Derek Bok
American lawyer and college administrator (born 1930)
title: "Derek Bok" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["curtis-family", "george-washington-university-alumni", "presidents-of-harvard-university", "harvard-law-school-faculty", "harvard-law-school-alumni", "harvard-graduate-school-of-education-faculty", "harvard-kennedy-school-faculty", "deans-of-harvard-law-school", "1930-births", "living-people", "stanford-university-alumni", "people-from-bryn-mawr,-pennsylvania", "center-for-advanced-study-in-the-behavioral-sciences-fellows", "american-people-of-dutch-descent", "writers-from-pennsylvania", "members-of-the-american-philosophical-society"] description: "American lawyer and college administrator (born 1930)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Bok" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American lawyer and college administrator (born 1930) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| image | Derek Bok.jpg |
| office | President of Harvard University |
| order | 25th |
| term_start | Acting |
| July 1, 2006 | |
| term_end | June 30, 2007 |
| predecessor | Lawrence Summers |
| successor | Drew Gilpin Faust |
| term_start2 | 1971 |
| term_end2 | 1991 |
| predecessor2 | Nathan M. Pusey |
| successor2 | Neil Leon Rudenstine |
| office3 | Dean of Harvard Law School |
| order3 | 7th |
| term_start3 | 1968 |
| term_end3 | 1971 |
| predecessor3 | Erwin Griswold |
| successor3 | Albert Sacks |
| birth_name | Derek Curtis Bok |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| spouse | |
| father | Curtis Bok |
| relatives | Edward Bok (grandfather) |
| Mary Louise Curtis (grandmother) | |
| Cyrus H. K. Curtis (great-grandfather) | |
| Hilary Bok (daughter) | |
| Gordon Bok (cousin) | |
| occupation | Lawyer, college administrator |
| education | Stanford University (BA) |
| Harvard University (JD) | |
| George Washington University (MA) | |
| Sciences Po | |
| :: |
| name = | image = Derek Bok.jpg | caption = | office = President of Harvard University | order = 25th | term_start = Acting July 1, 2006 | term_end = June 30, 2007 | predecessor = Lawrence Summers | successor = Drew Gilpin Faust | term_start2 = 1971 | term_end2 = 1991 | predecessor2 = Nathan M. Pusey | successor2 = Neil Leon Rudenstine | office3 = Dean of Harvard Law School | order3 = 7th | term_start3 = 1968 | term_end3 = 1971 | predecessor3 = Erwin Griswold | successor3 = Albert Sacks | birth_name = Derek Curtis Bok | birth_date = | birth_place = Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = | children = | father = Curtis Bok | relatives = Edward Bok (grandfather) Mary Louise Curtis (grandmother) Cyrus H. K. Curtis (great-grandfather) Hilary Bok (daughter) Gordon Bok (cousin) | residence = | occupation = Lawyer, college administrator | education = Stanford University (BA) Harvard University (JD) George Washington University (MA) Sciences Po
Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator who served as the 25th president of Harvard University from 1971 to 1991 and acted temporarily in the position from 2006 to 2007. He previously served as the 7th Dean of Harvard Law School from 1968 to 1971.
Early life and education
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on March 22, 1930 to Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Curtis Bok and Margaret Plummer Bok. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and sister moved several times, ultimately to Los Angeles, where he spent much of his childhood. He graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), attended Sciences Po, and George Washington University (A.M., 1958).
Career
Bok taught law at Harvard beginning in 1958 and was selected dean of the law school there (1968–1971) after Dean Erwin Griswold was appointed Solicitor-General of the United States. He then served as the university's 25th president (1971–1991), succeeding Nathan M. Pusey. He was installed as president in a private ceremony in the Faculty Room of University Hall, given his predecessor abruptly stepping down after the botched handling of anti-Vietnam War protests on campus.
In the mid-1970s, Bok negotiated with Radcliffe College president Matina Horner the "non-merger merger" between Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges that was a major step in the final merger of the two institutions. Bok recently served as the faculty chair at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard, taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard Kennedy School.
Bok's focus on undergraduate education was evident in his initiating the Harvard Assessment Seminar that resulted in Richard J. Light's best-selling book, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds (Harvard University Press, 2001). This focus has continued in Bok's numerous publications since retiring as Harvard president. He was the recipient of the 2001 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for his book, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, co-authored with the former President of Princeton University, William G. Bowen.
The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard was created during Bok's Harvard presidency, reflecting Bok's concern for the quality of pedagogy employed at research universities like Harvard and its peers around the world. self sourced The Harvard Extension School instituted the Derek Bok Public Service Prizes, an annual Commencement prize for the Harvard Extension School students who involve in community service or who have a long-standing records of civic achievement.
Bok served as interim president of Harvard from Lawrence Summers's resignation on July 1, 2006, to the beginning of Drew Gilpin Faust presidency on July 1, 2007. He is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
Personal life
Through his father, Bok is the grandson of Dutch-born Ladies' Home Journal editor Edward Bok and Mary Louise Curtis, founder of the Curtis Institute of Music; the cousin of prominent Maine folklorist Gordon Bok; and the great-grandson of Cyrus H. K. Curtis, founder of the Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.
In 1955, Bok married Swedish sociologist and philosopher Sissela Bok (née Myrdal) (daughter of the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal and the politician and diplomat Alva Myrdal, both Nobel laureates), who received her doctorate from Harvard in 1970. His daughter, Hilary Bok, is a philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Bibliography
References
References
- "Derek Curtis Bok Biography". Bookrags.com.
- "Sciences Po Alumni".
- "Alan Garber '76 Installed as Harvard's 31st President in Private Ceremony {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson".
- "Derek Bok".
- (2001-03-08). "Harvard Gazette: Light illuminates better teaching strategies". News.harvard.edu.
- Richard J. Light. "Strengthening Colleges and Universities : The Harvard Assessment Seminars". Net.educause.edu.
- "2001 - William G. Bowen and Derek Bok". Grawmeyer.org.
- "Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning". Bokcenter.harvard.edu.
- "Honors and Prizes | Harvard Extension School". Extension.harvard.edu.
- "Derek Curtis Bok".
- "APS Member History".
- Fullinwinder, Robert K.. (2007). "Sissela Bok on lying and moral choice in private and public life – an amplification". Infed.
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