Summers Travels Around World

Facing down both the task of reacquainting himself with Harvard as well as continued speaking engagements around the globe, University president-elect Lawrence H. Summers has had little time to catch his breath lately.

Summers, a fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institute, traveled to China last week. There he addressed the Development Research Council, a Beijing think tank. He continued on to Hong Kong.

Today, Summers leaves for Japan, where he is scheduled to meet with Japanese business leaders, economists and government officials.

And Summers has already made one trip to Cambridge to meet with senior University officials, including Kennedy School of Government Dean Joseph S. Nye. A meeting with faculty and students will be scheduled for mid-April.

A colleague who traveled with Summers said that high-ranking officials in both Beijing and Hong Kong were very excited to hear of the selection of Summers as the University’s 27th president.

“Senior government officials were very enthusiastic about the appointment,” the colleague said. “China’s Premier Zhou Rongji joked with Larry that the last time he came to Boston he visited MIT, but that the next time he’d have to come to Harvard.”

Almost all of the senior government officials said they were interested in visiting Harvard.

But whether halfway around the world or at the water cooler at the economics department of Brookings, Summers’ new Harvard job continues to draw attention.

In the weeks since Harvard’s announcement, Summers has typically spent two or three days a week at his seventh-floor Brookings Economic Studies office. He has continued to collaborate with other Brookings economists, recently giving a speech and presenting a paper at a Brookings economic activity forum.

When colleagues have run into Summers, they too have congratulated him.

“I told him I thought it was a great catch for Harvard,” said Henry J. Aaron, a senior fellow at Brookings. “I think everybody understood that the odds were that he’d find something somewhere, but Brookings certainly would have wanted him to stay on.”

Even when Summers is home and at Brookings, Harvard is still a focus.

“Lots of people from Harvard and others close to it have come through his office,” Aaron said.

During the remaining three months before Summers moves to Cambridge, his work at Brookings will consist of a small number of papers and speeches. Until then, he will remain living in Bethesda, Md.

Summers declined to comment on a report that he and his wife Victoria plan to separate at that time. But University spokesperson Joe Wrinn confirmed that Summers’ wife and children will stay in the Washington area when Summers moves.

“They have decided to separate but he will remain an active and engaged father,” Wrinn said. “The children will make many visits to Elmwood and vice-versa.”

Wrinn said that the role of the presidential spouse has changed from presidency to presidency.

“All spouses have treated their role in a unique way,” he said. “There isn’t a general job description for a spouse, nor should there be.”

“Each president brings a unique set of circumstances and history—things will work out,” Wrinn said.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.