Anne Harrington and John Durant Named Pfoho House Masters

UPDATED: May 16, 2013, at 11:56 p.m.

History of science professor Anne Harrington ’82 and her husband John R. Durant have been appointed as the new Masters of Pforzheimer House, resident dean Lisa Boes announced in an email to the Pfoho community Thursday morning.

Harrington is the director of undergraduate studies in the History of Science Department, and Durant, an adjunct professor at MIT, serves as the director of the MIT Museum. Harrington and Durant also lead a Harvard Summer School program in Cambridge, England.

The couple will move into Pfoho at the beginning of the fall semester with their eight-year-old son Jamie, taking on the role currently held by House Masters Nicholas A. Christakis and Erika L. Christakis ’86, who will be leaving to take on new positions at Yale this summer.

“We cannot wait to get started, and are very excited,” Harrington said in a phone interview Thursday morning. “We think Pfoho is a House with tremendous spirit—already a thriving community, which we are looking forward to joining.”

Harrington said that Jamie was “thrilled” that he soon would be living alongside the college students that the family had met in a May 3 visit to Pfoho.

She added that as House Master she hopes to further strengthen a tight-knit community.

“We would like to build off of existing traditions, but also introduce some new programs and new traditions of our own,” she said.

Pfoho residents who met the new House Masters in their May 3 visit to the House said they were pleased to learn of the appointment.

Pfoho resident Kevin E. Sikah ’15 said he was practicing piano in the House when he met Harrington, Durant, and Jamie.

“It turned out that their son also plays,” he said. “It was nice to see the family-type environment that they have going on.”

Tiffany A. Lazo-Cedre ’16, who is assigned to live in Pfoho next year, said she thought Durant “seemed like a very personable guy” when they met, adding that he seemed to be trying to make the students with whom he was interacting comfortable.

Like Sikah, Lazo-Cedre was glad to see Durant involving his family in College life.

“I liked that he brought his son,” she said.

—Staff writer Antonio Coppola can be reached at acoppola@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @AntonioCoppolaC.

—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @syweinstock.