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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES Hope To Conclude Service As Member of Harvard Corporation
Judith Richards Hope will conclude her service as a Fellow of Harvard College at the start of the spring term, after 11 years as a member of the Harvard Corporation. Senior counsel and former senior partner at the international law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Hope became the first woman named to the Corporation when she was appointed in February 1989. During her tenure, she has served as chair of the governing boards' Joint Committee on Inspection, a member of the boards' Joint Committee on Appointments, chair of the University's Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees, and a director of Harvard Medical International. "Judy Hope has served the Corporation and the University with distinction, bringing her keen intelligence and her deep concern for the human as well as the academic aspects of Harvard to all the Corporation's deliberations," said President Neil L. Rudenstine. "Her legal perspective and her wide practical experience have consistently contributed an important dimension to our discussions. No less, she has been concerned with the quality of student life, and indeed with all dimensions of the University as a community, always bearing in mind that Harvard is an institution defined not by buildings and budgets, but by people. Her advice, insight, and support have meant a great deal to the University and to me personally. We are deeply grateful to her, and look forward to her continuing involvement in University affairs, while respecting her decision to reduce the unusually demanding commitment of time that service on the Corporation requires." Said Hope: "For over a decade, my service on the Harvard Corporation has provided a singular opportunity to work with and often befriend many of those who, in a real sense, are shaping our world and our future. I am deeply gratified by the trust placed in me by Harvard Presidents Derek Bok and Neil Rudenstine, and by the warmth and collegiality accorded me over the years by so many throughout the Harvard community. "I am also indebted to my parents, Eve and Joseph Richards, and my children, Zachary and Miranda Hope, for their unwavering support and understanding of the time required to serve on the Corporation, including my fortnightly sojourns to Cambridge," Hope added. "I now look forward to refocusing my energies on law and government, and to repaying the generous loan of time granted me by my family and friends for so long. "That a girl from Defiance, Ohio, could be the first from her hometown to graduate from Harvard Law School, and ultimately the first woman elected to the Harvard Corporation, is a tribute to Harvard's profound commitment to equality of opportunity in every part of the University," Hope said. "And it is this constant commitment, more than any other, that will carry Harvard safely into the 21st century." The daughter of a Methodist minister and a psychiatric social worker, Hope received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College magna cum laude before graduating from Harvard Law School in 1964, at age 23. During 35 years of legal practice based largely in Washington, D.C., she has focused on federal litigation, federal regulatory disputes, and the mediation of complex cases pending in the federal courts. Throughout her career, Hope has maintained a strong commitment to public service, serving as associate director of the White House Domestic Council under President Ford; vice chair of the President's Commission on Organized Crime under President Reagan; president of the International Law Institute; general counsel of the District of Columbia Bar; deputy director of the California Rural Development Corporation, dedicated to promoting self-help housing for the rural poor; trustee and general counsel of the Federal City Council, which seeks to improve the quality of life in Washington, D.C.; and, most recently, as a founding director of the National Housing Partnership Foundation, the largest owner of affordable housing in the United States. A member of both the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, and a trustee of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society, Hope received a faculty appointment as a lecturer at Harvard Law School and has taught constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center. In addition to her service on the Harvard Corporation, she has been active in Harvard Law School alumni and alumnae affairs, on the Committee on University Resources, and in a variety of activities related to undergraduate life. Last fall, for example, she was a keynote speaker at events marking the 25th anniversary of women's participation in intercollegiate Ivy athletics. The Harvard Corporation, formally known as the President and Fellows of Harvard College, is the University's executive governing board and the smaller of Harvard's two boards, the other being the 30-member Board of Overseers. In addition to Rudenstine and Hope, the President and Fellows currently include D. Ronald Daniel (Treasurer), MBA ’54; Hanna Holborn Gray, PhD ’57; James R. Houghton, AB ’58, MBA ’62; Richard A. Smith, SB ’44 (’46); and Robert G. Stone, AB ’45 (’47). Rudenstine said that a search is under way to identify a new Fellow of Harvard College. As in the past, the Corporation is being aided in its search by an advisory group including representatives of both governing boards. Confidential letters containing nominations or other advice may be directed to the Secretary to the Corporation, Harvard University, Loeb House, 17 Quincy St., Cambridge.
Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College |
