Drew Gilpin Faust

Drew Gilpin Faust – Life, Scholarship, and Legacy

Explore the biography, career, and lasting impact of Drew Gilpin Faust (born 1947) — distinguished American historian, Civil War scholar, and the first female president of Harvard University. Includes her major works, influence, and key quotes.

Introduction

Catharine “Drew” Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is a prominent American historian, author, and academic leader. She is best known for her scholarship on the American South and the Civil War era, and for making history in academia by serving as Harvard University’s first female president (2007–2018). Her work spans intellectual history, the cultural meaning of death in wartime, and the complexities of gender, memory, and morality in American life.

Faust’s journey—from a childhood in the Shenandoah Valley to the helm of Harvard—reflects both scholarly rigor and institutional transformation. Her writings challenge how we understand suffering, national identity, and the personal costs of historical change.

Early Life and Family

Drew Gilpin was born in New York City on September 18, 1947.

Her father, McGhee Tyson Gilpin, bred Thoroughbred horses and came from a family with political and civic ties.

Faust’s upbringing exposed her to multiple historical layers—the landscape of the Shenandoah, Virginia’s Civil War heritage, and regional memory. As she later remarked, she “felt very much that I lived in history.”

She attended Concord Academy (Concord, Massachusetts), graduating in 1964. Bryn Mawr College, earning her B.A. magna cum laude in history in 1968.

She continued her education at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving her M.A. in American civilization in 1971 and her Ph.D. in 1975. A Sacred Circle: The Social Role of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860.

Academic Career & Scholarship

From Penn to Harvard

After completing her doctorate, Faust joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. Annenberg Professorship of History.

In 2001, Faust was named the founding dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which succeeded Radcliffe College at Harvard.

Presidency at Harvard

On July 1, 2007, Drew Gilpin Faust became the 28th president of Harvard University—the first woman to hold the post in its history. not hold a Harvard degree.

From the start, she emphasized broadening access to education. One of her early initiatives was a financial aid policy reform: limiting parental contribution to 10% of income for families earning between $100,000 and $180,000, and replacing loans with grants for many students. She declared:

“Education is the engine that makes American democracy work … people have to have access.”

During her tenure, she also prioritized strengthening the arts, internationalization, sustainability, and examining Harvard’s historical involvement with slavery.

However, her presidency was also tested by economic turmoil. After the 2008 financial crisis, Harvard’s endowment took a major hit. Faust faced pressure over salary and budget decisions—her refusal to cut her own compensation drew criticism.

She retired as president in June 2018, returning to faculty roles as Professor of History and Arthur Kingsley Porter University Research Professor.

Major Works & Intellectual Contributions

Faust’s scholarship centers on the American South, the intellectual history of the antebellum period, and the cultural consequences of war and death.

Key works include:

• A Sacred Circle: The Dilemma of the Intellectual in the Old South, 1840–1860 (1977) — based on her dissertation.

• The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South (1982)

• James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery (1982)

• Southern Stories: Slaveholders in Peace and War (1992)

• Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War (1996) — which won the Francis Parkman Prize and other honors.

• This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (2008) — perhaps her best-known work. It examines how the mass death of the war reshaped American culture, individual grief, and national memory. It was a finalist for the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the Bancroft Prize.

• Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury (2023) — a memoir reflecting on her own upbringing, race, segregation, and identity in mid-20th century America.

Her essays include “‘The Dread Void of Uncertainty’: Naming the Dead in the American Civil War.”

Through these works, Faust has brought into relief the moral, emotional, and social dimensions of war and the South’s legacy. She explores how societies confront death, how individuals imagine their identities amid collective trauma, and how the past lives in memory.

Personality, Leadership Style & Influence

Faust is known for thoughtful, reflective leadership and a deep commitment to academic mission. Her own writing style is measured yet probing; she often bridges narrative and historical analysis.

She has spoken about the tension between public expectation and private scholarly identity. As she said when becoming Harvard president:

“I’m not the woman president of Harvard, I’m the president of Harvard.”

Faust’s leadership reflected a balance of continuity and change—advancing institutional reforms while honoring tradition. Her efforts to broaden access and to confront institutional memory (e.g. slavery) show her willingness to engage with difficult history rather than evade it.

She has also served on many boards, professional associations (American Historical Association, Southern Historical Association), and continues to be influential in public intellectual life.

Legacy & Significance

• Historic presidency: Faust broke gender barriers as Harvard’s first female president, and reshaped notions of leadership in elite academia.

• Scholarly contributions: Her work on the Civil War, death, and cultural memory has become foundational for historians grappling with war’s human dimensions.

• Institutional transformation: Her financial aid policies and commitment to access influenced how top universities consider equity and inclusion.

• Memory work: By urging Harvard to face its past ties to slavery, she contributed to a broader reckoning in American higher education with institutional complicity.

• Public voice: Even after her presidency, Faust continues to comment publicly on issues such as democracy, civic responsibility, and historical legacy.

In 2018, she was awarded the John W. Kluge Prize by the Library of Congress for her achievements in the study of humanity.

Selected Quotes

• “I felt very much that I lived in history.”

• “Education is the engine that makes American democracy work … people have to have access.”

• “I’m not the woman president of Harvard, I’m the president of Harvard.”

These statements reflect her sense of personal history, her educational philosophy, and her stance on leadership and identity.

Lessons from Drew Gilpin Faust

1. Scholarship with moral weight
   Faust’s historical work is not detached; it grapples with suffering, memory, and the human consequences of conflict.

2. Leadership rooted in humility
   Her presidency was shaped by challenging assumptions about who leads—and how—at elite institutions.

3. Confronting institutional pasts
   She shows that confronting injustice in one’s own institutions (e.g., Harvard and slavery) is part of ethical leadership.

4. Access matters
   Her emphasis on financial aid underscores that talent and potential should not be constrained by economic barriers.

5. Voice beyond one’s tenure
   Faust continues to influence through writing, public commentary, and engagement with civic issues.

Conclusion

Drew Gilpin Faust is a towering figure in contemporary American intellectual life: a historian whose work gives voice to the hidden dimensions of suffering and memory; a leader who shattered ceilings while steering one of the world’s premier universities; and a public thinker unafraid to interrogate power, history, and legacy.

Her life offers a model of integrating scholarship and service, of honoring the complexities of the past while striving to shape a more just future. Her insights—on death, democracy, identity, and institutional responsibility—will continue to resonate for generations.