A popular professor of Middle Eastern studies, an expert in business ethics and a former member of the National Security Council will fill vacancies in three out of the 12 Houses next year—the most significant turnover in masterships in the past few years.

Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies Jay M. Harris, Kaneb Professor of National Security Stephen P. Rosen and Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School Joseph L. Bacaracco will be the new masters of Cabot, Winthrop and Currier Houses, respectively.

After nearly seven months of dinners, tours and meetings, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 announced the appointments yesterday.

While Rosen and Harris have been highly involved in undergraduate life—teaching large Core classes—Badaracco is a less well-known, but highly recommended, presence at the College.

Badaracco said he and his wife learned about the duties of House masters primarily from business school students who had graduated from the College and hung out in his office after he was nominated to be a candidate.

But Badaracco said he has interacted with undergraduates over the years by giving lectures, hosting discussions and teaching some classes in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“I’m sure there will be some things to learn but we’ve really been surrounded by students for many, many years and we enjoy it,” Badaracco said.

He said he and his wife are excited to enter the realm of undergraduate House life for the first time.

“We learned about it on Thursday and we haven’t talked about much else since then,” Badaracco said.

Harris also said it was the idea of closer contact with Harvard’s undergraduate body that motivated him to pursue the mastership.

“I really do very much enjoy students and interaction, particularly in a small department where you don’t have a lot of concentrators,” said Harris, who teaches the popular Moral Reasoning 54, “If There Is No God, All Is Permitted: Theism and Moral Reasoning.”

“That’s why I teach Core classes. Having contact with students is the most interesting part of the job,” he said.

H. Michael Rosenberg ’05, a member of the Cabot advisory committee, said Harris and his wife represent an ideal couple to share the mastership because of their different qualities.

“His wife is a school psychiatrist at a local high school...both offer a different side of the coin there,” Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg said he looks forward to the active participation of the new masters in House life.