People in the News: Elena Kagan

Despite being a relative newcomer at the school, constitutional law expert Elena Kagan was seen by many as an obvious choice to replace Robert C. Clark as dean of Harvard Law School (HLS).

In the four years since she arrived at HLS—she was a visiting professor for two years, then gained tenure in 2001—Kagan has thrown herself into the administrative matters of the school, gaining respect and visibility for her work on a committee studying the possibility of a move to Allston.

She represented a fresh face, and at a school where rivalries run deep had no obvious enemies.

And she seemed a favorite of University President Lawrence H. Summers, who she knew from her time in Washington and who she had managed to impress with her work on Allston as well.

Thus it came as no surprise, when after a five month search, Kagan was appointed to the post in April, just in time to lead HLS on its biggest fundraising campaign.

When she takes the helm on July 1, Kagan, 42, will become the first woman to lead HLS in its 186-year history.

Kagan is no stranger to Harvard Law.

She graduated from the school in 1986, and is now preparing to became the boss of her former teachers, including Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law Laurence H. Tribe ’62.

She lived in Tribe’s basement when she worked in 1988 as an unpaid advisor on the failed presidential campaign of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

“Larry Summers hit a perfect 10…when he named Elena Kagan the Law School’s next Dean,” Tribe wrote in an e-mail. “As my student, she was brilliant; as a scholar, she is incisive and insightful.”

Kagan came to Harvard from Washington, where she worked as the deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Clinton administration with Summers.

Before her time in Washington, Kagan had held a teaching position at the University of Chicago, which she accepted after Harvard did not offer her a job.

In preparation for the job, Kagan has been conducting a listening campaign—meeting with every faculty member “just to hear what they were thinking about,” she said.

As the school year comes to a close, Kagan has nearly finished all of these meetings, most of which took place in her colleagues offices.

“[The meetings] were very useful and will prove to be very useful in the future,” she said. “In Washington, I discovered that I really liked being an administrator…and I discovered how important it was to be a good listener.”

Among Kagan’s first priorities as dean will be the kickoff of the $400 million capital campaign, at a gala planned for June 14.

Kagan will devote part of her summer to a national fund raising tour of four or five major cities where she plans to speak with alumni about HLS.

As dean she will also continue to devote substantial attention to the issue of the potential move to Allston. Kagan has chaired the Locational Options Committee since December 2001. It produced a comprehensive study last year, dubbed the “Kagan Report,” on the law school’s options and needs for expansion in Cambridge and possibly across the river in Allston.

The report was praised for its balanced approach, leaving the door open for a move by the law school to Allston.

In her first year, Kagan will also tackle a number of new faculty appointments, including some in environmental and international law and she will review space available to students and the school’s curriculum.

Kagan said she is excited for the various challenges her new job will entail.

“I have a great love for this institution, and I think Harvard Law is an institution that can have a profound effect on the legal profession, and thus, through that, also on the nation and the world,” Kagan said.

“Leading an institution of that caliber is not only challenging, but also very important and very appealing,” she said.

“It’s crystal clear that Elena Kagan is dedicated to making Harvard Law School the best center for legal education and research the world has yet seen. With her, it’s never ‘about Elena,’ but always about the School, its faculty and students and staff, and the large issues of law’s role in building a just society,” said Tribe.