Who is Claudine Gay married to? Personal life explored as Harvard University appoints first Black President

American political scientist Claudine Gay has been appointed as Harvard University's 30th president, making her the first black person to hold this position.

The news was announced on December 15, 2022, by the Ivy League school. The 52-year-old personality is currently a democracy scholar and a dean at the university. She will take over the position on July 1, 2023.

Claudine Gay is the daughter of Haitian immigrants but was born in New York in 1970. She will succeed Lawrence Bacow, who will be stepping down to devote more time to his family.

On a personal front, Gay is married to Christopher C. Afendulis. According to his bio on the Harvard Medical School website, Afendulis was a lecturer of health care policy from September 2006 to February 2015. He then became a research associate from March 2015 to April 2018 at Harvard Medical School.

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Claudine Gay became a leading voice on American political participation

Since joining Harvard in 2006 as a professor of government as well as of African and African American studies, Claudine Gay has researched a wide range of topics. One of these topics is the manner in which a number of social and economic variables influence political viewpoints and voting.

She is also the founding chair of the Inequality in America program at Harvard University. The initiative aims to explore topics such as the consequences of child poverty and hardship on educational opportunities as well as American inequality from a worldly point of view.

After the news was announced, Claudine Gay gave her acceptance speech and advocated for increased collaboration between the various schools at the prestigious university.

She also stated that there was a pressing need for the university to become more engaged with the outside world and to "bring bold, brave, and pioneering thinking to our greatest challenges." She added:

“The idea of the ‘ivory tower’ – that is the past, not the future of academia. We don’t exist outside of society, but as part of it. That means that Harvard has a duty to lean in, engage and to be of service to the world.”

In a statement issued to the Harvard Crimson, Bacow described Claudine Gay as a "terrific academic leader with a keen mind, great leadership and communication skills."

Chair of Harvard’s presidential search committee, Penny Pritzker, also praised Claudine. Pritzker said that the latter is a "remarkable leader" who aims to "sustain and enhance" the university's academic standards.

Harvard has joined a group of Ivy League schools where women are being appointed as chiefs rather than men. The other two schools are the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth.

Gay is currently the only president of color heading an Ivy League, however, she is not the first. The first president of color was Ruth Simmons who headed Brown University for 11 years, from 2001 to 2012.