Harvard University on Thursday named Claudine Gay as its 30th president, making her the first Black person and the second woman to lead the Ivy League school, reported The Guardian.
Currently a dean at the university and a democracy scholar, Gay will take charge of the university on 1 July, replacing Lawrence Bacow, who put in his papers to spend more time with family.
With Gay’s appointment, women will outnumber men as chiefs of the eight Ivy League schools. Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania appointed women earlier this year, joining Brown and Cornell, according to the Guardian.
Columbia, Princeton and Yale are led by men.
Gay will be the only Black president currently in the Ivy League and the second Black woman ever, following Ruth Simmons, who led Brown University from 2001 to 2012.
