HLS Professor Gabriella Blum To Serve as Radcliffe Interim Dean During Search for Permanent Dean

Harvard Law School professor Gabriella Blum will serve as the interim dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, University President Alan M. Garber ’76 and Provost John F. Manning ’82 announced Tuesday.

Blum, a human rights lawyer, will take over for Radcliffe Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin when she departs at the end of the month to lead Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. During her eight years at the helm of Radcliffe, Brown-Nagin expanded the institute’s fellowship programs and headed several University-wide projects.

Garber and Manning also named a 10-member faculty advisory committee to assist in the search for a permanent dean.

The committee includes Harvard Business School Dean Srikant M. Datar, Graduate School of Education Academic Dean Martin R. West, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean Emma Dench, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Karin Öberg, chemistry professor Emily P. Balskus, University Professor and historian Ann M. Blair, geneticist Susan Dymecki, Harvard Divinity School professor Tracey Hucks, economist Ludwig Straub, and urban planning professor Rachel Weber. Garber and Manning did not outline a timeline for the search.

Blum, who served on the faculty advisory committee during the 2022 presidential search that selected former University President Claudine Gay, was floated by Harvard Law School faculty in 2024 as a possible candidate for the school’s deanship. That job ultimately went to HLS Dean John C.P. Goldberg.

Blum specializes in the law of armed conflict, international law, and counterterrorism. She currently serves as vice dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies and is the faculty director of the Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict.

“Her record of service along with her ability to cut across disciplines, audiences, and perspectives in pursuit of knowledge and progress will be an asset as she stewards Radcliffe’s ongoing work in nurturing and advancing the robust exchange of ideas,” Garber and Manning wrote in the announcement.

Blum joined the law school faculty as a visiting professor in 2005 before she was appointed permanently in 2007. Before teaching, Blum was an official in the Israel Defense Forces. She spent several years as a senior adviser in the International Law Department, returned in 2003 to lead the department’s counter-terrorism desk, and then was a strategic adviser to the Israeli National Security Council.

Blum helped draft the legal guidelines governing Israel’s use of targeted killings. She said in a 2018 interview with The Intercept that she thought Israel had begun using targeted killings beyond the scope of the guidelines, which she said only allowed for their use as exceptions when no other alternative was available.

Garber and Manning encouraged Radcliffe affiliates to submit nominations for potential dean candidates as well as feedback on the Institute’s direction. They also indicated there would be future opportunities for Radcliffe affiliates to give input, but did not specify what that would look like.

“Please also share with us the names of any individuals within or beyond Harvard who you think merit serious consideration for the role,” Garber and Manning wrote. “Such messages are especially helpful at the outset of the search process and will be read with care.”

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.