In Memoriam: Anya Bernstein Bassett
It is with deep sorrow that we share with you the following message from our Chair, Professor David Armitage:
With great sadness, Social Studies marks the passing of Anya Bernstein Bassett, the program’s indispensable and much loved Director of Undergraduate Studies for over 20 years. Anya, as everyone knew her, died on Tuesday August 13th at the tragically young age of 56. Only a year earlier, she had left Social Studies to take up a new opportunity as Faculty Director of the International and Public Affairs concentration at Brown University after thirty years at Harvard as a graduate student, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer.
The daughter of educators, Anya was born and raised in Connecticut and graduated summa cum laude in Political Science from Barnard College in 1990 before coming to Harvard for her graduate work in the Government Department. Her 1997 PhD on the politics of family and medical leave became her first book, The Moderation Dilemma: Legislative Coalitions and the Politics of Family and Medical Leave in 2001. She joined Social Studies as a Lecturer in 1998 and began her period as the program’s longest serving Director of Undergraduate Studies in 2002.
Over the next two decades, Anya threw all of her considerable energy into teaching, advising and inspiring the Social Studies community. Everyone who knew her—faculty, lecturers and, especially, students—can testify to her dedication, her wisdom and her enthusiasm. Whether in supporting first-generation students, rigorously advising over 50 senior theses or decorating the Social Studies office for the holidays (a particular passion), Anya excelled as a teacher and mentor to those around her. She was voted a “Favorite Professor” five times, by the Harvard College Classes of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2018, and won numerous other prizes for advising and teaching. Social Studies as we know it today is very much Anya’s creation. She strove to maintain the highest academic standards while also making the concentration notable for its friendliness and strong sense of community as she stressed the social as well as intellectual aspects of Social Studies. Hundreds of students benefited from her guidance over the decades; through them, her influence has spread across the world.
Anya was married for thirty years to Jonathan Bassett; together they had two children, Benjamin and Sarah. Her Christian faith was a guiding force in her life and she was an active church member as well as a frequent attender of morning prayers in Memorial Chapel. She shared her warmth, generosity and optimism generously with others but she was also open about her struggles with acute depression. We share our condolences with Anya’s family, her former students and all the many people, at Harvard and beyond, she touched indelibly during her well lived but all too short life.
In the characteristic message Anya sent to the class of 2024, she wrote: “remember that you carry with you a light. Let your light shine, especially in the darkest and most broken places in our world. You are beautiful, Class of 2024. Don’t forget that. You have given me joy, you have made me think, and you give me hope.” Anya gave joy, made us think and gave us hope. May her light continue to shine.