India Ambassador Named IOP Fellow

Timothy J. Roemer, the U.S. Ambassador to India from 2009 to June of 2011, will be a Fall Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics during the week of Oct. 3, the IOP announced Thursday.

According to IOP President Jeffrey F. Solnet ’12, Roemer was a natural choice for the fellowship given his prior government experience at home and abroad.

“Students have continually expressed interest in having fellows with international experience join the IOP,” Solnet said. “Roemer is a really interesting fit. He comes from not having a huge international relations background [prior to being named Ambassador], and is someone who has held elective office.”

Roemer, a moderate, pro-life Democrat with a Ph.D. in American government, made the transition from academia to politics more than 20 years ago.

He represented Indiana’s third district in the House of Representatives from 1991 until 2003, when he decided not to run for reelection.

He was also briefly considered as a candidate to chair the Democratic National Committee in 2004, winning the support of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

In Congress, Roemer served on various committees and task forces, including the 9/11 Commission.

“There’s a lot of interest on campus with the growth of India, and having someone who has been there as Ambassador for many years is interesting,” IOP Director C. M. Trey Grayson ’94 said. “But also as a former member of the 9/11 Commission and of Congress, he brings a lot of interesting perspectives. We’re excited to have him,” Grayson said.

Roemer resigned from his post in India earlier this year, citing his desire to spend more time with his family. After his return, Roemer was considered a potential nominee for Secretary of Commerce.

Roemer has a reputation for consensus building, Solnet said.

“He’s not someone who is extremely ideological. He’s someone who seeks to build consensus, and his record in Congress shows that,” Solnet said. “He brings a sense of consensus building that people think Congress lacks now.”

Following his career in the House of Representatives, Roemer became the president of the Center for National Policy, a national security think tank in Washington, D.C.

Roemer told IOP leaders he is interested in visiting the rare books collection in Houghton Library during his week at Harvard, when he hopes to examine materials on the Kennedy family and 19th-century American literature.

“I’m not sure we’ve had a visitor in recent years who wants to spend time in the rare books collection,” Grayson joked.

—Staff writer Jose A. DelReal can be reached at jdelreal@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction.

CORRECTION: SEPT. 16, 2011

The Sept. 16 article "India Ambassador Named IOP Fellow" incorrectly stated when Timothy J. Roemer will be on campus. He will be at Harvard for the week of Oct. 3, not Oct. 12.