Greetings:

      The Hauser Center is important because the vast nonprofit
sector--comprising nongovernmental organizations and philanthropy--has
become a vital part of our society, complementing the two other major
sectors--business and government.  As such, it has become a source of
valuable employment opportunities for many of our students.

      The nonprofit sector is also important to the Kennedy School, because
it has been studied far less than these other two sectors, and hence offers
significant opportunities for research, enlightenment and new learning.

      I was drawn to the Center because my own career has been closely
bound up with the nonprofit sector--as a university president, the national
chair of a large public interest organization, and the chair of a large
foundation.  I see the Hauser Center contributing increasingly to knowledge
and understanding of the nonprofit sector and communicating that knowledge,
not only to students at the beginning of their careers, but to leaders of
nongovernmental organizations and foundations through executive courses
here in Cambridge and, increasingly, through courses available via the
Internet to people at their places of work who are unable to come to
Cambridge and spend extended periods of time at the Kennedy School.

                                                             

                                                            Best regards,

                                                              Derek Bok

Derek Bok 
Harvard University President Emeritus
Professor of Law and

Former Faculty Chair of the Hauser Center

Derek Bok is the 300th Anniversary University Professor and Acting Director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. He has been a lawyer and Professor of Law, Dean of the Law School, and President of Harvard University. He served as the Acting Director of the Hauser Center in AY02, and is currently the Center's Faculty Chairman.