Harvard University picks first black president

(BBC) - Harvard University has named the first black person to lead the Ivy League university.

Dr Claudine Gay, who is a dean at Harvard and a democracy scholar, has been appointed as the school's 30th president.

She is the second woman to head the elite college in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr Gay will replace Lawrence Bacow as president in July 2023, the university said.

She will be the only black person to lead an Ivy League university in 2023 and the second black woman ever to head one of the colleges.

Dr Gay received her doctorate degree in 1998 from Harvard, where she won the Toppan Prize for the best dissertation in political science, according to the university.

She joined Harvard's faculty in 2006 as a government professor and became a professor of African and African-American Studies in 2007.

Dr Gay's work has centred on race and politics in America, including how social and economic factors shape political views and voting behaviour.

Her appointment comes as the Supreme Court is reviewing a case that could require Harvard to change its admissions process.

The case focuses on whether an applicant's race should be a factor in the admissions process.