Announcing the Spring 2014 Class of Fellows

Each semester Harvard's Institute of Politics brings in a new class of diverse, accomplished practitioners from politics and public service to interact and engage with Harvard University students and the Cambridge community. Resident Fellows live on campus for the semester and hold weekly "study groups" where attendees are given the opportunity to learn from and discuss current topics with Fellows and Fellows' guests. We are so excited to announce our Spring 2014 class of Fellows.

Shira t. center

Shira T. Center (neé Toeplitz) is the Politics Editor for Roll Call, the top news source on Capitol Hill for more than 50 years, based in Washington, D.C. One of the beltway’s best campaign reporters and analysts, she has covered politics from Alaska to New Hampshire and everywhere in between for a decade. Center is an authority on Congressional races; she spearheaded Roll Call's coverage of the decennial redistricting process following the Census.  In addition to Roll Call, Center’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Washingtonian, NationalJournal and Reason Magazine. Center has also worked at POLITICO and National Journal’s The Hotline.

Follow Shira on Twitter @shiracenter.

Ed Davis

Edward F. Davis served as the 40^th Police Commissioner of the City of Boston from December 2006 until October 2013.  Commissioner Davis was Boston’s lead police official during the tragic Marathon bombing and testified before Congress about the bombing and lessons learned. Prior to that, Davis was the Superintendent of the Lowell Police Department, a position he held for 12 years and one he rose to after starting out as a patrol officer in 1978.

Follow Commissioner Davis on Twitter @EdDavis3.

Farah pandith

Farah Pandith was appointed the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities in June 2009. The Office of the Special Representative is responsible for executing a vision for engagement with Muslims around the world based on a people-to-people and organizational level.  Special Representative Pandith has previously served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and as the Director for Middle East Regional Initiatives for the National Security Council.  

Follow Farah Pandith on Twitter @Farah_Pandith.

bob white

Bob White was a founding partner of Bain Capital along with Mitt Romney.  In 1994, White served as Chairman of the Romney for Senate Campaign against the late Senator Ted Kennedy. White served as Chairman and a senior advisor for the 2002 Romney Gubernatorial Campaign, 2008 and 2012 Romney Presidential Campaigns. In 2002, he ran the Romney Gubernatorial Transition Committee working closely with the Governor Elect to recruit and assemble an Administration. In his book Turnaround, Governor Mitt Romney describes Bob as his “Wingman”.

mark wolf

Mark L. Wolf was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1985, served as its Chief Judge from 2006 through 2012, and is now a Senior Judge. He has previously served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States and Chair of the Committee of District Judges on the Judicial Conference, and on the Judicial Conference Committees on Criminal Law, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Codes of Conduct.

In addition, the Institute is pleased to host Visiting Fellows Mike Huckabee, FOX News Channel host and former governor of Arkansas (1996-2007); Liz Montoya, former U.S. Office of Personnel Management chief of staff, external affairs director and senior advisor to the director (2009-14); and Avshalom Vilan, Israeli Farmer Federation president, (2009-present), former Israeli Knesset member (1999-2009) and founding member of “Peace Now.” Visiting Fellows traditionally meet with student groups; lead discussion groups on topical issues and their experiences in public and political service; and participate in public policy classes with students and Harvard University faculty.