Karen Jackson-Weaver

Dr. Karen Jackson-Weaver is the Senior Associate Dean of Degree Programs & Student Affairs (Dean of Students) at Harvard’s Kennedy School. In this role, she oversees the staff in the degree programs and student affairs departments, including admissions, student financial services, the registrar's office, student services, career advancement, student diversity and inclusion, and the school's various master's, joint, concurrent and PhD programs. She also directs all student related programming outside of the classroom and serves on the School's Management Operations Group and Faculty Steering Committee. She also chairs the Academic Affairs and Diversity Committees at Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Jackson-Weaver’s teaching interests include religion, ethics and policy issues. She was recently re-appointed to serve a second term as the National Series Editor for the Teaching Religious Studies Series produced by Oxford University Press and the American Academy of Religion. For nearly a decade, she was a faculty member in American Studies and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Diversity at Princeton University’s Graduate School. Prior to her post at Princeton University, Dr. Jackson-Weaver served as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Amistad Commission where she reported to the Secretary of State and Commissioner of Education. She was also the Founding Director of the Amistad Summer Institute at the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University.