Barry D. Karl, a distinguished scholar in the history of public policy and philanthropy, has been appointed the first William Henry Bloomberg Professor, announced Joseph S. Nye Jr., Dean of the Kennedy School of Government.

The Bloomberg Professorship will be shared by five of the University's faculties Ñ Arts and Sciences, Business, Divinity, Government, and Law Ñ and occupants from each faculty will hold the chair for a maximum of two years. Barry Karl will join the Kennedy School as the first occupant of the chair.

The professorship was endowed by Michael Bloomberg, MBA '66, in memory of his late father, and will support a series of scholars and practitioners who will teach and conduct research in the fields of philanthropic policy and practice, public service and volunteerism, and/or the effective leadership and management of nonprofit and public institutions.

The professorship gives the University the opportunity to launch a program in philanthropy that will be an important component in the new Hauser Center for Nonprofit Institutions. Work at the Center will include research on the impact of different grantmaking practices on nonprofit performance, philanthropy-specific curriculum, and the development of executive programs.

Karl will also work with the Business School faculty on projects that integrate the subject of philanthropy into the work of the Social Enterprise Initiative Ñ the Business School's effort focusing on the leadership challenges of nonprofits and on the social sector activity of business leaders.

"Michael Bloomberg's gift is an invaluable addition to Harvard's study of nonprofit organizations and it is fitting for Barry Karl to be the first Bloomberg Professor," said Nye. "Karl is an outstanding scholar whose experience and lifelong work in philanthropy will give the University the solid building block it needs to create a world-renowned program in philanthropy."

"I have worked in the field of philanthropy for over 30 years and I look forward to the opportunity to focus on this subject at Harvard," Karl said. "The Bloomberg gift affords me the chance to share my experiences with students and to work closely with colleagues to develop research and curriculum in philanthropy."

Karl, who has been at the University of Chicago since 1971, is a leading figure in the history of philanthropy and an authority on the origins of the modern foundation beginning with Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Mrs. Russell Sage. He has written recently on the subjects of foundations and public policy and the evolution of corporate grantmaking. At the University of Chicago, he taught courses on philanthropy in the School of Law and the History Department, and was most recently the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor at the school.

For the next two years, Karl will be a visiting member of the faculty of the Kennedy School, and a faculty associate of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Institutions. He will join Peter Frumpkin and several other faculty members from the Kennedy School and around the University to teach and conduct research in the fields of philanthropic policy and practice as part of the Hauser Center's new program in philanthropy. During the 1997-98 year, Karl will teach a course on how philanthropy influences public policy.

Currently completing a book on the history of philanthropy, Karl is the author of Executive Reorganization and Reform in the New Deal (1963), Charles E. Merriam and the Study of Politics (1974), The Uneasy State: The United States from 1915 to 1945 (1983), and Las Fundaciones y las Elites de la Clase Dominante (1992). He has also written numerous articles and papers including: "The Evolution of Corporate Grantmaking in America," "Andrew Carnegie and His Gospel of Philanthropy," "Philanthropy and the Social Sciences," "Philanthropy and the Welfare State in America," "A History for the Rockefeller Birthday Celebration," and "Philanthropy and the Secularization of Charity."

Early in his career, Karl served as head sectionman in social sciences at Harvard University from 1955 to 1958 and again from 1959 to 1960. While at Harvard, he also served as executive secretary to the Committee on General Education (1959-61), senior tutor in Eliot House (1961-62), and head tutor in history and literature (1960-62).

Karl holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville, a master's from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He will join the Kennedy School in September.