"I remember Bok tearing his Achilles tendon playing basketball with The Crimson," he says.

Home to Washington

The long-haired future flack started out as a history concentrator intent on law and earned his professional degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979. Rowe spent the next 15 years learning the ins and outs of his hometown of Washington D.C.

Rowe served as Chief Counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and, later, as Chief Counsel for the U.S. House Budget Committee's Task force on Urgent Fiscal Issues. He also worked as a private attorney in New York and Washington, D.C. and was a partner in the firm of Corcoran, Youngman and Rowe.

While working as a lawyer in Congress, Rowe occupied himself with gun control and crime prevention. After becoming a vice president in NBC's Washington, D.C. office, he oversaw legal, regulatory and legislative matters for the network.

Rowe says some of his most valuable work with the "More You Know campaign," in which television stars and celebrities advised young viewers on matters such as gun control.

NBC used "anybody who could focus the eyeballs of young viewers," Rowe says.

His NBC post important, he says, because of the central role of television in shaping public opinion.

"We were the service that is most universal and we're free," he says.

Rowe's experience as a member of Washington's media and political apparatus made him a strong candidate for the job. Harvard officials who have worked with him in the nation's capital say few can approach his knowledge of Congress or public relations.

That knowledge could come in handy during the next year, as health care, funding for space research and other issues dear to Harvard come before Congress.

University officials are particularly concerned that any health care reform could cut back subsidies for research and training. New federal standards on health care coverage could also affect Harvard as an employer.

"He did come on board at a time when there are a lot of things on board in Washington," says Kevin Casey, Harvard's director of federal and state relations.

Casey says it is fortunate that Rowe joined the office during as election year. A Congressional recess for the campaign season will give Rowe and his new colleagues time to brainstorm new lobbying strategies and to review upcoming higher education legislation, Casey says.

"One of the things I've experienced with him is a lot of actute political insight and knowledge about the Washington, D.C. scene," Casey says. "And that's something I'm looking forward to working with."