Harvard University, the oldest university in the United States, has named the first female president in its 371-year history.
Harvard announced Sunday that Drew Gilpin Faust will become the university's 28th president on July 1.
Faust, a 59-year-old expert on the Civil War and the American South, is currently dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Faust succeeds Lawrence Summers, who came under fire in 2005 when he suggested that fewer women work in the sciences and math because of innate gender differences. Summers chose Faust to head two committees on gender issues created in the wake of his remarks.
Summers, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary, resigned last year after a five-year tenure.
Harvard University is one of the world's premier universities, with more than 10 schools and colleges, a budget of $3 billion and an endowment of nearly $30 billion.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.