![Deval Patrick in June 2020.](https://media.nbcboston.com/2019/09/deval-patrick-1.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=320%2C180)
Former Gov. Deval Patrick is heading back to Harvard, his alma mater, this time as a professor.
Harvard Kennedy School announced Tuesday that Patrick this winter is joining their team as a professor of the practice of public leadership and as co-director of the Center for Public Leadership with Hannah Riley Bowles, the Roy E. Larsen Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management.
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"This co-director structure combines a long-time faculty member's scholarly expertise on the development of public leaders with an eminent practitioner’s experience in the demanding practice of public leadership," said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf.
The state's first Black governor, Patrick served two terms from 2007 to 2015. A senior advisor at Bain Capital, Patrick ran for president in 2020. He previously worked as an attorney at Coca-Cola and Texaco, at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and during the Clinton administration as assistant attorney general for civil rights.
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"With the scale and scope of the challenges facing humankind, the world needs conscientious, dedicated leaders at every level in every sector, people willing to spend their 'political' capital, not just accumulate it. I am looking forward to working alongside and encouraging leaders like that at the Kennedy School," Patrick said in a statement.