About
Samantha Power is the William D. Zabel ’61 Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School and holds a joint appointment as the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. She previously served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (2021–2025) and U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN (2013–2017). Her career bridges academia, government, and journalism, with a focus on human rights, conflict prevention, and democracy promotion.
Education:
- B.A., Yale University (1992)
- J.D., Harvard Law School (1999)
Research Interests: Power’s work emphasizes global leadership in addressing humanitarian crises, combating authoritarianism, and institutionalizing human rights norms. Her seminal book *A Problem from Hell* (2002) won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing U.S. inaction during genocides. She advocates for proactive diplomacy, cost-effective development strategies, and multilateralism to counter autocracy and promote democratic governance.
Grants & Initiatives: At USAID, she spearheaded global vaccine distribution, led anti-lead poisoning campaigns, and institutionalized cost-effectiveness analysis. She also launched the “Democracy Delivers” initiative to align economic reforms with democratic progress.
Awards:
- Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction (2003)
- Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers (multiple years)
- Time’s 100 Most Influential People (multiple selections)
Labs/Teams: Former executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, now advising on global development and human rights through her academic roles.
