A prestigious institution at Harvard University will be welcoming a new professor whose name may ring a bell to many Bay Staters. Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who was the state’s first Black governor from 2007 to 2015, has been appointed professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. He will be stepping into his new position in February. He will also be the co-director for the school’s Center for Public Leadership.“I am thrilled that Governor Patrick will be joining Harvard Kennedy School,” Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf said. “With his deep and varied experience as a public leader and his important work as a civil rights advocate, Patrick will be a distinguished member of our practitioner faculty.”In his position, he “will teach the practice of public leadership” according to a Harvard Kennedy School press release. “It’s an honor to join this distinguished faculty and an exciting opportunity to help lead the Center for Public Leadership,” Patrick said. “With the scale and scope of the challenges facing humankind, the world needs conscientious, dedicated leaders at every level in every sector, people willing to spend their ‘political’ capital, not just accumulate it.”Patrick himself is an alumnus of both Harvard College and the Harvard Law School, graduating in 1978 and 1982 respectively.