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Harvard University named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president on Sunday, ending
a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor(接任者)to Lawrence Summers .
The seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar on History of the American
South and dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university's 28th president.
"This is a great day, and a historic day for Harvard." James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential
search committee, said in a statement. "Drew Faust is an inspiring and accomplished leader, a superb
scholar, a dedicated(献身的) teacher, and a wonderful human being."
Her selection is noteworthy given the heated debates over Summers' comments that genetic
differences between the sexes might help explain the lack of women in top science jobs.
Faust has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women's college was
combined into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues(性别问题).
Some professors have quietly groused that the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth president
who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last
four have come from the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.
Faust is the first Harvard president who did not receive a degree from the university since Charles
Chauncy, a graduate of Cambridge University, who died in office in 1762. She attended the University
of Pennsylvania.
"Teaching staff turned to her constantly," said Sheldon Hackney, a former president of the University
of Pennsylvania and historian who worked closely with Faust. "She's very clear. She has a sense of humor, but she's very strong-minded. You come to trust in her because she's so solid."
1. Which might be the best title for the passage?
A. Harvard named its 1st female president.
B. History of Harvard University changed.
C. Debates on female equality ended.
D. Drew Gilpin Faust, a famous woman historian.
2. Lawrence Summers held the view that ________.
A. women cannot achieve as much as men in management
B. women cannot hold important positions in society
C. women can match men in science jobs
D. few women make top scientists owing to genes
3. The underlined word "groused" in the 6th paragraph means ________.
A. approved
B. commented
C. complained
D. indicated
4. This passage probably appears in a ________.
A. biography
B. personal letter
C. research paper
D. newspaper
