Former Director Returns as Interim IOP Head

Former Congressman Philip R. Sharp, D-Ind., has returned to serve another term, but this time it is not in the United States Congress.

After a six-year gap since last serving as the director of the Institute of Politics (IOP), Sharp has returned this semester as the interim director. He replaces Dan Glickman, who departed from Harvard to become chair of the Motion Picture Association of America

“We were sad to lose Glickman, but I am very excited about Sharp,” said Ilan T. Graff ’05, president of the IOP’s Student Affairs Committee. “He has the rare combination of experience and continuing desire to learn more.”

Sharp served as a member of Congress from Indiana between the years of 1975 and 1995. While in Congress, Sharp focused primarily on energy and environmental policies and chaired the subcommittee on fossil and synthetic fuels. He said he was one of the key leaders in the passage of the last comprehensive energy bill, the Energy and Policy Act of 1992 and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Graff said he hopes to use Sharp’s expertise in environmental and energy policies to reach out to the environmental community on campus.

Sharp came to Harvard in 1995 and served as IOP director for two and a half years. He stayed on as a lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government, where he taught courses such as “To Be A Politician” and “Introducing Competition Into The Electric Utility Industry,” but he will not be a lecturer this semester. He has also been a member of the IOP’s Senior Advisory Committee since 1998.

Graff said he was encouraged by the good reputation Sharp developed as the director in the past.

“As a director, he was very well regarded as someone who was dedicated to the Institute and worked hard to make it the best place possible,” Graff said.

As the interim director of the IOP, Sharp said he will oversee the numerous programs and activities that will take place this semester due to the upcoming election.

“My role is essentially to supervise a plethora of activities that students and others are engaged in at the IOP,” Sharp said. “There are various student programs, run by the student advisory committee, to help encourage students to vote and participate in the election, and to bridge politics and academia.”

Such activities include freshman voting registration and debate watches, and other programs that extend past election day, such as the Campaign Decision Makers Conference. According to Sharp, representatives from the campaigns of all three presidential candidates will convene to discuss what they each hoped to accomplish. After the election, the IOP will also run an orientation program for newly elected members of Congress.

As Sharp temporarily directs the IOP, the institute will actively recruit someone to hold the position more permanently—a process Graff insists has traditionally been very good at involving students.

Both Sharp and Graff said they expected the upcoming semester to be very busy but were excited for it.

“He seemed energized and enthusiastic to work with students and I couldn’t imagine a better acting director,” Graff said.

Sharp was appointed by Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood ’75, and he officially assumed his position on Aug. 15.

—Staff writer Monica M. Clark can be reached at mclark@fas.harvard.edu.