Harvard University inaugurates its first black president

In a historic first, Harvard University in the United States inaugurated new president Claudine Gay on Friday 29 September, the first black person and second woman to lead the university, writes Mitchell McCluskey for CNN.

Gay is the 30th president since Harvard University’s founding in 1640. Gay received her PhD in government from Harvard in 1998 and joined the Harvard faculty in 2006. She received the Toppan Prize for best dissertation in political science, according to the Harvard Gazette.

The Harvard Corporation, the university’s principal governing board, elected Gay after an intensive search. “Claudine is a person of bedrock integrity,” outgoing president Lawrence Bacow said in the Harvard Gazette. “She will provide Harvard with the strong moral compass necessary to lead this great university. The search committee has made an inspired choice for our 30th president. Under Claudine Gay’s leadership, Harvard’s future is very bright.”
Full report on the CNN site