Quincy House.

Quincy House is one of five Houses that will welcome new faculty deans.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard file photo

Campus & Community

College names new faculty deans for five Houses

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Taking the helm at Eliot, Winthrop, Kirkland, Quincy, and Cabot

Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College, announced the appointments of new faculty deans for five Houses: Ian Jared Miller and Crate Herbert to Cabot, Eric Beerbohm and Leslie Duhaylongsod to Quincy, Stephen Chong and Kiran Gajwani to Winthrop, Stephanie Paulsell and Kevin Madigan to Eliot, and David Deming and Janine Santimauro to Kirkland. All will take their posts July 1.

“I am delighted to welcome our new Faculty Deans,” Khurana said. “I know that each of them will bring remarkable compassion, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm to our House communities. Our residential Houses play a critical role in bringing together a diverse, intergenerational community from different backgrounds and points of view. Our collective purpose has never been more important, and we are so fortunate to be appointing Faculty Deans who will help us build welcoming and inclusive communities for students to live and learn together.”

Stephen Chong and Kiran Gajwani.
Winthrop House Faculty Deans Stephen Chong and Kiran Gajwani with 5-month-old son Bodhi and dog Annie. Photo by Amanda Macchia Photography

Stephen Chong and Kiran Gajwani

Chong is a Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). He is also co-director of undergraduate studies for computer science. Chong received his Ph.D. from Cornell University (where he and Gajwani met), and his bachelor’s from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Gajwani is a lecturer/adviser and associate director of undergraduate advising in economics, where she teaches development economics and a senior thesis research seminar. She earned her undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and her Ph.D. in applied economics from Cornell.

“We are really excited to get to know the Winthrop community, learn their traditions, and create new ways to honor the community,” said Chong, who described feeling “honored, excited, and humbled” at the new role. “Given the current state of the world, we think it’s an especially important time to be part of helping the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and creators navigate through these difficult times — and for us to be able to learn with and from the students.”

Gajwani said the Economics Department’s work during the past 10 years to revamp advising and the undergraduate program to provide more personalized attention to students and concentrators strengthened her “belief in the importance of high-quality guidance and mentorship during students’ college years.

“The value I place on advising and mentoring students largely comes from the enormous benefit I have received from caring advisers and mentors in my own life, especially during my undergraduate years. Additionally, my dad instilled in me a huge appreciation for the value of education. I genuinely believe that care for and mentorship of students — especially during college — can have lifelong impacts,” she said.

The couple will live in Winthrop with their 5-month-old son, Bodhi, and beloved dog, Annie.


Ian Jared Miller, Crete Herbert, and Lian Herbert.
Cabot House Faculty Deans Ian Jared Miller and Crate Herbert with son Lian Herbert. Photo Courtesy of Ian Jared Miller and Crate Herbert

Ian Jared Miller and Crate Herbert

Miller is a professor of history and affiliate professor in the departments of History of Science and East Asian Languages and Civilizations. The chair of the Program in History and East Asian Languages (HEAL), his research is focused on the history of energy and environment in Japan and East Asia.

Miller served as director of undergraduate studies in the History Department and will return to the role in 2021. His current forthcoming books include “Fueling Tokyo: Japan in the Age of Global Energy” and as co-editor, “Oceanic Japan: The Archipelago in Pacific and Global History.” He and Herbert consider Japan their second home.

In her role as executive director of development for SEAS, Herbert works closely with colleagues in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the University, providing strategic leadership for all SEAS development activities. She previously served in a number of leadership roles within FAS development during her 13 years at Harvard. Before her time in higher education, she enjoyed an international singing career in opera and oratorio. Her interest in fundraising began at Women at Risk, a high-risk breast cancer program at Columbia University Medical Center, which funded research and resources for uninsured patients in New York City.

We see the deanships as powerful mechanisms in creating a Harvard that is capable not merely of accommodating difference but of becoming different,” Miller said. “Harvard is in the midst of a massive cultural shift. We are asking ourselves what parts of the culture should endure while other symbols or traditions require shedding or reframing for the University to remain a beacon of excellence — for everyone. It is a troubling, challenging time, and we want to contribute.”

Added Herbert: “We are humbled by this appointment, especially in these difficult times, and we are eager to work with the Cabot community to find ways to move forward together. The Cabot motto, Semper cor, or ‘Always heart,’ has never felt more urgent. We are excited by the job, which will be as fun as it is important, and honored to be able to step into a community that is so mindful and intentional.”

Miller is a serious cook while Herbert loves to dance. Both are giant Celtics fans and will live in Cabot with their 15-year-old son, Liam, who loves basketball and video games; their dog, Sadie; and their lap cat, Hoot.


David Deming and Jeanine Santimauro.
Kirkland House Faculty Deans David Deming and Janine Santimauro.

David Deming and Janine Santimauro

Deming is a professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he is also the faculty director of the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. Deming attended Ohio State University for his undergraduate studies; University of California, Berkeley, for his master’s; and received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. This former Buckeye’s research focuses on higher education, economic inequality, skills, technology, and the future of the labor market. He is a principal investigator at Opportunity Insight’s CLIMB Initiative, a program that studies the role of higher education in social mobility and how to improve it. Deming recently won the David N. Kershaw Prize, awarded biannually to scholars under the age of 40 who have made distinguished contributions to public policy and management.

Santimauro is the vice president of network development and strategic partnerships at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she helps improve access to pediatric specialty care in the New England region. Before that she was the executive director of Boston Children’s Heart Center. Santimauro has 20 years of health care strategy, management, and policy experience at the local and national levels. She graduated from Villanova University with a B.S. in business administration and finance, and holds master’s degrees in public policy and public health from U.C. Berkeley, where she and Deming met.;

“Joining the wonderful community of students, tutors, and staff at Kirkland is a dream come true,” Deming said. “Working closely with students is the most delightful and rewarding part of my job as a faculty member. The Faculty Deanship means that we can deepen our connections to students and to the larger Harvard community. Janine and I can’t wait to get started.”

Along with bringing their children, Maia, 10, and Serena, 8, to Kirkland, the pair hope to welcome a puppy to the House family in the fall. 


Eric Beerbohm and Leslie Duhaylongsod
Quincy House Faculty Deans Eric Beerbohm and Leslie Duhaylongsod. Photo by Tricia Saxler

Eric Beerbohm and Leslie Duhaylongsod

Beerbohm is professor of government and a faculty affiliate in the Department of Philosophy. He chairs the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies and was founding director of the Undergraduate Fellowship Program at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. His research focuses on theories of democracy, equality, and political ethics, and he is currently completing a book on the distinct threat that gaslighting poses to democratic citizenship and systems.

Duhaylongsod is an assistant professor in secondary and higher education at the School of Education at Salem State University, where she helps lead efforts to recruit and retain students of color in teacher licensure programs. Her research interests include the implementation of innovative curriculum and professional learning in science, social studies, and civics. Previously, she spent nine years as a middle school teacher.

“Our whole family is excited to get to know the students, the House team, and Quincy’s rich and offbeat traditions. Conversing with our remarkable students about big and small things will be a source of energy and hope for us. We look forward to engaging in everything from IMs to the Philosophical Society to the InQlusivity initiative. We also want to help strengthen Quincy’s capacity to meet the needs of the students in these challenging times,” said Beerbohm.

Added Duhaylongsod: “We were struck by the distinctive way that Harvard Houses serve as sites of both intellectual and social transformation. We come from very different backgrounds, culturally and socio-economically. Stanford’s community service dorm (where we met as undergraduates) connected us. As faculty deans, we want to help foster a community where students form meaningful connections with others who are not like them.”

They love to play sports, read, hike, and look for frogs with their sons, Justin, 9, and Nate, 5.


evin Madigan and Stephanie Paulsell.
Eliot House Faculty Deans Kevin Madigan and Stephanie Paulsell. Photo by Amanda Madigan

Stephanie Paulsell and Kevin Madigan

Paulsell is the Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies at Harvard Divinity School and the Interim Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church. Born and raised in North Carolina, Paulsell is a scholar of religion and literature and has been teaching at Harvard Divinity School since 2001. Her recent publications focus on novelists Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison and their engagement with religion in their work. This summer, she’s working with Eliot House junior Elizabeth Propst on a project on medieval women writers.

Madigan, the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, has been at Harvard since 2000. He is a historian of fascism, anti-Semitism, and the history of Christianity. Madigan earned his bachelor’s from the College of the Holy Cross, his master’s in English at the University of Virginia, and an additional master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He teaches a popular course on the Holocaust for first-year students and began teaching it as a general education course last year. Madigan was among the “Favorite Professors” designated by the Class of 2020 in this year’s yearbook.

“The Eliot students we’ve gotten to know over the years have always spoken so lovingly of their House, and the students and staff we met during the search process were full of great ideas for the Eliot community as we move together through this pivotal moment in history,” Paulsell said. “We want to help create a welcoming and lively home for students — a place where they can relax, be present to and for one another, pursue their interests and aspirations, and connect with others within Harvard and beyond its gates.”

“I have been tinkering with the idea of researching and writing, with interested students, a short history of Eliot House,” said Madigan, who looks forward to joining students on the Ultimate Frisbee field and basketball court. “I mean, can you imagine the market for that?”

The new Eliot deans enjoy spending time with their daughter, Amanda, who just graduated from Brown University and will be attending Harvard Law School in the fall, and their Abyssinian cat named Ringo.