Key White House Aide Tenured at K-School

An economic policy specialist who left Harvard four years ago to advice President Reagan will return later this month as a tenured professor at the Kennedy School of Government.

Roger B. Porter, who as executive secretary of the Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs helps coordinate the economic policies of a number of White House offers, will become professor of Business and Government and begin teaching a half-semester course later this month.

An expert in the development of government economic policy, Porter will hold the second tenured professorship at the Kennedy School's two-year-old Center for Business and Government. Porter served as an associate professor at the Kennedy School from 1978 in 1981.

Porter could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Key Player

"He's going to be a key player here, teaching, doing research, and helping us in our continuing efforts to bring people from the private and public sectors together," said Winthrop Knowlton '53, director of the Center.

Knowlton added that he has not yet discussed with Porter the specific responsibilities of his new post, but said, "I hope he will be teaching at least part of the basic course in managing business and government in the U.S."

In addition to teaching, Porter will this summer take over the chairmanship of the Senior Managers in Government program, a three-week seminar for high-ranking public officials, according to Kennedy School Executive Dean Hale Champion.

Champion said Porter will be working both in Washington and at Harvard until this summer.

Porter had planned to return to the school at about this time when he first joined the administration in 1981, Champion added.

In the White House, Porter plays a key role in the development of economic policy, according to Richard E. Nestade, Littauer Professor of Public Administration at the Kennedy School.

Neustadi said President Reagan, like most chief executives, "has delegated all the preparatory work and the sorting out of conflicting advice" to cabinet councils and plays a personal rule only in major decisions.

He added said the Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs, where Porter works, is especially active and plays a greater role in the policy process then other similar councils.

The council is "one of the main ways in which economic issues get debated and brought up to the President," he said. Council participants include the secretary of the Treasury, who is chairman of the council, officials from the Council of Economic Advisors, the Office of Management and Budget, and other executive agencies.

As Director of the White House Office of Policy Development, Porter helps appoint staff members to other cabinet councils, Neustadt said. Porter also works in the Treasury Department as a close advisor to the secretary.

Neustadt said Porter will play a key role at the Kennedy School as on academic with more than six years of high-level experience in government. "It's the kind of work we hope some of our people will aspire to and do," he said.

Porter, a Rhodes Scholar from Brigham Young University, was a White House Fellow from 1974 to 1975 and then went to work for Vice-President Ford. After the resignation of President Nixon, he followed Ford to the White House and helped develop economic policy. He came to Harvard in 1976 and received his doctorate before joining the faculty of the Kennedy School as an associate professor