The Davis Center will have a new director for academic years 2025-2027 — Grzegorz Ekiert, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Government. A Harvard faculty member since 1995 and the Davis Center’s long-time faculty associate, Prof. Ekiert will officially begin his term as director on July 1.
As a scholar and educator Prof. Ekiert focuses on regime change, civil society, social movements, and East European politics and societies. He has written and edited or co-edited several books, including Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Movements, published in 2020. (Others can be found in his full bio.) He has likewise contributed scores of papers and chapters to academic journals and anthologies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His recent work on “dictatorial drift” and the rise of hard-core authoritarian regimes contributes to our understanding of the political transformations now happening in the world, both in the Davis Center’s focus region and far beyond it.
Prof. Ekiert’s earlier leadership roles within the university’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences have included more than a decade as director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (2012-2024) and six years as chair of Harvard’s social studies undergraduate concentration (2000-2006). He is also a senior scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.
Prof. Ekiert takes over from Prof. Eve Blau, who concludes her three-year term as director at the end of June. In her teaching and research, Prof. Blau will continue to investigate questions related to the reconstruction of Ukraine and other crisis-stricken areas — a key scholarly interest during her time as the Davis Center’s director.
