Michael Ignatieff sits in his former parliamentary chair in his office at Massey College in Toronto on Sept. 28, 2012.DEBORAH BAIC/The Globe and Mail
Michael Ignatieff is heading back to Harvard University full-time, the same school he left to run for the leadership of the federal Liberals.
The university announced Tuesday that Mr. Ignatieff has been named to the Edward R. Murrow Chair of Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was director of a centre for the study of human rights from 2000 to 2005.
Of late, the former Liberal leader has been splitting his time between Harvard and the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, where he returned to teaching and research after he lost his seat in the 2011 federal election amid a demoralizing defeat for his party. At the time, he declared his political life to be over.
His new appointment begins July 1, and he will not return to U of T this fall.
Mr. Ignatieff built his career as a journalist, author and scholar before entering the political ring, and Harvard intends to draw on that mix of experience. He will also be a faculty affiliate and researcher at the Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. And he will teach courses on meeting the demands of political life, responsibility and representation, sovereignty and intervention, as well as human rights and foreign policy.
"The Kennedy School is an exciting and dynamic place where our future leaders are engaged in the very real process of gaining a greater understanding of the challenges they will face and the tools they will need to confront them," Mr. Ignatieff said in a statement.
The Edward R. Murrow Professorship, established in 1987, is named for the renowned broadcaster and open to a "distinguished practitioner from the media." The first person to hold it was Marvin Kalb, who was founding director of the Shorenstein Center.
James Bradshaw