Like a kid fresh from Santa's lap, Dean of the Kennedy School Joseph S. Nye announced yesterday that the Kennedy School is getting exactly what it wants for Christmas--the return of Mary Jo Bane, the former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Nye said that Bane, who left her position as Weiner professor of social policy in 1994, will return to the faculty as a professor of public policy on Jan. 1.

"Few people understand the complex economic, social and political dynamics affecting poverty in America better than Mary Jo Bane," Nye said in a statement. "She's a tremendous source of insight and experience for the Kennedy School, and we are very fortunate to have her back."

As the assistant secretary, Bane helped oversee the department's $30 billion in programs such as Head Start, Foster Care and Adoption Assistance and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

Bane left the Clinton administration on Sept. 28 in response to President Clinton's signing of a controversial welfare overhaul ending the guarantee of cash assistance to the nation's poorest children.

Although Bane did not achieve the kind of welfare reform she had envisioned, Nye said in an interview last night that Bane's work in Washington and in New York as the commissioner of social services has only enriched her.

Until recently, Bane has declined to speculate on a possible return to academia.

Now that she has made her decision, she said she is eager to get back to the classroom to teach courses in public sector management.

"There is nothing more important in these times of tremendous need of public action combined with skepticism about government than training the next generation of public managers and policy analysts," Bane said in a press release. "The Kennedy School is the best place in the country to do that, and I am delighted to be rejoining its distinguished to be rejoining its distinguished faculty."

Bane returns to the Kennedy School on the heels of both Nye, who served as the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Kennedy School Academic Dean David T. Ellwood, who was also an assistant secretary at HHS during Clinton's first term.

Ellwood and Bane have worked together for years. During the 1980s, they teamed up to work on a number or articles, including a well-known study of poverty in America.

Nye said he hopes that Ellwood, Bane and a host of other social policy superstars will contribute to what he called a "world-class center" at the Kennedy School