HDS Councils

The Alumni/Alumnae, Dean's, and Leadership Councils are leaders in Harvard Divinity School's network of alumni and friends. Their common goals are to help enrich the educational experience for students and develop a community that supports the School's critical priorities. Through their distinguished service to society and the perspectives they often bring from other roles at Harvard, they also expand HDS's leadership in the academy—on topics ranging from religious inquiry in the humanities to ethics in stem-cell science—and in urgent challenges to the world today. HDS is deeply grateful to have these Council members at the forefront of its mission to advance understanding in a religiously complex world.

"HDS educates a different kind of leader who thinks deeply and acts responsibly. We often discuss in Alumni/Alumnae Council how an HDS education did not just add to what we already knew; it added deeper layers to who and what we are—morally, relationally, and spiritually. HDS graduates are ready to lead in any number of ways, including helping others face the most challenging issues in a lifetime."
—Ruth B. Purtilo, MTS ’75, PhD ’79, president, HDS Alumni/Alumnae Council, member of HDS Leadership Council