Drew Gilpin Faust, the noted historian and outgoing president of Harvard University, has been selected to receive the 2018 John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity at the Library of Congress on September 12.
The Kluge Prize recognizes individuals whose outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences has shaped public affairs and civil society. The prize highlights the value of researchers who communicate beyond the scholarly community and have had a major impact on social and political issues. Winners of the prize receive $1 million.
After being told of the honor, Dr. Faust stated that “I am deeply honored to receive the Kluge Prize and would like to thank the Library of Congress for this recognition and for the vital mission it pursues on behalf of our nation. The humanities and social sciences have never been more important to our understanding of society and the increasingly connected world we inhabit. They allow us to see the world through the eyes of others, to understand the common hopes and aspirations we share, to cultivate judgement and discernment, and to identify and pursue the questions that must animate our pursuit of a better future.”
Dr. Faust became the 28th 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. She is the only woman to serve as president of Harvard. Before coming to Radcliffe in 2001, Dr. Faust was the Annenberg Professor of History and director of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served on the faculty for 25 years.
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.