October 2023 marked the inauguration of Claudine Gay, an American political scientist, as the new president of Harvard University. This historic event positioned her as the first Black individual and only the second woman to assume the leadership of this esteemed institution. In her inaugural address, Gay expressed the gravity and honor of being a trailblazer, stating, “I stand before you on this stage with the weight and the honor of being a first.”
During her speech, she conveyed humility in the face of leading Harvard, acknowledging the trust placed in her and drawing inspiration from the commitment of the Harvard community to higher education. Gay highlighted the university’s historical courage to challenge the status quo and envision a better world.
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Born in 1970 in New York to Haitian immigrants, Claudine Gay succeeded Lawrence Bacow. Prior to her presidency, she served as an assistant professor at Stanford and later assumed the role of Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). Her husband, Christopher C. Afendulis, is employed as an information systems analyst at Stanford University’s Department of Health Research and Policy. Afendulis, a political science PhD from Harvard, specializes in the economics of health care, focusing on Medicare and Medicaid programs, long-term care, and the impact of managed care on the health care system. The couple, who have a son born in 2006, share a commitment to academia and public service.
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