Social Science Dean Lawrence Bobo To Take Unexpected Leave in Spring Semester

Harvard Dean of Social Science Lawrence D. Bobo will take a leave of absence during the spring 2024 semester due to “unanticipated personal matters,” he wrote in an email to Social Science faculty Monday afternoon.

Economics professor David M. Cutler ’87, who served in the role from 2003 to 2008, will begin as interim dean for the division at the end of December and serve until Bobo’s planned return on July 1, 2025.

Bobo and Cutler did not respond to requests for comment Monday evening. A Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson declined to comment.

Cutler, a health economist, holds appointments at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard School of Public Health in addition to the FAS. He advised both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on health care policy and helped design the Affordable Care Act.

FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra praised Cutler’s “sound judgement, wise counsel, and deep commitment to the social sciences” in an email notifying faculty of Bobo’s planned leave. In 2021, Cutler sat on a committee reviewing the FAS’ tenure procedures alongside Hoekstra, who took office as FAS dean in 2023.

Cutler has also served as a co-chair of Harvard College’s Committee on General Education. In 2013, he was tapped as a third-party fact-finder in healthcare negotiations between the University and the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.

Though Cutler is no stranger to divisional leadership, the sudden change means that new faces will occupy all three of the FAS’ divisional deanships compared to this time last year. Science Dean Jeff W. Lichtman and Arts and Humanities Dean Sean D. Kelly both took office on July 1 after their predecessors stepped down.

Bobo’s leave will not take effect immediately. In his email to faculty, Bobo wrote that he will prioritize “critical, time-sensitive work” before handing over the reins to Cutler at the end of the semester.

“I acknowledge that my unexpected leave may create additional feelings of uncertainty in an already uncertain time, but I have every confidence in Professor Cutler to guide the Division well and with tremendous skill through the spring term,” he added.

—Staff writer Tilly R. Robinson can be reached at tilly.robinson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tillyrobin.