For Rakesh Khurana, understanding the mission comes first. Without it, decisions about what to do next and how to proceed lose meaning.
That guiding principle has shaped Khurana’s tenure as the Danoff Dean of Harvard College, a role he will step down from at the end of the academic year after 11 years. He will return to teaching in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and at Harvard Business School.
Khurana, who serves as the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development and a professor of sociology, first arrived at Harvard in 1993 as a graduate student. He earned a master’s in sociology in 1997 and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior in 1998.
During his time as dean, he worked to enhance opportunities in the arts and public service, reorganized office infrastructure to better support students, helped launch the Intellectual Vitality initiative, and championed the recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds.
He also established a presence on Instagram, affectionately called the “Deanstagram.” In this edited conversation, Khurana discusses his accomplishments, lessons learned, and reflections on Harvard’s community.
Khurana is among the longest-serving deans of Harvard College. Reflecting on his tenure, he finds particular satisfaction in having served in what he considers the best role in higher education. As an immigrant, he grew up in a family that regarded higher education as sacred, with Harvard being a symbol of that ideal.
From the outset, his administration focused on being a mission-oriented institution, committed to educating citizen leaders. This mission was pursued through the transformative experience of a liberal arts and science education, emphasizing intellectual, social, and personal development.
“One of the things that I feel good about is that there’s a strong sense of understanding of the College’s mission,” Khurana said. “That clarity has let us take numerous actions on everything ranging from adopting an honor code, which is emblematic of the kind of aspiration that we want to have for our students, to the renewal of the Gen Ed program, which occurred at a time when there was a debate over whether it would even continue.”
The commitment to a broad general education anchored in the liberal arts remains vital. He highlighted Professor Michael Sandel’s renewed “Justice” class as an example of an intergenerational connection between students and alumni, bridging past and present while addressing contemporary issues.
Khurana also takes pride in the Intellectual Vitality initiative, which his team had worked on for several years. A data-driven yet adaptable approach enabled Harvard to focus on substance rather than trends. He hopes that his legacy includes a steadfast commitment to the mission while ensuring institutional evolution.
“To be in a place where the past is being honored, the present is being contended with, and where the future is being shaped through research is an incredible privilege,” he said.
Reflecting on challenges faced during his tenure, Khurana believes that universities both reflect and magnify the world beyond their campuses. The opportunity to bring together students from diverse backgrounds is invaluable but requires intentional community-building efforts.
“Creating this community requires building a lot of capacities and skills and role modeling,” he noted. “Maybe in the past we could take for granted that this all existed, but I think we can’t assume that students and faculty and staff are coming here with this understanding.”
Acknowledging that Harvard is not a perfect institution, he emphasized its long-standing recognition that excellence takes many forms. This evolving understanding moves the university closer to its motto of veritas.
Khurana, an organizational sociologist who has studied institutions, leadership, and bureaucracy, found that the practical experience of being dean was different from what he had anticipated. The gap between knowing theories and implementing them became evident.
Three principles remained central to his leadership: mission, vision, and values. “The power of that is something I’d been teaching about for years, and it’s so interesting to see how powerful it is and how easy it is to forget,” he said. He ensured that every meeting started by reaffirming the College’s mission.
Another lesson was the scrutiny that comes with leadership. “When you’re in a position of responsibility, you are constantly role modeling,” he observed. “People are not just paying attention to what you say, but to what you do. Your walk has to be your talk.”
Khurana likened leadership to coaching, where one helps individuals align their aspirations with their skills. In the process, he found that he was also coaching himself. He also recognized that everyone is a work in progress and that surrounding oneself with people committed to the mission, vision, and values fosters trust and progress.
The most challenging moment of his tenure was the COVID-19 pandemic. Harvard had to adjust to a world without the campus experiences that define it—the serendipitous interactions, diverse perspectives, and shared spaces. “To de-densify campus in a short time period, to try to deal with the reality of the situation, the uncertainty that it presented, and keep academic continuity… That was the most challenging moment,” he said. Despite the difficulties, he was proud of how the university came together as one institution to navigate the crisis.
“Harvard is not a perfect institution. I don’t think we should be a perfect institution because if we were coming close to that ideal, that would mean we are not playing a big enough game,” he remarked.
Khurana has been vocal about declining trust in higher education and believes rebuilding it requires reinforcing Harvard’s core strengths. The university’s legitimacy, he said, is rooted in academic excellence and meritocracy.
“There are three things that institutions like ours should be doing,” he stated. “One is that we convene excellence—in our faculty, our students, and staff.” He believes highlighting excellence in bringing people together is essential.
Second, he emphasized Harvard’s commitment to veritas. “We need to be an institution that lives with an uncomfortable truth rather than a comfortable delusion.”
Third, he advocated for streamlining the institution. Harvard has a responsibility to foster open discussions on complex issues. It must also ensure that families investing in education receive effective teaching while upholding the moral responsibility of shaping young minds.
“When you are politicized, people believe you are producing biased research, not encouraging independent thinking, inculcating ideology, or not allowing for conversations on difficult topics,” he warned.
Many in the community view Khurana as approachable. He admits this wasn’t always the case. As a college student, he often ate meals alone, preferring to immerse himself in academic discussions with scholars like Max Weber and John Stuart Mill through books. Over time, he realized the value of learning from peers.
He attributes his sense of humility to his mother, who taught him, “Nobody’s better than you, but you’re also not better than anyone else.” This perspective encouraged him to engage with everyone, from faculty to custodial staff, recognizing that each person has an interesting story to share.
“I would often look for the student who was sitting by themselves at a meal and think to myself, ‘I wish somebody would have sat with me at that time,’” he said. That inclination led him to become a faculty dean at Cabot House, where he became comfortable initiating conversations.
Born in India, Khurana’s parents immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of better educational opportunities for their children. His mother was a public school teacher in the Bronx, and his father was an accountant. His mother prioritized access to the best schools, even moving neighborhoods to secure better educational prospects.
He began his higher education at SUNY Binghamton before transferring to Cornell, encouraged by a professor who saw potential in him. That moment exemplified the power of a teacher’s belief in a student, which Khurana now strives to recreate for others.
His path to Harvard started when an HBS faculty member visited the tech startup where he worked and encouraged him to apply to graduate school. The following year, he was at Harvard.
One of his greatest joys is being on campus. “To be in a place where the past is being honored, the present is being contended with, and where the future is being shaped through research is an incredible privilege,” he said.
Looking ahead, Khurana plans to continue sharing his experiences on Instagram, believing that transparency can help rebuild trust in institutions. “You can’t tell that Harvard is trying to be the best for the world. You have to show it,” he said.