Ash Carter, former Defense Secretary, has been hired by Harvard University as a professor. He will also be a director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Carter is the latest member of former President Barack Obama's cabinet to head to the academic sector. He joins former Vice President Joe Biden, who will be working with the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware, and former Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be overseeing Yale University's new global affairs program.
The Harvard Gazette reported that former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will be joining the Harvard Kennedy School as the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He will also be the Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs.
He will take over the role of Graham Allison, who has been the director of the center since 1995. Allison will continue as the Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at the school.
Ash Carter is a physicist who became well known as the defense secretary that transformed how the military fought adversaries and strengthened alliances. He was also the one who managed the department's budget and talent as well as developed its technology.
As director of the Belfer Center, he has announced that he will focus on the role of innovation and technology in addressing challenges both locally and globally. Robert and Renée Belfer are also making a new funding commitment through a series of gifts, which will support Carter's professorship and provide additional financial aid for students, research initiatives and policy engagement by faculty members.
Harvard President Drew Faust expressed her delight in welcoming the former defense secretary. She described Carter's career as "one of great academic accomplishment and distinguished government service."
Speaking to the Associated Press, via U.S. News, Ash Carter has said that he wants to focus on "inspiring a new generation." He also wants to build up new leaders and researchers.
