Sirak Kurban

Sirak W. Kurban serves as the Communications and External Relations Officer, bringing a background in policy, education, and media to effectively communicate complex initiatives and ideas, as well as advance institutional partnerships across Harvard and Africa.

Sirak holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from the University of Michigan, where his studies focused on societal issues and the human condition at the intersection of morality, institutional change, and resource scarcity. He also held a minor in Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, researching the dimensions in which housing and the spatial environment affects every aspect of public policy, including, but not limited to, education, health, safety, and income mobility.

He began his career teaching in Denver Public Schools, where he served as the 7th Grade Department Chair, before moving to Boston to pursue a Master’s degree at Harvard University. Most recently, Sirak led a coalition of Massachusetts-based organizations as the Associate Director of Community Partnerships at a Boston education philanthropy, and he also spent some time on strategic communications for Black communities within the City of Boston Mayor’s Office.

Born in Asmara, Eritrea, Sirak carries a foundational ethos of pan-Africanism and is committed to building the people, academic, ideation, storytelling, and institutional bridges between Harvard and Africa.