Drew Faust the 28th president of Harvard University, announced that she will step down on June 30, 2018. Dr. Faust is the first woman to serve as president of the nation’s oldest university.
In a statement to the Harvard community announcing her decision, President Fault said “I am deeply grateful to every member of this community for the honor of being your president and for the support and, indeed, joy you have given me.”
Dr. Faust became president of Harvard University in July 2007. At the time of her appointment, she was serving as the founding dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Before coming to Radcliffe in 2001, Dr. Faust was Annenberg Professor of History and director of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served for 25 years on the faculty.
A historian of the Civil War and the American South, Professor Faust is the author of six books including This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008).
Dr. Faust is a magna cum laude graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania.