Kenneth R. Andrews papers

Kenneth R. Andrews was born on May 24, 1916 in New London, Connecticut and died September 4, 2005. He attended Wesleyan University, receiving a BA in 1936 and MA in 1937. He received his PhD in 1948 from the University of Illinois at Urbana which he attended from 1937-1946, with a break during World War II. While a student at the University of Illinois he was a Teaching Assistant and Instructor in English.

He was drafted into the Army in 1941 and served as an enlisted man in the Field Artillery from 1941-1942. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force in 1942. He graduated from the Army Air Force Statistical Officers School in 1944. As Captain and Major, he was Head of the Analysis Section and Commanding Officer of the 35th Statistical Control Unit from 1944-1946. While in the service Andrews was responsible for personnel classification and assignments, and statistical control work. He assigned officers to the Statistical School at HBS during the war. He remained in the Air Force Reserve as a Lt. Colonel from 1946-1956.

At the invitation of Edmund P. Learned, Kenneth Andrews joined the faculty of HBS in fall of 1946. He was an Instructor in the multidisciplinary course, Administrative Practices, which dealt with the human problems of organization. During this time, he also completed his dissertation on Mark Twain which was later published as the book, Nook Farm: Mark Twain’s Hartford Circle.

Andrews was an administrative aide and speech writer for Dean Donald K. David. He served as Associate Professor from 1952-1957 and was promoted to full professor in 1957. In 1965 he became the first Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration in 1965. He was Area Chairman of Business Policy from 1964-1967, taught in the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from 1964-1970, and was Faculty Chairman of AMP from 1967-1970.

Kenneth Andrews was very active with Harvard University. He was a member of Harvard University’s Committee on Governance, was a member of a committee that helped select Derek Bok as President, and was the principle author of the report, "The Organization and Functions of the Governing Boards and the Office of the President" (1971). He was also appointed Master of Leverett House in 1971 (to 1981). He was the first Master of a Harvard House selected from outside the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Outside of his teaching activities Andrews was editor of the Harvard Business Review from 1979 to 1985. He also had consulting assignments for various companies in executive and organizational development, strategic planning, and policy matters. He designed executive development programs for AT&T, First National City Bank, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Xerox, and other companies.

Kenneth Andrews was a member of the Harvard Business School faculty for forty years. He retired from the active faculty in 1986. At the time of his death in 2005 he was the School’s Donald Kirk David Professor of Business Administration Emeritus.