The first black president appointed to Harvard: Who is Claudine Gay?

Claudine Gay, 53, a political science professor, is the daughter of an immigrant family of Haitian origin. Harvard's new president declared that Harvard's 'Ivory Tower' image is over. Gay, the 30th president in Harvard University's history, will manage the university budget of $53.2 billion. Harvard, which has been the subject of criticism for years as a 'white school', came under the management of a black person for the first time in its nearly 4-century history.

Gay, the daughter of a family of Haitian origin who immigrated to the USA, was born in New York. Her mother is a nurse and her father is an engineer. Gay spent most of her childhood, first in New York and then in Saudi Arabia with her father, who joined the US Army. After a brilliant school life, she studied economics at Stanford University. When she graduated in 1992, she won the best undergraduate thesis award with her work titled "The Success of Political Voters: American Politics is Being Shaped." She later completed her doctorate in political science at Harvard. She is known for her research on race and identity politics, especially regarding African Americans.

Claudine Gay (born August 4, 1970) is a political scientist and professor serving as the 30th president of Harvard University. Assuming office in 2023, she became the university's first black president 368 years after its founding. Prior to becoming the university's president, she served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies. Gay's research addresses American political behavior, including voter turnout and politics of race and identity.

In June 2022, Harvard University announced that its president, Larry Bacow, would resign from her position within a year. A search committee led by Harvard Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker evaluated 600 candidates and selected Gay as Bacow's replacement in one of the shortest presidential search committees in the university's history.

When she entered Harvard at the age of 22, she brought only a Mac computer and a cast-iron skillet to cook Haitian cuisine into her dormitory. In those years, there were only two female professors in Harvard's 57 faculties. This young man, who conducted political studies on race studies, is now seen as the person who destroyed Harvard's 'ivory tower' image. As a matter of fact, Gay emphasized this in her speech: “The idea of an ivory tower in the academy is a thing of the past. We are not outside society, we are part of it. And that means Harvard has a duty to serve the world. “I now see a university that is even more connected to the world.” Academic circles interpreted these words as "Harvard seems to have found its new leader."