Judith Block McLaughlin

Judith Block McLaughlin’s work focuses on leadership and governance in higher education. As Educational Chair of the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents and the Harvard Seminar for Experienced Presidents, she has worked with over 1,700 college and university presidents since the New Presidents program's inception in 1990. She also serves as co-chair of the HGSE-HKS program on Crisis Leadership in Higher Education. She has written and consulted extensively on leadership transitions, presidential assessments, board-president relationships, senior staff functioning, and board governance. From 2007-2014, she served as chair of the Massachusetts Public Education Nominating Council, the gubernatorial-appointed body that nominates trustees for the state's public colleges and universities. At Harvard, she was the founding director of the Higher Education Program and the founding co-chair of the Online Education Leadership Program. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, she was Dean of Student Affairs at two colleges, Executive Director of the National Academy of Education, and a high school social studies teacher. A native Floridian, she earned her A.B. summa cum laude in sociology from the University of North Carolina and her M.A.T. in secondary social studies and Ed.D. in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University. McLaughlin has received honorary degrees from Stonehill College and Bridgewater State College and was the recipient of the New England Board of Higher Education’s Excellence award in 2019 and the Council of Independent College’s Allen Splete Award for Outstanding Service to Higher Education in 2022. In 2023, HGSE announced that its President-in-Residence program was fully endowed and named after McLaughlin, its founder.

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