Of Note

Two Faculty Associates Named 2026–2027 Berlin Prize Fellows

Faculty Associate Peter A. Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies at Harvard University, and Ya-Wen Lei, professor of sociology at Harvard University, are both 2026–2027 Berlin Prize Fellows. The prize, distributed by the American Academy in Berlin, goes to distinguished US-based scholars, writers, composers, and artists. The prize provides time, space, and resources to pursue projects while collaborating with Berlin partners. Fellows share their work with audiences through lectures, readings, and performances central to the Academy’s public program. Ya-Wen Lei will be a fellow during the fall of 2026 and will work on a project titled “Geopolitical Transplants: States, Firms, and the New Global Struggle for Technology.” Peter A. Hall will be a fellow during the spring of 2027 and will work on a project titled “The Political Economy of Opportunity.”

Daniel Carpenter Named Harvard College Professor

Faculty Associate Daniel Carpenter, Allie S. Freed Professor of Government at Harvard University, is a recent recipient of a Harvard College professorship. The award is the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ highest honor for faculty members who make distinguished contributions to undergraduate teaching and for helping students develop their intellectual passions. Carpenter, a political scientist and chair of the Department of Government, “has superbly demonstrated his commitment to instilling intellectual vitality and civics,” according to Dean Hopi Hoekstra. “Awardees receive a five-year professorship and financial support that they can apply to their research, to an extra semester of leave, or as a summer salary supplement spread over the period in which they hold the title,” per The FAS Current.

Lisa Berkman Receives Walter Holland Lifetime Achievement Award

Faculty Associate Lisa Berkman, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is the recipient of the 2026 Walter Holland Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, distributed by the London School of Economics (LSE) Health, “honors those who have made outstanding contributions to public health research and demonstrated real-world impact on population health and health policy at global, regional, or local levels.” Berkman is a pioneering social epidemiologist whose work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how socioeconomic status, social networks, and isolation affect health outcomes.

Two Faculty Associates Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Faculty Associates Lisa Berkman, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, are newly elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences class of 2026. The two join 250 other leaders in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research, and science. The Academy, chartered in 1780, was established to recognize accomplished individuals and engage them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the young republic.

Four Faculty Associates Receive Guggenheim Fellowship

Four Faculty Associates have received a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship—an award for trailblazing artists, scientists, and scholars across a variety of fields: Anya Bernstein, professor of anthropology; Mina Cikara, Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society; Adam Mestyan, Ford Foundation Professor of Middle Eastern Studies; and Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government. Guggenheim Fellows are nominated based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise. Established in 1925 by founder Senator Simon Guggenheim, each inductee receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.” In addition, two former Faculty Associates also join the current class of Guggenheim Fellows: Neil Brenner, Lucy Flower Professor of Urban Sociology at The University of Chicago, and Ieva Jusionyte, Watson Family University Professor of International Security and Anthropology at Brown University.

Andrew Gordon Receives Everett I. Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award

Faculty Associate Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History at Harvard University, is one of the recipients of the 2026 Everett I. Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award. The Mentoring Awards, established in 1999 by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to recognize exceptional faculty mentorship, this year celebrated recipients for their holistic, tailored support of graduate students’ academic, personal, and professional growth. Gordon, whose own work focuses on public history and tourism in Japan and globally, with focus on industrial heritage sites, was praised for his consistent devotion to training new scholars.

Joaquim Meira Receives Samuelson Traveling Fellowship

Graduate Student Associate Joaquim Meira, PhD Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University, is the 2026–2027 recipient of the Lee Whittinghill Samuelson Traveling Fellowship. This fellowship, awarded by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, funds students in programs of research or study conducted abroad that span the full academic year. Lee Samuelson MBA ’66, PhD ’72 established this fellowship to help future graduate students study abroad and ease financial burdens, inspired by his own transformative experience as a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship recipient. Meira’s research focuses on issues of representation and political economy in Latin America.

Tarun Khanna Elected to 2026 Class of Bellagio Center Residency Program

Faculty Associate Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School, was selected by the Rockefeller Foundation to join the Bellagio Center Residency Program’s 2026 class—which boasts “more than 5,000 changemakers from more than 140 countries making an impact in communities around the world since 1959.” The prestigious program offers a combination of uninterrupted work time in a unique environment, alongside the opportunity for collaboration and interdisciplinary exchange. Khanna is a cofounder of Aspire Institute, a global nonprofit that empowers limited-income and first-generation university students to reach their full potential.

Gabrielle Oliveira Wins Outstanding Book Award

Faculty Associate Gabrielle Oliveira, Jorge Paulo Lemann Associate Professor of Education and of Brazil Studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Book Award for her recent publication, Now We Are Here: Family Migration, Children’s Education, and Dreams for a Better Life (Stanford University Press). The award, distributed by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), was established to acknowledge and honor the year’s best book-length publication in education research and development. Founded in 1916, AERA “advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.”

Sven Beckert’s Book Makes the Lionel Gelber Prize Shortlist

Faculty Associate Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University, was announced as one of the five authors who made the Lionel Gelber Prize Shortlist for his new book, Capitalism: A Global History (Penguin Random House). The Lionel Gelber Prize, presented annually by University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, is given to the world’s best nonfiction book on international affairs published in English. The literary award was founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber.

Antonia Maioni Named Next President of John Cabot University

Former William Lyon Mackenzie King Professor Antonia Maioni, now professor of political science and public policy at McGill University, has been named the next president of John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Maioni will be the first woman to lead the university. A researcher specializing in public policy and health care reform, comparative politics, and Canadian and Quebec politics, she has published extensively and is a frequent media commentator. She speaks English, French, and Italian, and is a citizen of Canada and Italy.

Julian Gewirtz Named to the Post Next 50 List

Former Academy Scholar Julian Gewirtz (who was also an Undergraduate Associate at the Weatherhead Center) was named to the Post Next 50 list—a list of fifty people shaping our society in 2025 by The Washington Post. The inaugural list was aimed to “introduce our readers to a fascinating group of people whom we expect to make an impact this year.” Gewirtz, a diplomat, historian, and poet, was named for his fluency and talent with using words across all his endeavors. He currently works as a senior research scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Kashish Bastola Wins Marshall Scholarship

Undergraduate Associate Kashish Bastola ’26 is the recipient of a 2026 Marshall Scholarship, which finances young Americans of high ability to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. Up to fifty students are selected each year to study at graduate level in any field of study, and five of this year’s Marshall scholars are from Harvard. Bastola—whose senior thesis uncovers the CIA’s covert Cold War programs that trained Tibetan refugees at American colleges—will study military history at Oxford over the next two years.

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna Elected 2025 Best Leader

Advisory Committee member Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, was named one of US News Best Leaders in 2025 for her leadership and compassion in an uncertain world. The 2025 Best Leaders rankings spotlight twenty-five exceptional individuals across public service, business, health care, and education. The list is published by U.S. News & World Report, a digital media company dedicated to helping people make important decisions in their lives, businesses, and communities.