Photo by Jared Leeds

Campus & Community
Garber to serve as president through 2026-27 academic year

August 2, 2024 long read

Search for successor will launch in 2026

Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s interim president since January and previously its longest-serving provost, will serve as president through the 2026-27 academic year, it was announced Friday following a meeting of Harvard’s governing boards. A full-scale search for his successor will begin in the late spring or summer of 2026.

“Alan has done an outstanding job leading Harvard through extraordinary challenges since taking on his interim presidential duties seven months ago,” Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, wrote in a message to the community. “We have asked him to hold the title of President, not just Interim President, both to recognize his distinguished service to the University and to underscore our belief that this is a time not merely for steady stewardship but for active, engaged leadership.

“Alan has led with a deep concern for all members of the Harvard community, a strong devotion to enduring university ideals, and a paramount commitment to academic excellence,” Pritzker added. “At an especially demanding moment for higher education, Harvard is very fortunate to benefit from his intellectual acumen and breadth of interests, his integrity and fair-mindedness, his equanimity and empathy, his decades-long devotion to the university, his extensive knowledge of its people and parts, and his ardent belief in the power of higher education and research, and their potential to improve the lives of people and communities near and far. His time in Mass Hall has demonstrated his clear-eyed determination both to help the university chart a course through troubled waters and to affirm the primacy of the teaching, learning, and research at Harvard’s heart.”

A native of Rock Island, Illinois, Garber served as Harvard provost from 2011 until January of this year, when he was named interim president. An economist, physician, and expert on health policy, he holds faculty appointments in medicine, economics, government, and public health. After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College in three years, he went on to receive a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard and an M.D. from Stanford, where he served on the faculty for 25 years and was founding director of two academic centers.

In his own message to the Harvard community, Garber reflected on the values that underpin the University’s mission.

“From the moment I arrived at Harvard as an undergraduate, I have been inspired by the people who make this institution what it is,” he wrote. “We believe in the value of knowledge, the power of teaching and research, and the ways that what we do here can benefit society. Those commitments matter today more than ever.

“Our work now is to focus on them with renewed vigor, rededicating ourselves to academic excellence. That excellence is made possible by the free exchange of ideas, open inquiry, creativity, empathy, and constructive dialogue among people with diverse backgrounds and views,” he added. “This is a challenging time, one of strong passions and strained bonds among us. But I know that we are capable of finding our way forward together because we share a devotion to learning and because we recognize our pluralism as a source of our strength.”

Writing that he was “excited by the prospect of what we can achieve in these next years,” Garber said that he would do his “utmost to ensure that we continue to advance knowledge and drive discovery even as we work to mend the fabric of our community.”

“From the moment I arrived at Harvard as an undergraduate, I have been inspired by the people who make this institution what it is.”
Alan M. Garber

In her message, Pritzker noted that the decision to extend Garber’s presidential service through 2026-27 benefited from a series of consultations with deans, faculty, alumni leaders, and others, leading to the judgment that Harvard would be well served by Garber’s leadership for three more years, as the University continues to navigate challenging times, before the launch of a full-scale presidential search in 2026.

“In conversations with many people across our community and beyond during the past weeks and months — including especially helpful recent consultations with each of the deans as well as an array of faculty and alumni leaders from the various schools — we have consistently heard praise for Alan’s qualities and how his leadership meets the current moment,” wrote Pritzker. “People have highlighted his thoughtful and balanced judgment, his openness to different points of view, his even temperament in turbulent times, his concern for student well-being, his commitment to academic freedom and constructive dialogue, his recognition of diversity and inclusion as integral elements of academic excellence, his appetite for innovation, and his constant focus on the best interests of Harvard as a whole. Our recent consultations have strongly underscored the high regard in which Alan is held by a broad range of people who have watched him work and come to appreciate his strengths.”

“I have come to admire Alan deeply during his years as provost and more recently as interim president, and I’m very pleased he has agreed to carry forward as president for the three years ahead,” said Vivian Hunt, president of the Board of Overseers. “He has been a trusted partner to the Overseers throughout my time on the board, engaging with us candidly and helping us fulfill our oversight role. Especially over these past several months, he has shown his remarkable leadership qualities, his clarity of mind, his calm demeanor, and his skills as an empathetic listener with real concern for others. He always has the University’s best interests and core academic mission at heart. These remain challenging times, but also times of opportunity in which Harvard can strengthen and extend our values and impact. My Overseer colleagues and I look forward to actively supporting Alan’s leadership.”

Forward thinker

Garber served as provost alongside three Harvard presidents — Drew Faust, Larry Bacow, and Claudine Gay — with responsibility for overseeing academic policies and activities across the Schools and fostering collaboration. When she appointed Garber in 2011, Faust noted his “extraordinary breadth of experience in research across disciplines” and highlighted his “incisive intellect” and “loyalty and commitment to Harvard.” As the University’s chief academic officer, he worked closely with faculty and deans throughout Harvard’s Schools as well as its academic centers and affiliates, aiming to advance academic excellence, innovation, and integration across the institution.

As provost, Garber played a significant role in shaping a range of major cross-disciplinary collaborations. These have included the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural & Artificial Intelligence, the Harvard Data Science Initiative, and the Harvard Quantum Initiative. Garber also oversaw the work of the provost’s office in areas spanning advances in learning, faculty development and diversity, international affairs, research policy, technology development, and institutional research, as well as the activities of such diverse organizations as the American Repertory Theater, the Harvard Art Museums, the Harvard Library, Harvard University Health Services, HarvardX, and Arnold Arboretum.

“Alan’s intellectual curiosity spans not only his own diverse fields of medicine and economics but also enduring questions explored in the humanities, interdisciplinary developments in sciences and social sciences, and vital concerns of public affairs and ethics,” said Martha Minow, the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard and a former dean of Harvard Law School. “He couples inquisitiveness with a sense of wonder; his devotion to the projects of education and research is ardent and genuine; he also is an excellent listener and apparently does not need much sleep. For these reasons and more, Alan has rightly earned respect and gratitude across the University, higher education, and beyond.”

“Alan Garber is an exceptional academic leader of intellectual breadth and depth who has demonstrated a tireless commitment to the pursuit of Veritas and the teaching and research mission of Harvard University.”
Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., who serves as Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, pointed to Garber’s leadership attributes in addition to his academic credentials.

“Alan Garber is an exceptional academic leader of intellectual breadth and depth who has demonstrated a tireless commitment to the pursuit of Veritas and the teaching and research mission of Harvard University,” said Gates. “But, as importantly, he leads with empathy, integrity, and a deep devotion to the people who make up this institution. Not only does he know Harvard and its people well, he also cares deeply about them. I look forward to supporting his efforts in the years ahead as he leads us forward.”

Garber has been a leading figure on the University’s Academic Leadership Council, a close partner of dozens of deans, and a convener of annual multiyear planning sessions for Schools and units across Harvard.

Garber also launched the Provost’s Academic Leadership Forum in 2012 as a cross-School program and resource for emerging faculty leaders from across the Schools. Over 120 faculty have participated in the program since its inception, some of whom have gone on to become deans or assume other significant leadership roles.

“Alan’s deep devotion to Harvard is unparalleled, with a remarkable history marked by an unwavering commitment to supporting and mentoring faculty,” said Tsedal Neeley, Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration. “His leadership is defined by a dedication to attracting top talent — students, faculty, and staff —and emphasizing Harvard’s greatest strength: its people. Alan’s collegial and collaborative style further enriches our community, ensuring Harvard remains a beacon of excellence.”

An expert on health policy, Garber also helped shape the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing efforts to take advantage of the best available medical and public health advice and helping shape the University’s strategy for sustaining education and research in the midst of an unprecedented crisis.

Calling Garber “an inspirational and principled leader,” Bruce Walker, Director of the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT and Harvard, said, “Having had the opportunity to work closely with him as he led the University through the fractious COVID crisis, I have profound respect for his integrity, judgement, investment in others, and his ability to build consensus.”

Strengthening the community

Since taking office as interim president in January, Garber has led a series of initiatives and efforts aimed at strengthening the community during what he has called “an extraordinarily painful and disorienting time for Harvard.”

In a January message to the community, he wrote: “It’s crucial that we bridge the fissures that have weakened our sense of community and, through our words and deeds, affirm the immense worth of what we do here, notwithstanding our shortcomings. Doing so will not be easy, especially in the face of persistent scrutiny, but we must rise to the challenge. It will take a willingness to approach each other in a spirit of goodwill, with an eagerness to listen as well as to speak, and with an appreciation of our common humanity when we encounter passionately held but opposing convictions.”

Garber launched two presidential task forces, one devoted to combating antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, the other focused on combating anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias. These task forces each announced preliminary recommendations earlier this summer and are continuing their intensive efforts as the fall term approaches.

Garber has also emphasized the importance of taking additional steps to safeguard academic freedom and free expression and to create a campus climate that fosters constructive conversations among people who disagree with one another.

He initiated the Harvard Dialogues series at the start of the spring term to encourage constructive dialogues on difficult topics. In addition, together with Interim Provost John Manning, he launched a faculty working group on open inquiry and constructive dialogue, chaired by Professors Eric Beerbohm and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, as well as a faculty working group on institutional voice, chaired by Professors Noah Feldman and Alison Simmons. The president, provost, and deans accepted the report and recommendations of the institutional voice working group in late May; the working group on open inquiry and constructive dialogue is expected to report this fall.

Driver of innovation, collaboration

Under Garber’s guidance, Harvard has been a leader and innovator in online learning. As part of Faust’s administration, Garber led Harvard’s efforts alongside MIT to create edX, an innovative online learning platform that launched in 2012 and reached millions of learners across the globe. In 2023, following the sale of edX, Garber played a leading role in the creation of the nonprofit Axim Collaborative, a joint effort between Harvard and MIT aimed at creating learning opportunities and technologies that widen access to education and help learners from all backgrounds reach their full potential.

“Alan’s intellectual curiosity spans not only his own diverse fields of medicine and economics but also enduring questions explored in the humanities, interdisciplinary developments in sciences and social sciences, and vital concerns of public affairs and ethics.”
Martha Minow

Garber has been a champion of Harvard’s pre-eminence and innovation in the life sciences, including its partnerships with the Harvard teaching hospitals. He also helped to spearhead collaboration with life science partners from across Greater Boston, including five Harvard-affiliated hospitals and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, to spur the creation of Landmark Bio, an innovative, public-private biomanufacturing facility in Watertown, Massachusetts, that was formed to advance the development of new medicines by translating cutting-edge research into breakthrough therapies.

“The development of tools like CRISPR and progress in stem-cell science are among the advances that have given us hope that we will soon be able to treat cancer, immunological diseases, neurological conditions, and many other inherited conditions far better,” Garber said at the time Landmark Bio was launched in 2021. “This facility will help turn scientific findings into approved therapies by making these resources available to early stage companies and labs.”

“As a Harvard grad who worked with Alan Garber throughout my career, I congratulate him on his appointment as the president of Harvard University,” said Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’92. “I am grateful for Dr. Garber’s leadership in ensuring that we remain the hub of higher education, life sciences, and innovation. Alan has been a steady leader for the community throughout this transition, and I am excited for the future of Harvard under his leadership.”

Harvard’s unfolding development in Allston has been another key area of Garber’s focus. In partnership with the executive vice president and other colleagues, he has played a role in the launch of the Science and Engineering Complex, now the principal home of the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; in planning for the Goel Center for Creativity and Performance, the future home of the American Repertory Theater; and in advancing plans for Harvard’s anticipated Enterprise Research Campus, envisioned as a major venue for collaboration among academia, industry, and others.

Frank Doyle, current provost at Brown University and former dean of the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, lauded Garber’s efforts in Allston. “I experienced firsthand Alan’s extraordinary ability to lead collaborative faculty teams to advance strategic priorities, from the earliest stages of brainstorming and ideation, all the way through to project execution,” said Doyle. “As a leader that is constantly confronted with myriad opportunities, he has a keen sense of where to focus the energies and efforts of the community to achieve the greatest impact.”

Before returning to Harvard in 2011, Garber rose to become the Henry J. Kaiser Jr. Professor at Stanford University, where he also held professorial appointments in medicine, economics, and health research and policy. He was founding director of Stanford’s Center for Health Policy and its Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, and served as a staff physician at the Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. A research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, he served as the director of its healthcare program for the program’s first 19 years.

Garber is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Physicians, and the Royal College of Physicians.

Garber is an avid cyclist and an accomplished runner, having completed six Boston Marathons and nine others. He is married to Anne Yahanda and has four children.

Looking ahead

In her message, Pritzker elaborated on the plan to have Garber serve as president through the 2026-27 academic year and to launch “a full and wide-ranging search for his successor in the late spring or summer of 2026.”

“We believe this plan will give Alan and his leadership team the opportunity to sustain and build momentum on a range of priorities and initiatives,” Pritzker said. “It will also provide an ample interval for those of us on the Corporation to reflect, in consultation with others, on how best to approach the future presidential search, including how to ensure robust input from across Harvard and beyond.”

Pritzker closed with thanks to the Harvard community for supporting Garber’s leadership and contributing to the University’s work ahead. “Alan’s talents and experience position him well to guide us in this vital work,” she said. “Along with my colleagues on the governing boards, I hope you will offer him your concerted support, and I thank all of you — faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends — for all you do for Harvard.”