The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday filled its top leadership position with one of its own. L. Rafael Reif, the university’s provost and an MIT faculty member for 32 years, will assume the presidency on July 2, officials announced.
Mr. Reif, 61, will succeed Susan Hockfield, who announced in February that she would step down after seven years as the university’s first female president.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Reif (pronounced “rife”) emphasized his immigrant story. Born to a poor family in Venezuela, Mr. Reif spoke little English when he arrived at Stanford University as a graduate student in 1974. He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford and joined MIT’s largest department, electrical engineering, in 1980.
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