Harvard Kennedy School’s Dustin Tingley Named Vice Provost for Advances in Learning

Harvard Kennedy School professor Dustin Tingley has been named Harvard’s vice provost for advances in learning, formally taking over a University role he has held on an interim basis since last year as Harvard continues to grapple with the role of technology in teaching and education.

Tingley — who has a joint appointment in the Government department and the Kennedy School — will lead the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning which coordinates Harvard’s pedagogical innovation, digital education, and education technology efforts across the University.

“I am delighted that Dustin has agreed to serve as the next vice provost for advances in learning,” Provost John F. Manning ’82 wrote in a statement announcing the appointment. “He brings to this important role a wealth of experience in residential and online education, a deep understanding of technology’s potential to support academic excellence, and a strong commitment to innovation.”

“It is an honor to continue to work alongside staff, faculty, and students in our collective pursuit of rigorous and engaging learning opportunities,” Tingley said. “The positive benefit we can bring to society through learning is a core mission of higher education institutions, and one where Harvard continues to have tremendous impact and opportunity.”

Tingley has held the position on an interim basis since August 2025, when he stepped after Bharat N. Anand ’88 left Harvard to become dean of New York University’s Stern School of Business. Under his tenure, Anand oversaw the launch of more than 50 new online courses and a fourfold increase in the office’s revenue.

Before his appointment as interim vice provost, Tingley served seven years as deputy vice provost, a role he took on in 2018 when Anand was first named to lead the office.

Tingley’s footprint inside VPAL predates his administrative titles. He has served as faculty director of the office’s data science and technology group since 2015, working to apply data science methods to questions of teaching and learning across Harvard’s schools.

He has also chaired the University’s Standing Committee on Climate Education since 2022 and co-chaired the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ Standing Committee on Public Service since 2018. He co-founded ABLConnect, an online database of active-learning resources, in 2012.

The appointment also comes as Tingley’s other academic home, the Kennedy School, makes its own pivot toward technology under Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein. His 10-year strategic plan, unveiled in June, has already produced a new tech policy concentration for HKS’s master’s in public policy program and two new AI policy faculty hires. Weinstein, who spent nearly two decades at Stanford University working at the intersection of technology and public policy before coming to Harvard, has said he wants to sharpen the school’s focus on technology and politics.

Outside his administrative work, Tingley continues to teach on the politics of climate and energy and on international relations. He is teaching one class this semester on energy, climate, and environmental politics at the Kennedy School.

He holds a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in mathematics, from the University of Rochester.

—Staff writer Jen L. Phan can be reached at [email protected] and Signal at jenphan.74. Follow her on X at @jenllphan.

—Staff writer Mirei S. Saneyoshi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @mireisaneyoshi.