President and Fellows of Harvard College

The Harvard College seal

The President and Fellows of Harvard College, also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation, is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards. It refers to itself as the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere.[1] At full capacity, as of 2024, the corporation consists of twelve fellows as well as the president of Harvard University, for a total of thirteen members.[2]

Together with the Board of Overseers, the two boards exercise institutional roles that, at most other colleges and universities, are more commonly consolidated into a single board of trustees.[3]

Although the institution it governs has grown into a university of which Harvard College is one component, the corporation's name remains "The President and Fellows of Harvard College".[4]

  1. ^ "Harvard Corporation". www.harvard.edu. Harvard University. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  2. ^ "Amid Crisis, Harvard Corporation Seat Goes 6 Months Unfilled". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  3. ^ "Leadership and Governance". Harvard University. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  4. ^ Chait, Richard P.; Daniel, D. Ronald; Lorsch, Jay W.; Rosovsky, Henry (May–June 2006). "Governing Harvard: A Harvard Magazine Roundtable". Harvard Magazine.