“It’s important for Harvard and the American academy in general to acknowledge the great contributions that African-American scholars have made,” Dawson said. “It’s important that the [Afro-American studies] department continue to receive the strong institutional support that it’s received in the past.”

Dawson said he was happy at the University of Chicago but the better job prospects in the Boston area for both him and his wife, epidemiologist Alice Furumoto-Dawson, were a factor in luring him to Cambridge.

In addition to his expertise in political science, Dawson worked as an engineer and programmer for nine years in Silicon Valley.

He teaches a class at Chicago called “Democracy and the Information Technology Revolution” and said that he plans to teach a similar class at Harvard.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Jonathan H. Esensten can be reached at esensten@fas.harvard.edu.