Nye noted that deans don’t have much hard power.
“Being able to persuade people and attract them to your vision of the institution is an essential part of academic administration,” Nye said. “You become a practitioner of soft power in the ability to attract others, because it’s the major source of power that you have.”
Nye’s prolific production of academic literature while simultaneously executing his administrative duties makes him a rarity in the world of higher education.
“As Larry Summers once jokingly told me, I’m one of the few ‘player-coaches,’” Nye said.
Ellwood said his own “overwhelming emphasis” will be on his administrative responsibilities. As a result, Ellwood said—regretfully—that he will not teach any courses next year. “Being dean will be my absolute first priority,” he said.
But Ellwood also said that he hopes to continue his research on the evolution of the American family.
His most recent academic work examines the social and technological changes of the 1960s—which allowed women greater control over their reproductive lives and permitted them to pursue professional careers.
“The effect of this has been that more educated women postpone childbearing—and sometimes eliminate it altogether. Less educated women do not postpone childbearing but do postpone marriage,” Ellwood said. “This has resulted in rapid and dramatic changes for the American family.”
As the Kennedy School attracts more students from abroad, Ellwood’s own research is taking a more international tone.
“Dramatic family structure changes happen throughout the world,” Ellwood said. “Fertility rates have plummeted in much of western Europe. The sorts of things I’m working on here about understanding changes in marriage and fertility in the United States—similar kinds of questions can be asked about many nations.”
Ellwood’s research and his synthesis of academic findings with policy suggestions have drawn praise from students and colleagues.
“He’s devoted his life to eradicating poverty,” said Tim Sultan, the outgoing Kennedy School Student Government president and a leading figure in the fight to maintain financial support for LRAP. “We couldn’t have a better champion for our mission.”
“He has been fascinated by one of the most intractable of problems—persistent poverty—and has been determined in searching for ways to address it,” said Dillon Professor of Government Graham T. Allison Jr., who was the first-ever dean of the Kennedy School, from 1977 to 1989. “[Ellwood] embodies the school’s mission of excellence in public problem-solving.”
—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.