Danielle Allen

Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy in the Department of Government. She earned her Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 2001, M.A. in Government from Harvard in 1998, Ph.D. in Classics from King’s College, University of Cambridge in 1996, M.Phil. in Classics from Cambridge in 1994, and A.B. in Classics summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1993. Her career includes positions at the University of Chicago as Dean of the Division of Humanities from 2004 to 2007 and professor in Political Science, Classical Languages and Literatures, and the Committee on Social Thought from 1997 to 2007; UPS Foundation Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study from 2007 to 2015; and at Harvard as Professor of Government since 2015, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2015, Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School since 2023, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School since 2023, and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project since its inception. She served as Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics from 2015 to 2023.

Allen's research specializations include democracy renovation, civic education, political philosophy, ethics, and public policy. Her major publications encompass Justice by Means of Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Democracy in a Time of Coronavirus (University of Chicago Press, 2021), Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. (Liveright, 2017), Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (Liveright, 2014), Education and Equality (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown v. Board of Education (University of Chicago Press, 2004), and The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (Princeton University Press, 2000). She has received the Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress in 2020, MacArthur Fellowship from 2002 to 2006, Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at the University of Chicago in 2001, and honorary degrees from institutions including Pomona College and Amherst College in 2018. Allen chaired the board of the Mellon Foundation from 2015 to 2019, served as a contributing columnist for The Washington Post from 2015 to 2024 and The Atlantic Magazine since 2024, and holds board positions including chair of Partners In Democracy and FairVote.

Professional Email: danielleallen@fas.harvard.edu