South Asian political specialist Gower Rizvi took over as director of the Kennedy School of Government’s (KSG) Institute for Government Innovation Tuesday, and quickly announced plans to construct a long-term vision for the fledgling institute.

Rizvi said he will work with the Harvard Faculty to forge a new set of research priorities for the institute, giving it both a more international focus and a greater public presence.

Before being tapped for the directorship in May, Rizvi worked as the Ford Foundation’s representative in India and served as the special assistant to the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan from 1988-1990. Previously, he had taught South Asian politics in British universities—including Oxford— for nearly two decades.

KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye said in an e-mail that Rizvi’s combination of academic and administrative experience would serve him well in his new post.

Rizvi will use his knowledge of South Asia to focus on “internationalizing” the institute and fostering innovation in governments around the world.

“Along with the innovation award program, we’re working on research and a creating global resource network,” Rizvi said. “So anyone working on goverment innovation will find this a resource center.”

Rizvi said his background in international studies makes him particularly suited for the directorship.

“I’m terribly excited about this opportunity,” he said. “I had the privilege of spending the last seven years at the Ford Foundation, so I was able to see the larger issues in the world outside of the academic world.”

The institute, which was founded in April 2001 with a $50 million endowment from the Ford Foundation, originally focused on funding and encouraging new and inventive public-sector programs.

Rizvi said he is canvassing Harvard’s faculty to determine what the research priorities of the institute should be.

“We agree on the broad principles of international and national innovation,” he said, “but our specific areas of research will evolve out of consultations with first the University and then with outside experts.”

To finance the institute’s new endeavors, Rizvi will begin a fund-raising campaign for the institute—even though it is already well-funded by the Ford Foundation

He plans to broaden the young institute’s focus from its current emphasis on the American public sector.

He also said he wants to schedule more lectures and debates at the institute and appoint more visiting scholars.

These scholars and debates, he said, will foster dialogue among the institute, outside researchers and government innovators, Rizvi said.

“It’s a homecoming to be back in academia,” he said. “But now I’ll be able to combine my academic interests with the field work I did at the Ford Foundation.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Dimengo can be reached at dimengo@fas.harvard.edu.