[liberationtech] Berkman Center announces leadership transition | Berkman Center

[Yosem Companys]

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society has announced a significant
leadership transition as Professor William (Terry) Fisher steps down after
12 years as Chair of the Board of Directors and Professor Jonathan
Zittrain, the co-founder of the Berkman Center and Vice Dean for Library
and Information Resources at Harvard Law School, assumes the role.  The
change will be effective as of July 1, 2014.

Said Harvard University Provost Alan M. Garber: "Under Terry Fisher's
extraordinary leadership, the Berkman Center has become known as the home
of some of the most penetrating thinking about how we interact with
cyberspace and how it can be developed to serve society better.  We are
indebted to him for nurturing and helping to shape this unique resource for
Harvard and the world. Jonathan Zittrain is a most worthy successor. Long a
pillar of the Berkman community, he has the intellect, breadth of
interests, creativity, and dedication to ensure that the center will remain
vital - indeed, indispensable - at a time when the Internet is woven into
more and more aspects of our lives."

Said HLS Dean Martha Minow: “Terry Fisher’s stellar leadership has ensured
the Berkman Center’s vibrant collaborations across disciplines, sectors,
and geographies, while also providing an unerring commitment to combining
creativity with a focus on the opportunities and challenges afforded by
cyberspace and the communities and communication it enables.  I join with
the Provost and Directors in delight that Jonathan Zittrain will take up
the role of chair. As one of the co-founders of the Center and as a fount
of superb ideas, Jonathan brings deep knowledge and innovative spirit to
this extraordinary effort."

Urs Gasser, the Berkman Center’s Executive Director and a Professor of
Practice at HLS, said, “The Berkman Center team is deeply grateful for all
that Terry Fisher has contributed to the Center and the community during
his extraordinary tenure, and wishes him a truly well deserved and restful
sabbatical in 2014-2015. Recognized as a visionary here at Berkman and
around the world, Jonathan Zittrain will continue to inspire and delight
the community and help deepen our national and international network of
partners across all sectors.” He noted that Zittrain’s faculty appointments
with the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Harvard
John F. Kennedy School of Government will further strengthen the Center’s
collaborations across Campus.

Terry Fisher has led the Berkman Center since 2002, helping to shape it
during a period of maturation and expansion.  Under his guidance, the
Center has grown from a small research unit at Harvard Law School into a
University-wide Center and a world-renowned community of scholars and
activists, engaged in rigorous research and socially responsible
innovation.  He navigated the Center through the lean times of the fiscal
crisis and oversaw the successful incubation of numerous projects and
initiatives that have changed the landscape of academic inquiry pertaining
to information technology.

Zittrain’s transition to the position of Faculty Chair represents both
momentum and re-commitment to the ethos and spirit in which he co-founded
the Berkman Center with Charlie Nesson in 1997.  Professor Zittrain’s
commitment to and passion for the development of innovative research and
teaching programs will continue to infuse the Center’s direction and
activities, building on the strong foundation and programs that flourished
under Terry Fisher’s leadership, said Dean Minow.

As the Berkman Center’s principal governing body, the Board of Directors
shapes the Berkman Center’s overall vision and makes significant financial,
research, academic, personnel, governance, and other overarching strategic
decisions. Terry Fisher remains a member of the Board, joined by Professors
Yochai Benkler, Susan Crawford, John Deighton, Charles Nesson, Felix
Oberholzer-Gee, John Palfrey, Jeffrey Schnapp, Stuart Shieber, and Mark Wu.
Board member Urs Gasser continues as Executive Director, leading
implementation of the vision and objectives set forth by the Board.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/9116
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20140418/a913cf9f/attachment.html>