David Deming — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Awarded the Sherwin Rosen Prize (2022) for outstanding contributions to Labor Economics.
Received the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize (2018) for distinguished contributions to public policy and management.
Serves as the incoming Danoff Dean of Harvard College (starting July 1, 2025) and Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Co-founded the Skills Lab with Ben Weidmann, creating performance-based measures of 'soft' skills, funded by a $1.5 million gift from Schmidt Futures.
Principal Investigator at the CLIMB Initiative, studying higher education's role in social mobility.
Faculty Co-director of the Project on Workforce, a cross-Harvard initiative on economic mobility through school-to-work transition.
Earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School in 2010.

Biography

David Deming is an American political scientist and university administrator, known for his work in the economics of education and labor markets. He is the incoming Danoff Dean of Harvard College, beginning his tenure on July 1, 2025. Currently, he holds the position of Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.