Drew Faust, who stepped down as the 28th president of Harvard University on June 30, 2018 was appointed a University Professor at Harvard. She joins 24 other scholars who currently serve as University Professors at Harvard. The professorships were established in 1935 and are the highest faculty rank at the university.
Dr. Faust is the first woman to serve as president of the nation’s oldest university. She 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.