Claudine Gay

Claudine Gay Overview

Claudine Gay, the 30th president of Harvard University, made history in 2023 by becoming the institution's first black president, marking a significant milestone 368 years after its establishment. Before assuming this role, Gay served as the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and held professorial positions in Government and African-American Studies. Her academic research focuses on American political behavior, particularly voter turnout and the politics of race and identity.

Born to Haitian immigrants, Gay's upbringing was shaped by her parents' migration to the United States, where they met in New York City while pursuing their studies—her mother in nursing and her father in engineering. She spent her formative years alternating between New York City and Saudi Arabia, where her father worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and her mother pursued her career as a registered nurse. Notably, Gay is related to acclaimed writer Roxane Gay.

Her educational journey began at Phillips Exeter Academy, a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire, followed by her undergraduate studies in economics at Stanford University, where she received recognition for her exceptional thesis. She completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1998, earning accolades for producing the university's best dissertation in political science, the Toppan Prize.