Drew Gilpin Faust

Drew Gilpin Faust
Name	Drew Gilpin Faust
Caption	28th President of Harvard University
Birth name	Catharine Drew Gilpin
Birth date	18 September 1947
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Bryn Mawr College (BA), University of Pennsylvania (MA, PhD)
Spouse	Charles E. Rosenberg, 1980
Known for	Historian of the American Civil War and the American South; first female president of Harvard University
Office	28th President of Harvard University
Term start	July 1, 2007
Term end	June 30, 2018
Predecessor	Lawrence Summers
Successor	Lawrence Bacow

Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian and academic administrator who served as the 28th President of Harvard University, the first woman to hold that position. A leading scholar of the American Civil War and the American South, her academic career was centered at the University of Pennsylvania before her appointment to lead Harvard University. Her presidency focused on expanding financial aid, fostering interdisciplinary research, and overseeing the university's recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

Early life and education

Catharine Drew Gilpin was born in New York City and raised in Clarke County, Virginia, on her family's estate, Mildendo. Her father, McGhee Tyson Gilpin, was a Thoroughbred horse breeder, and her mother, Catharine Mellick Gilpin, was an advocate for traditional Southern social structures. She attended the all-girls Concord Academy in Massachusetts, where she began to question the racial and gender norms of her upbringing. For her undergraduate studies, she chose Bryn Mawr College, a prominent Seven Sisters institution, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1968. She then pursued graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Master of Arts in 1971 and a Doctor of Philosophy in American civilization in 1975.

Academic career

Faust began her teaching career as an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, quickly rising through the ranks. She was appointed the Stanley I. Sheerr Professor of History in 1989 and later served as the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University from 2001 to 2007. During her tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, she also directed the Women's Studies Program and chaired the Department of History. Her scholarly work established her as a major figure in the historiography of the American Civil War, particularly through her examinations of Confederate ideology, Southern women, and the experience of death.

Presidency of Harvard University

Following the controversial resignation of Lawrence Summers, Faust was elected the 28th president of Harvard University in 2007, becoming the first woman to lead the Ivy League institution since its founding in 1636. Her presidency navigated the severe impact of the global financial crisis on the university's endowment, leading to significant budgetary reforms. Key initiatives included a major expansion of financial aid through the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which increased access for middle- and low-income families. She also presided over the launch of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and championed interdisciplinary projects like the Paulson School and the Harvard Global Institute. Her tenure concluded in 2018, after which she was succeeded by Lawrence Bacow.

Scholarship and publications

Faust is a prolific author whose scholarship critically re-examines the American Civil War and antebellum society. Her first book, A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (1977), analyzed pro-slavery thought. Her groundbreaking work, Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996), won the Francis Parkman Prize and the Avery O. Craven Award. Her most acclaimed publication, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (2008), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Bancroft Prize. Other notable works include The Creation of Confederate Nationalism (1982) and James Henry Hammond and the Old South (1982).

Awards and honors

Throughout her career, Faust has received numerous prestigious awards for both her scholarship and leadership. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society. Her book This Republic of Suffering earned the Bancroft Prize, the Lincoln Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2011, she was listed among Time magazine's 100 most influential people. She has also been awarded honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.

Personal life

Faust has been married to Charles E. Rosenberg, a noted historian of medicine and professor at Harvard University, since 1980. They have two daughters. She is a direct descendant of Jonathan Edwards, the prominent First Great Awakening theologian, and of Otho Holland Williams, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. An accomplished equestrian in her youth, she maintains a connection to her Virginia roots while residing in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Category:American historians Category:American university and college presidents Category:Harvard University faculty Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:1947 births Category:Living people