Dame Louise Richardson

Dame Louise Richardson is president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Previously, she served as vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford and of the University of St. Andrews. She studied history at Trinity College Dublin before gaining her Ph.D. at Harvard University, where she spent 20 years on the faculty of the Department of Government and latterly as executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Richardson is recognized internationally as an expert on terrorism; her groundbreaking study, “What Terrorists Want,” is considered an essential classic in the field. Richardson has been honored with numerous awards, including the Centennial Medal bestowed on her in 2013 by Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The recipient of honorary doctorates from universities around the world, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in June 2022 in recognition of her services to higher education.