Leach '64 accepts post at the Kennedy School
Less than a year after departing politics for academia, Wilson School visiting professor and former Iowa congressman Jim Leach '64 will take a leave of absence from the University to accept a post at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.Leach, who will serve as director of the school's Institute of Politics for the current academic year, cited the opportunity to help students enter the political scene and embark on service careers."The Institute of Politics is an engaging and dynamic place," he said in a statement, "and I am eager to begin working closely with students and staff, faculty and fellows to energize young people to embrace the challenges and opportunities of politics and public service."This semester was slated to be Leach's second of three semesters teaching at his alma mater. The longtime Iowa congressman ? who voted against the Iraq war and was known as one of Capitol Hill's most liberal Republicans ? was ousted from his House seat after the 2006 midterm elections, a casualty of public dissatisfaction with a foreign policy he himself had opposed.At Princeton, Leach was scheduled to teach a course on the international relations of East Asia, but the class was cancelled once it was clear that Leach would probably leave, interim Wilson School Dean Nolan McCarty said.McCarty said he does not blame Leach for his decision.