A message from Dean Douglas Elmendorf
Dear Members of the Harvard Kennedy School Community,
This winter, we recognize the retirement from teaching of two faculty members, Bob Behn (at the end of December) and Mark Moore (at the end of January). Mark has decided to remain a research professor.
I won’t be able to sum up in this note all the profound contributions that Mark and Bob have made to the research, teaching, and practice of public policy, public management, and public leadership. Each has made an enduring, positive difference in the lives of many colleagues, friends, and students. I know that I speak for everyone at the Kennedy School in thanking them for their years of service in the public interest.
Bob Behn is retiring after two decades of teaching here. As a senior lecturer in public policy, his teaching focused on leadership and improving the performance of public agencies. He taught in both our degree program and executive education courses, including chairing the EE program “Driving Government Performance.” Bob has also shared his knowledge out in the world, writing several books on leadership and the public sector and teaching custom executive programs on every continent except Antarctica.
Mark Moore recently completed 50 years of service to Harvard. Mark is an alumnus of the Kennedy School, as a member of the inaugural Master in Public Policy class and one of the early recipients of a Harvard doctorate in public policy. His seminal text Creating Public Value and his work over many decades fundamentally shaped the theory and practice of public management: Mark’s vision of creative public managers defining challenges and opportunities in new ways and then aligning public support and operational capabilities with social purposes has transcended traditional understandings of public administration and transformed our image of what public officials can and should do. In addition, as the Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations, Mark focused on social innovation and change in response to shifting political, economic, and social conditions.
Please join me in congratulating Bob and Mark. Both have contributed so much to the Kennedy School—as teachers, scholars, and valued members of our community—and to the world around them. We wish them well in their future pursuits!
Sincerely,
Doug