Drew Gilpin Faust facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Drew Gilpin Faust
Faust at the World Economic Forum in 2013
28th President of Harvard University
In office July 1, 2007 – July 1, 2018
Preceded by	Lawrence Summers Derek Bok (acting)
Succeeded by	Lawrence Bacow
Personal details
Born	Catharine Drew Gilpin (1947-09-18) September 18, 1947 (age 77) New York City, U.S.
Spouses	Stephen E. Faust ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1976)​ Charles E. Rosenberg ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	2
Education	Bryn Mawr College (BA) University of Pennsylvania (MA, PhD)
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Pennsylvania Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University
Thesis	A Sacred Circle: The Social Role of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (1975)
Doctoral advisor	Charles E. Rosenberg

Drew Gilpin Faust, born on September 18, 1947, is an American historian and writer. She was the president of Harvard University from 2007 to 2018. She made history as Harvard's first female president. She was also the first president since 1672 who didn't get her degrees from Harvard. Faust was also the first president to have grown up in the South. Before becoming president, she helped start the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and was its first dean. Forbes magazine often listed her as one of the world's most powerful women. In 2014, she was ranked as high as 33rd.

Early Life and Education

Drew Gilpin was born in New York City. She grew up in Clarke County, Virginia. Her father, McGhee Tyson Gilpin, was a Princeton graduate. He was involved in many businesses, including breeding racehorses. Her grandfather, Kenneth Newcomer Gilpin, was a businessman and a pilot in both World War I and World War II. He also served in the Virginia House of Delegates. Her great-grandfather, General Lawrence Tyson, was a U.S. senator from Tennessee in the 1920s. Drew Gilpin Faust is also related to Jonathan Edwards, who was the third president of Princeton University.

Faust went to Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1964. She then earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree with honors in history from Bryn Mawr College in 1968. In 1971, she received a Master of Arts (M.A.) in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. She continued her studies there and earned her Ph.D. in 1975. Her Ph.D. paper was about the role of thinkers in the Old South.

Her Career as a Historian

In 1975, Drew Gilpin Faust became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She specialized in the history of the American South, especially during the time before the Civil War and during the war itself. She became a very respected professor of history there.

Books and Awards

After turning her Ph.D. paper into a book, A Sacred Circle: Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840-1860 (1977), she wrote several other non-fiction books about U.S. history. One of her books, James Henry Hammond and the Old South (1982), was a biography of a former governor of South Carolina.

Her book Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996) won important awards. These included the Francis Parkman Prize and the Avery O. Craven Award in 1997. Her book This Republic of Suffering (2008) explored how Americans understood death during the Civil War. This book was highly praised and was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

In 2023, Faust published a memoir called Necessary Trouble. This book is about her childhood in Virginia, which was segregated at the time. She describes how she became aware of the Civil Rights movement happening around her. For example, she writes about realizing that her school was all-white when she was nine years old, after hearing news about the integration of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Leading Harvard University

In 2001, Faust was chosen to be the first dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. This institute was created after Radcliffe College joined with Harvard University. On February 8, 2007, she was selected to be the next president of Harvard. Her appointment became official a few days later. Drew Gilpin Faust was the first woman to serve as president of Harvard University. She took over after Lawrence Summers resigned.

Preparations for the inauguration of Faust

At a press conference, Faust said she hoped her appointment would show that new opportunities were opening up. She famously stated, "I'm not the woman president of Harvard, I'm the president of Harvard." During her installation speech on October 12, 2007, she spoke about the lasting impact of learning.

Making Education More Accessible

One of her first big actions was to greatly increase financial aid for students at Harvard. In December 2007, she announced a new plan for middle-class and upper-middle-class families. This plan limited how much parents had to pay and replaced student loans with grants. She said that "Education is the engine that makes American democracy work." This policy built on earlier programs that helped families with lower incomes. Other major universities like Stanford and Yale later adopted similar financial aid policies.

Other Important Initiatives

Faust also spoke to Congress to ask for money for scientific research. She wanted to support younger professors in their research. She worked to make Harvard more connected with other countries around the world. She also focused on bringing the arts more into the daily life of students and staff.

Faust was a strong supporter of sustainability. She set a goal to cut Harvard's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below 2006 levels by 2016. She also supported using natural methods for lawn care at the campus grounds and Harvard Yard. These changes helped save water and made the campus greener.

Retirement from Harvard

Faust retired as Harvard president in June 2018. A few days later, she joined the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs, a large financial company. She still holds her title as Professor of History at Harvard.

In 2016, Harvard began to study its own past connections to slavery. This happened after Faust publicly said that the school had been "directly involved in America's system of racial bondage." She oversaw the placement of a special plaque on campus to honor enslaved people who worked for the university. Her successor, Lawrence Bacow, continued this work by starting a formal study in 2019.

Personal Life

Drew Gilpin's first marriage was to Stephen E. Faust. After their divorce, she married Charles E. Rosenberg, a historian of medicine at Harvard. He had been her Ph.D. advisor. They have a daughter, Jessica Rosenberg, who works for The New Yorker. Faust also has a stepdaughter, Leah Rosenberg.

In 1988, Faust was diagnosed with breast cancer and received treatment. She made a full recovery.

Honors and Awards

• Faust was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2007.
• She was named a member of the "Time 100" list in 2007.
• She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
• She has received honorary doctorates from several universities, including Bowdoin College (2007), the University of Pennsylvania (2008), Yale University (2008), and Princeton University (2010).
• Forbes magazine has included Faust in its list of "100 Most Powerful Women" many times. In 2014, she was ranked #33.
• In 2011, the National Endowment for the Humanities chose Faust for the Jefferson Lecture. This is the U.S. government's highest honor for achievements in the humanities. Her lecture was called "Telling War Stories: Reflections of a Civil War Historian."
• In 2018, Faust received the John W. Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress.
• In 2024, she received the Newberry Library Award from the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Awards for Her Books

• She received the 2009 Bancroft Prize for her book This Republic of Suffering (2008).
• She was awarded the 2008 American History Book Prize for This Republic of Suffering.
• Her article "Dread Void of Uncertainty" was named one of the ten best history essays of 2005.
• She received the 1997 Francis Parkman Prize for Mothers of Invention.

Selected Works

• Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury (2023)
• This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (2008)
• "'The Dread Void of Uncertainty': Naming the Dead in the American Civil War" (2005)
• Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996)
• Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War (1992)
• The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South (1982)
• James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery (1982)
• A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (1977)

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Drew Gilpin Faust para niños