Former Massachusetts Governor Will Now Teach At Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, MA — Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will be joining Harvard Kennedy School as a professor, the school said Tuesday.

Patrick served as the state's first Black governor from 2007 to 2015 and will be teaching at his alma mater this winter, as a professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. He will be co-director of the school's Center for Public Leadership, the school said in a statement.

"This co-director structure combines a long-time faculty member's scholarly expertise on the development of public leaders with an eminent practitioner's experience in the demanding practice of public leadership," said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf.

Patrick ran for president in 2020, but he suspended his presidential campaign on February 12, 2020, after not receiving any delegates in the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire presidential primary.

The Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate was nominated in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights.

A senior advisor at Bain Capital, Patrick previously worked as an attorney at Coca-Cola and Texaco, at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and during the Clinton administration as assistant attorney general for civil rights.

"With the scale and scope of the challenges facing humankind, the world needs conscientious, dedicated leaders at every level in every sector, people willing to spend their 'political' capital, not just accumulate it. I am looking forward to working alongside and encouraging leaders like that at the Kennedy School," Patrick said in a statement.