Archive: 2020

November 9, 2020 To the Harvard Kennedy School Community,As you know, all of the major U.S. news organizations have estimated that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won a majority of the popular vote and will win a majority of votes in the Electoral…

October 28, 2020 To the Harvard Kennedy School Community, Elections offer choices, and in doing so they can heighten tensions between people who have different understandings of how the world is and different views of how the world should be. The…

October 20, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and Fellows, I hope you are all well and safe, despite the many challenges in the world. The pandemic and other public problems have turned many people’s worlds…

October 9, 2020 We live in a time of great peril and great promise in the public sphere. The peril is clear. We face an array of public challenges: the challenge of the pandemic; the challenge of managing international conflicts in peaceful ways;…

September 24, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf To the Members of the Harvard Kennedy School Community,As I wrote to you last month, the terrible toll of climate change and environmental degradation is one of the profound public challenges…

September 3, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf At Harvard Kennedy School, fostering a diverse and inclusive community where everyone feels they belong is a matter of basic fairness consistent with our core values as an institution. It is…

August 31, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf Welcome to a new academic year!Every year at this time, I am excited about the year we are embarking on. Despite the current circumstances, this year is no exception. Indeed, the many challenges…

August 17, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf I am saddened to announce the passing of Dan Fenn, a long-time member of the Harvard community who taught in the HKS Executive Education program for more than 40 years.Dan demonstrated a profound…

July 18, 2020 A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf The United States and the world have lost one of the great public leaders of our time. I am deeply saddened by the death of Congressman John Lewis, who passed away yesterday, of cancer, at the age…

June 18, 2020 Note: A few details from this message that were relevant only for members of the HKS community have been removed. To the Kennedy School Community, Like many of you, I am feeling profound sadness and deep anger about the brutal…