jonathan hack

jonathan is the Director of Partnerships and Engagements at Harvard University’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. At the Center, jonathan spearheads the development and management of strategic partnerships that align with the Center’s mission and values. He is responsible for identifying and engaging with potential partners, stakeholders, and interested parties across academia, industry, government, the non-profit sectors, and philanthropy to cultivate meaningful relationships. jonathan works closely with faculty, researchers, and administration to align partnership activities with the Center's research, educational, and operational goals, building inter- and multidisciplinary teams, ensuring the long-term success of these collaborations. 

Prior to this position, jon was Director of Content & Strategy for the Justice, Health, and Democracy Impact Initiative (JHD). The JHD was an initiative to unite scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers to co-design policy guidance focused on the intersecting problems of public trust, health equity, justice, democratic participation, and political economy, in the U.S. and around the globe. Through JHD, academic experts worked directly with local leaders and practitioners in a range of professional contexts to clarify overarching policy needs and objectives anchored in ethical principles, and to develop practical approaches that promoting human flourishing. 

Prior to joining the Center, jon held various positions in the higher education think-space. Most recently, he was an assistant professor of political science at Lehigh University, teaching courses on American politics and constitutional law. His research uses statistical methods to explore how norms and institutions constrain the range of options available to political actors and the downstream effects on decision-making. His work seeks to unite political behavior, institutionalization, mixed-methodology approaches, and ethics to yield relevant research to public problems. His work has been published in the Journal of Legal Studies, Political Research Quarterly, and other legal journals.  

Jonathan holds a B.A. in Government and International Relations from Clark University, rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg z’’l, and a Ph.D. from The George Washington University. He previously was the lead program officer for the Anxieties of Democracy Program at the Social Science Research Council. Jonathan held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Law School in the Empirical Research Services Department assisting with statistical legal research.  

When not thinking about issues related to democracy and ethics, jon enjoys finding great places to have conversations over coffee, cycling, and a host of other hobbies.