"Somehow I made it--it's not easy," he says.
Narayanamurti says Harvard's first problem is that it doesn't do enough to recruit minority and women faculty members.
"Maybe they have to be looking more and more on the outside," he says. "Harvard clearly should be able to find people no matter what. Certainly in the sciences and engineering you could find Asians--in other fields you can find women."
Narayanamurti says he works hard in his department to create a faculty that is diverse and that could lead to minority deanships from within.
"What we do want is an increasing number of women and minorities on the faculties," he says. "We are very conscious of looking at that."
He blames the low numbers on a lack of minority mentors already in place.
"You learn from your peers," he says. "You've got to build a pipeline at all levels."