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Bioengineer/soldier to head ROTC implementation committee

Kevin Kit Parker will play key role as Harvard welcomes ROTC back to campus (Boston Globe)

Harvard President Drew Faust announced the intended formation of an ROTC implementation committee, to be chaired by Kevin Kit Parker, Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor in SEAS, as well as an Army major.

Fulfilling a long-stated desire to bring ROTC back to campus, Harvard University president Drew Faust today will sign an agreement with the Navy to officially recognize its Reserve Officer Training Corps, two months after repeal of a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

The agreement, to be signed in a ceremony this afternoon with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, will reestablish ROTC’s formal presence on campus for the first time in four decades, signaling an end to tensions between one of the nation’s most prestigious universities and US armed forces, an issue in play since the Vietnam War ...

“Just inviting ROTC back to campus is not enough. We have to sell Harvard to the military,’’ said Kit Parker, an engineering professor and Army major who has served three tours in Afghanistan.

The ongoing wars require a “soldier-scholar,’’ Parker said, someone who can simultaneously fulfill both roles.

Read the full article in the Boston Globe

Topics: Bioengineering

Scientist Profiles

Kit Parker

Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics