Amy Gutmann

Gutmann, the only woman on the short list, is currently the director of the Center for Human Values at Princeton. She easily meets the criterion of interest and experience in undergraduate education. She has written several books on education reform, advocated tenure reform and embraced faculty diversity during her short stint as Princeton's Dean of the Faculty. Gutmann's efforts to engage undergraduates and to promote the progress of women in the sciences indicate her concern for the undergraduate experience. Furthermore, Gutmann is a renowned scholar in her field. Though she is not as well-known in the political arena as Bollinger or Summers, her work at the Center for Human Values has equipped her well for the national stage. She has more experience at Harvard than any candidate except Fineberg; she attended Harvard as an undergraduate, received her doctorate here, served as a visiting professor at the Kennedy School and has a daughter who is currently an undergraduate.

Lawrence H. Summers

Summers has strong academic and political credentials. An academic superstar, he received his doctorate in economics from Harvard and at 28 became the youngest tenured professor in Harvard history. His rise to the post of Treasury Secretary during the Clinton Administration was equally swift and marked with success. A major participant in the Mexican bailout, he is a respected thinker on issues of globalization. Though Summers is well-connected in Washington, there is little indication that undergraduate education is his primary interest. And while he has a broad view of education from a global perspective, his views on specific issues of pedagogy and higher education are unknown.