Harvard: Summers return to teaching, research

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard University says Lawrence Summers is returning to teaching and academic research at the Ivy League school after serving as President Barack Obama's top economic adviser for two years.

Summers will be based at Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught before taking a public service leave of absence in early 2009.

Summers also will lead the Sharmin and Bijan (BEE'-zhan) Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, which is Harvard's hub for academic scholarship, research and teaching on key policy issues facing the public and private sectors.

Summers announced his resignation in September as assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the White House National Economic Council. He coordinated the advice Obama received from throughout the administration as he pushed to deal with an unprecedented economic crisis.