Bane named academic dean at KSG

Mary Jo Bane, Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management, has been named the new academic dean at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (KSG). Bane will succeed Stephen M. Walt, who served in the role over the past four years. The appointment began July 1.

As academic dean, Bane will oversee all the major academic operations of the School including curriculum, workloads, and faculty budgets, and will oversee operations of the Faculty Steering Committee. She will also continue serving as area chair for management and leadership.

“Mary Jo Bane has made vital contributions to scholarship and practice and has long been a part of the School,” said David T. Ellwood, dean of KSG. “Her intellectual work has ranged from public management and the role of religion in society to poverty and social policy. I am confident that she will do a superb job in her new role.”

Bane came to the Kennedy School in 1981, and served as director of the School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy from 1987 to 1992. From 1992 to 1993 she worked as commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services, and from 1993 to 1996 she served as assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is the author of numerous books and articles on poverty, welfare, families, and the role of churches in public life.

“The mission of the Kennedy School is to make the world a better place, through excellent teaching, rigorous research, and public engagement,” said Bane. “I’m proud to be part of the School and I welcome the challenge of serving the School and its mission as academic dean.”

Ellwood has also named William Hogan, Raymond Plank Professor of Global Energy Policy, as chairman of the School’s new appointments committee. In this role, Hogan will oversee and support all work on new academic appointments and promotions and manage the selection process for new faculty of all types and the reviews of existing junior and fixed-term faculty including lecturers.

Hogan serves as research director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG), which is developing alternative strategies for a more competitive electricity market, and as director of the Repsol YPF-Harvard Kennedy School Fellows Program in Energy Policy. His research focus includes major energy industry restructuring, network pricing and access issues, market design, and privatization in nations worldwide. He is affiliated with the School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.

“Bill Hogan has been at the forefront of scholarly and practical efforts to move toward a more competitive electricity market in the U.S. and around the world,” said Ellwood. “His ideas have played a central role in many of the current innovations in energy policy now taking place around the world.”