President and Fellows of Harvard College
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The President and Fellows of Harvard College (also known as the Harvard Corporation) is the more fundamental of Harvard University's two governing boards. (The other is the Harvard Board of Overseers.) On 9 June 1650, at the request of President Henry Dunster, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts (i.e., the colonial legislature) issued the body's charter, making it the oldest corporation in the western hemisphere. In fact, due to the history of the Haravrd Corporation, its set of laws is written into the laws of the Commonwealth of Masechussets. (Note that although Harvard is today generally referred to as a "University" the corporation's legal title still formally refers to "Harvard College.")
When it was originally founded, the corporation was probably intended to be a body of the college's resident instructors, like the fellows of an Oxbridge college. However, from an early date it instead fell into what has become the familiar American model of a governing board -- an outside body, made up mostly of people not involved in Harvard's daily life, which meets regularly to consult with the day-to-day head, the president (whom it appoints). It is self-perpetuating, selecting new members for itself whenever a vacancy opens; in recent years it has always comprised six fellows in addition to the president.
Current Fellows
There are currently six members of the Corporation, one of whom is Lawrence Summers. In December, Patricia A. King, a law professor at Georgetown and graduate of Harvard Law School, was selected to replace Conrad K. Harper, but she will not take her seat until May 2006. The degrees that each received from a school of Harvard University are also shown below.
Lawrence Summers President, Harvard University Ph.D., 1982 (resigned Feb. 21, 2006, effective June 30, 2006)
James Houghton Chairman of the Board of Directors, Corning Incorporated A.B., 1958, MBA, 1962
Nannerl Keohane Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
Robert Reischauer President, The Urban Institute A.B., 1963
James Rotheberg President and Director, Capital Research and Management Company A.B., 1968, M.B.A., 1970
Robert Rubin Director, Chair of the Executive Committee, Citigroup A.B., 1960; LL.D. (honorary), 2001
External links
- The President and Fellows
- Governance of the University from The Harvard Guide