At a time when Harvard’s administration has placed broad restrictions on faculty hiring, Skip Gates’ latest effort is nothing short of a coup. The legendary recruiter has recently gotten through five tenure offers to new professors. And although only James Sidanius has accepted his offer thus far, all parties are optimistic.

James Sidanius

Sidanius is currently in the Psychology Department at UCLA. Excited to come to Harvard, Sidanius specializes in intergroup conflict and social dominance theory.

Brent H. Edwards

Edwards is a member of the Rutgers Department of English, and studies African-American literature and literary theory.

Claudine Gay

This Stanford political scientist specializes in minority politics, and is currently researching how neighborhood politics shape black racial and political attitudes.

Saidiya Z. Hartman

Hartman is a professor of English at UC-Berkeley. She studies feminism and psychoanalysis in African-American contexts and the visual arts in African-American culture.

Jacob K. Olupona

This member of the African-American and African Studies program at UC-Davis researches African traditional religion, West African society and culture, and African religion in the Americas.