Mather Faculty Deans to Stay Through 2029, Extending Tenure Beyond Usual Limit

Mather House Faculty Deans L. “Maha” Mahadevan and Amala Mahadevan will continue in the role through spring 2029, Harvard College Dean David J. Deming wrote in a Tuesday email to House affiliates.

The two will complete their tenth year as deans this academic year. Faculty deans generally serve an initial five-year term that can be renewed for another five years, meaning this would ordinarily have been their final year in the position.

But Deming shared on Tuesday that he had asked the Mahadevans to continue for an additional two years.

“I am pleased to share that I have asked Maha and Amala to continue leading the Mather community for an additional two years, through Spring 2029, and happily they have agreed,” Deming wrote.

The Mahadevans were first appointed by then-College Dean Rakesh Khurana in 2017.

Both are scientists: L. Mahadevan is a professor of applied mathematics, organismic and evolutionary biology, and physics at Harvard whose research examines how matter is organized in space and time. Amala Mahadevan is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who studies physical processes in the ocean.

“I am deeply grateful for Maha and Amala’s commitment to building a welcoming, vibrant, and intentional community at Mather House over the past decade,” Deming wrote in Tuesday’s message. “I look forward to working alongside them in the years ahead.”

The Mahadevans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.