Nancy Gibbs appointed faculty director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
Cambridge, MA– Harvard Kennedy School has named Nancy Gibbs as the faculty director of the School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Gibbs serves as the Visiting Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice of Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School. She will start her additional appointment as director of the Shorenstein Center immediately.
“Nancy Gibbs is an extremely thoughtful and respected voice about the evolving role of the media in politics and society,” said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf. “She is distinguished by her impressive career at Time, culminating in the position of editor in chief, and by the contributions she has already made to the Kennedy School and to Harvard more broadly during her short time here. I am delighted that she will be taking on the additional important responsibilities of directing our Shorenstein Center.”
Gibbs is the former editor in chief of Time and former editorial director of the Time Inc. News Group. She joined Time in 1985 and worked as a writer and editor before taking on senior management roles. Gibbs was named Time’s 17th managing editor in 2013 and was the first woman to hold the position. She is one of the most published writers in the magazine’s history, having covered four presidential campaigns and written more cover stories than any other writer. Gibbs won the National Magazine Award for her cover story in Time’s black-bordered September 11, 2001, special issue. She is the co-author, along with Michael Duffy, of two best-selling presidential histories: The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity (2012) and The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (2007).
“For more than three decades, the Shorenstein Center has brought together the worlds of the press, politics, and policy. The center connects journalists and scholars, uniting practice and rigorous analysis,” Gibbs said. “I am honored to have the chance to shape the center’s efforts at a time in which the changing media landscape and its relationship to our democracy are so crucial.”
Nicco Mele, the outgoing director of the Shorenstein Center, will remain a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School this fall. “Nicco has brought great creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to the work of the Shorenstein Center, and his deep understanding of the intersection between technology, the media, and politics has been especially valuable,” Elmendorf said. “I am grateful for his service.” Mele was previously senior vice president and deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times and held the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism at the University of Southern California. He intends to focus now on his teaching and on multiple book projects.
Setti Warren has served as executive director of the Shorenstein Center since 2018 and will stay in that role. Warren was mayor of Newton, Massachusetts from 2010 to 2018, following numerous other important roles in politics and governance. “The Kennedy School and Shorenstein Center are very fortunate that Setti has brought his skills and experience to our work. I am looking forward to the growth and development of the Shorenstein Center on Nancy and Setti’s watch.”
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is dedicated to exploring and illuminating the intersection of press, politics and public policy. It strives to bridge the gap between journalists, scholars, and the public.
Media Contact: Thoko Moyo | Thoko_Moyo@hks.harvard.edu | 6174959378
