Lawrence Bacow

Lawrence Bacow
Official Portrait, 2018
29th President of Harvard University
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2018
Preceded by	Drew Gilpin Faust
12th President of Tufts University
In office September 1, 2001 – July 29, 2011
Preceded by	John A. DiBiaggio
Succeeded by	Anthony Monaco
3rd Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
In office August 1, 1998 – June 30, 2001
President	Charles M. Vest
Preceded by	Paul E. Gray
Succeeded by	Phillip Clay
Personal details
Born	Lawrence Seldon Bacow (1951-08-24) August 24, 1951 (age 70) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Adele Fleet Bacow
Children	2
Residence	Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB) Harvard University (JD, MPP, PhD)
Occupation	Lawyer, economist, and college administrator
Academic background
Thesis	Regulating occupational hazards through collective bargaining (1978)
Academic work
Discipline	Public policy
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tufts University Harvard University

Lawrence "Larry" Seldon Bacow (/ˈbæˌkaʊ/; born August 24, 1951) is an American lawyer, economist, author and university administrator, and the current and 29th president of Harvard University. He took office on July 1, 2018, succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust. Before assuming the presidency, Bacow was the Hauser leader-in-residence at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was previously at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has been a member of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, one of the university's governing boards, since 2011.

Bacow began his academic career in 1977 as a professor of environmental studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.^[1] At MIT, he became chair of his department and chancellor of the university. From 2001 to 2011, Bacow served as the 12th President of Tufts University.

Early life and education[]

Bacow was born on August 24, 1951, in Detroit, Michigan, to Jewish parents. His mother emigrated from Europe at age 19 after World War II and was the only member of her family to survive Auschwitz. His father was brought to the United States from Belarus as a child to escape pogroms.^[2] Bacow grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, and was a part of the Boy Scouts of America; he became an Eagle Scout. The organization gave him the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award later in life.^[3][4]

Bacow attended Andover High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.^[5] He then received his S.B. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, his M.P.P. from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his Ph.D. in public policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.^[6][7]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology[]

Bacow began his academic career at MIT. He served as a professor there for 24 years, ultimately being appointed department chair and chancellor. Upon completion of graduate school in 1977, he returned to MIT to teach in the department of urban studies and planning, becoming the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies. He was the co-founder and first director of MIT's Center for Real Estate. As chancellor, he oversaw undergraduate and graduate education, student life, admissions, financial aid, athletics, campus planning, and MIT's large-scale industrial and international partnerships.^[8] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.^[9]

Tufts University[]

On September 1, 2001, Bacow was elected the 12th president of Tufts University.^[10]

While president of Tufts, Bacow opposed the unionization efforts of graduate students as well as those of the university's technical and clerical employees.^[11][12] On February 8, 2010, in an email to the student body, he announced that he would be stepping down as president in June 2011. On March 1, 2010, President Barack Obama announced Bacow's appointment to the board of advisors for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.^[13] Bacow received $2,182,717 in compensation in 2011.^[14]

Harvard University[]

On May 25, 2011, Bacow was named a member of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, one of the boards tasked with guiding Harvard University's endeavors and initiatives.^[15] Thus, for about a month, until his resignation from Tufts, he had governance responsibilities at both Tufts and Harvard.

After Bacow was mentioned in The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2006 as a possible candidate to succeed Lawrence Summers as president of Harvard University, Tufts's public relations director issued a statement asserting that Bacow was "happy" at Tufts and came there with the expectation that the Tufts presidency "would be his last position and that’s still his expectation.”^[16]

On February 11, 2018, it was announced that Bacow was to become the 29th president of Harvard University on July 1, 2018, succeeding Drew Gilpin Faust.^[17][18] Chosen out of 700 candidates, he was considered a "safe" successor to Faust.^[10]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 24, 2020, Bacow and his wife tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.^[19] In a discussion with the Harvard Gazette, Bacow described surprise at the diagnosis, claiming he and his wife had been completely isolated in their house for close to ten days before experiencing symptoms.^[20] But subsequent investigation and interviews by the university's student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, found that the Bacows had actually asked Harvard custodians to clean their house well into the first wave of the pandemic for four hours, twice a week, up until ten days after Harvard shut down and three days before they began experiencing symptoms.^[21] Shortly after the Bacows tested positive for COVID-19, both custodians also began experiencing symptoms of the disease.^[21]

Personal life[]

Bacow is an avid runner, with five marathons under his belt.^[22][23] He and his wife, Adele Fleet Bacow, president of Community Partners Consultants, an urban planning firm, have two sons, Jay (b. 1980)^[24] and Ken.^[25]

See also[]

• List of Harvard University people
• List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
• List of Tufts University people

References[]

External links[]

• Harvard profile
• Lawrence S. Bacow biography - Tufts University
• The President's Marathon Challenge
• Larry Bacow Playlist Appearance on WMBR's Dinnertime Sampler radio show April 27, 2005