

I arrived at Harvard Kennedy School as a doctoral student in the fall of 1997, equal parts excited and terrified. I had dreamed of being here, but wasn’t quite sure what “here” would entail, beyond demanding classes taught by faculty at the top of their fields. What I found, unexpectedly, was my people.

What struck me then and still strikes me now, is that when you show up to HKS, you meet people with so many different interests. One of my classmates might have been interested in urban transportation. Another in counterterrorism. Another in economic development. Another in negotiations. Another in civil rights. What they shared was not subject matter but a way of being in the world. We all had a stubborn dual belief – that the problem we cared about mattered, and that we could do something about it. That characteristic is what binds the 80,000 people who make up the Kennedy School’s community. 

“Here” turned out to be where I found lifelong friends. I found my wife, Rachel, whom I met at orientation. And, like so many others, I found my purpose: to be in service to the public, informed by rigorous analysis and evidence, and committed to the work of making change.

I am proud to be the first dean of this school who is also an alum. It is, for me and for this institution, a full circle moment, proof of the school’s founding conviction that scholarship and practice belong together. Like other alumni, my own career has been an attempt to take what I learned here and apply it to the most consequential problems I encountered – from political violence to democratic accountability to rapid technological change. That same instinct to follow what matters is what brought me back.

The problems of governance have never been more urgent. And for an institution like this one, the opportunity to do something about them has never been greater. The challenges are real — from the fracturing of social consensus, to the loss of faith in institutions, to the disruption brought on by the advance of technology. Yet, that is precisely why I find myself more energized than ever – because the need for our work, and the importance of getting it right, is only growing. 

Why else does the Kennedy School exist but to lead in this moment?

My first year as dean has only confirmed that belief, and that is largely because I have come to understand the depth, breadth, and capacity of our community. It is an unparalleled platform for change. Our job as an institution is to activate that community and put it to work. 

What follows is our plan. It begins with our commitment to strengthening the foundation that makes everything we do possible –our research, our teaching, and the people who power this work. It lays out four imperatives that will guide where we need to go: creating a path to public service for all, helping government deliver for people, harnessing technology for the public good, and forging effective leaders for polarized times. And it recognizes that we will be better able to achieve all of our goals if we harness the collective energies of our faculty, staff, students, and alumni to meet the challenges of this moment.

When I think back to my first days as an HKS student, the feeling that stays with me is a profound belief that I had joined a community that would always strive to do big things. Not only because we were passionate about public policy challenges, but because we were willing to put in the work and find the best solutions to those challenges – and then do everything in our power to make them actually work for real people.

I am not promising the work ahead will always be easy or comfortable. If it were, then we wouldn’t be the Kennedy School. But that struggle is part of what makes the work exciting and meaningful. Nearly a century on from our founding, we have the opportunity to reimagine how we show up in the world, to tackle the challenges of the future, and to improve people’s lives in countless ways. As social scientists and educators, we will approach this work the way we approach any hard problem: with curiosity, rigor, experimentation, and the willingness to adapt — all in pursuit of a better world. That is how our school has always led the way, and it is how we will lead through what comes next.

For the Kennedy School, this is our moment. I am honored to meet it with all of you. 

— Dean Jeremy Weinstein