Former Indianapolis mayor joins KSG faculty

Stephen Goldsmith, former two-term mayor of Indianapolis (1992-1999), has been named professor of the practice of public management at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

Goldsmith will also serve as faculty director of the Innovations in American Government program, one of the nation’s premier public sector awards programs, which recognizes and rewards innovative government initiatives across the country. The program is housed at the Institute for Government Innovation, established earlier this year by an endowment from the Ford Foundation and based at the Kennedy School.

“The Kennedy School is pleased to add someone of Stephen Goldsmith’s caliber to our faculty,” said Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. “Our Innovations program, whose mission it is to foster the development and spread of creative and effective government programs, will benefit tremendously from his breadth of experience as a public leader, policy adviser, private sector consultant, and scholar.”

“I am honored and delighted to play a role both as professor at Harvard and as faculty director of the Innovations in American Government program,” Goldsmith said. “The Institute for Government Innovation, financed by the $50 million endowment from the Ford Foundation, will ensure that this unique and important program will always be associated with high quality government performance.”

As mayor of Indianapolis, Goldsmith developed a national reputation for outstanding innovations in government. He is credited with reducing city spending while increasing government efficiency, putting more police officers on the street, and implementing a $1.3 billion infrastructure improvement program. Prior to his election as mayor, Goldsmith served as Marion County district attorney for 13 years. He also served as chief trial deputy and deputy corporation counsel for the city of Indianapolis.

“Mayor Goldsmith’s experience and national reputation as an innovative elected official will further the aims of the Innovations program among Kennedy School students and faculty,” said Gail Christopher, executive director, Institute for Government Innovation.

In recent months, Goldsmith has been a special advisor to President Bush on faith-based and not-for-profit initiatives and served as chief domestic policy adviser to the Bush campaign. He has also worked as management consultant for Lockheed Martin IMS and has served as chairman of the Corporation for National Science and chairman of the Center for Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute.

Goldsmith is a graduate of Wabash College (A.B. 1968; honorary doctor of laws, 1993) and the University of Michigan (J.D. 1971). He has taught previously at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Indiana University.