Harvard Law School Professor Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. ’94 and his wife, Law School Lecturer Stephanie Robinson ’94 have been chosen as the new house masters of Winthrop House at Harvard College.
Sullivan and Robinson are only the second team affiliated with HLS to be chosen as house masters: former Dean James Vorenberg LL.B. ’51 and his wife Betty were co-masters of Dunster House from 1973-1978.
“Stephanie and I are both humbled and honored to serve as House Masters,” said Sullivan. “We look forward to contributing to the intellectual life of the college in this significant way.”
In their new roles, Sullivan and Robinson will be responsible for guiding the academic and intellectual life of the residential college. They are the first black house masters in Harvard history.
Sullivan joined the HLS faculty in July 2007 and serves as faculty director of the Criminal Justice Institute and founding fellow of The Jamestown Project. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, he was an associate clinical professor and supervising attorney of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Yale Law School.
After graduating from HLS, Sullivan spent a year in Nairobi, Kenya, helping to draft a new constitution. He returned to the U.S. and served as a staff attorney for the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., before joining private practice at Baach Robinson & Lewis and later at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. In 2000, Sullivan returned to the Public Defender Service as general counsel and director of the office.
In addition to his J.D. from HLS, Sullivan holds a B.A. from Morehouse College.
A nationally recognized expert on issues relating to social policy, women, race, family, and electoral politics, Robinson is currently president and CEO of The Jamestown Project, a national think tank focusing on democracy. She is also a political commentator on The Tom Joyner radio show, a nationally syndicated morning news show reaching 10 million people daily. Robinson was formerly the chief counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy.
After earning her J.D., Robinson joined Sullivan in Kenya. She was also a member of President Clinton’s first presidential mission to Africa regarding children orphaned by AIDS. Robinson has served as the national director for public policy at the Center for Community Changes and has been involved with the Covenant With Black America, a national plan of action seeking to address the primary concerns of African Americans. She practiced law at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson.
Robinson holds a J.D. from HLS and a B.A. from the University of Maryland.