Curriculum Vitae

Lucian Bessmer, PhD

Cambridge, MA · contact@lucianbessmer.com · (781) 492-7101

Education

  • Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
    Ph.D. Education (2024) · A.M. History of Science (2019) · Ed.M. Higher Education (2014)
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
    B.A. History and Political Science (2010)

Professional & Research Experience

  • Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2016–Present)
    • Strategic Analytics Fellow (2026–Present) — Leads strategic analysis for university decision-making, building shared definitions and standards for institutional data used in planning and governance.
    • Institutional Governance and Strategy Fellow (2024–2026) — Designed shared-governance structures across 12 schools; conducted comparative research on peer senates.
    • Research Lead, History of HGSE (2020) — Archival research for centennial; co-developed lecture with Howard Gardner.
    • Development & Strategy Editor, Harvard Educational Review (2018–2020) — Guided authors through peer review; trained editors.
    • Research Assistant, Sociology of Higher Education (2016) — Interviews; historical accounts for new course.
    • Research Lead, Secondary Field in Education (2016–2017) — Mapped faculty and resources for Harvard College students.
  • Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), at MIT (2014–2017)
    • Assistant Director of Research (2016–2017) — Advised senior leaders at 35 colleges and universities on enrollment, financial aid, and student success; directed research projects and supervised analysts.
    • Research & Data Analyst (2014–2016) — Authored reports; statistical analysis (SPSS, Stata).

Public Scholarship

  • “A call for historically informed decisions.” Inside Higher Ed, June 27, 2025.

Book Reviews (selected)

  • Review of Social Science for What? by Mark Solovey. History of the Human Sciences, 2021.
  • Review of The Campus Color Line by Eddie R. Cole. Harvard Educational Review, Spring 2021.
  • Review of American Higher Education Since World War II: A History by Roger Geiger. Harvard Educational Review, Winter 2020.
  • Review of Why Trust Science? by Naomi Oreskes. Harvard Educational Review, Fall 2020.

Book Project

  • Anchors of Identity: The Many Paths to Prestige in the American University — comparative history of HGSE, PennGSE, and Teachers College showing plural forms of prestige and stakeholder-anchored identities.

Works in Progress

  • Holding Fast in Crisis: Anchors of Identity in Graduate Schools of Education, 1969–1982 — article manuscript.
  • We Were Distinguished Misfits: The Invention of the Field of Public Policy — article manuscript.

Conference Presentations (selected)

  • “We Were Distinguished Misfits”: The Clash of Two Knowledge Cultures at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. History of Recent Social Science (HISRESS), Spring 2025.
  • Multiple Paths to Prestige: A Re-Examination of the Historical Narratives about Elite Graduate Schools of Education. History of Education Society (HES), Chicago, Fall 2024.
  • Field Goals: Three Elite Graduate Schools of Education and their Visions for the Future. HISRESS, University of Toronto, Summer 2022.
  • What is a Profession? The Harvard Kennedy School 1940–1980. History of Science Modern Sciences Working Group, Harvard University, Spring 2019.
  • Low-Income Students at Highly Selective Institutions. COFHE Assembly, Yale University, Spring 2016.

Teaching

Instructor of Record

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor — History of American Higher Education (Spring 2026)
    PhD-level seminar on the history of American higher education.
  • Harvard University — Education Schools: Purpose, Expectations, and Impact (Fall 2021)
    Graduate seminar on the history and purpose of schools of education.
  • Brown University — History of American Higher Education (Spring 2020)
    Undergraduate course tracing the history of American higher education.

Head Teaching Fellow, Harvard University — Why Can’t Higher Education Change? (Sp 2023); Redesigning Colleges and Universities for Equitable Student Success (Fa 2022); Transformational Models in Higher Education (Sp 2022); The Future of the Liberal Arts College (Sp 2021); History of American Higher Education (Fa 2017–Fa 2019); Using Data to Support Decisionmaking and Improvement in Higher Education (Sp 2015–Sp 2018).

Teaching Fellow, Harvard University — How People Learn (Su 2021); Politics and Education Policy (Fa 2020); Creating the Future of American Postsecondary Education (Fa 2020).

Honors & Awards

Harvard University

  • EVP Artificial Intelligence Innovation Program (AIIP) Grantee
  • Strategic Analytics Fellow, 2026–Present
  • Institutional Governance and Strategy Fellow, 2024–2026

American Educational Research Association

  • Division F (History of Education) Seed Funding, 2023–2024

New England Regional Fellowship Consortium

  • Fellow, 2019–2020

Harvard University

  • Pforzheimer Fellow, 2018

The Fulbright Program

  • Fellow, Sinop University, Turkey, 2010–2011