Prof. Eric Lander named as likely shortlist candidate for Harvard president
Lander: ‘I fully expect to be teaching 7.012 at MIT next fall’
Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley named Eric Lander, MIT biology professor and Broad Institute president, as a candidate who is “almost certainly” on the shortlist for Harvard’s next president, The Harvard Crimson reported earlier this month.
Daley did not have “direct knowledge of the search, though he has been formally and informally consulted by the search committee,” The Crimson continued.
“I was surprised to learn that speculation by someone who said they had no knowledge of the process was even being reported,” Lander wrote in an email to The Tech Sunday. “For my part, I fully expect to be teaching 7.012 at MIT next fall and continuing to be doing science!”
The current shortlist is expected to contain fewer than 20 names.
Lander was also named as one of the scientists in consideration to be added to the list of finalists for Harvard president in 2007, according to previous coverage by The Crimson. That search process ended with the selection of Drew Faust, Harvard’s current president and an American historian, who will step down in June 2018.