[8][9] Bacow began his academic career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he served as a professor for 24 years, ultimately being appointed department chair and chancellor.

As chancellor, he oversaw undergraduate and graduate education, student life, admissions, financial aid, athletics, campus planning, and MIT's industrial and international partnerships.

On March 1, 2010, then U.S. President Barack Obama appointed Bacow to the board of advisors for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman composed and recited a poem, "Making Mountains as We Run", for the event.

In his inaugural address, Bacow said: Throughout our history, higher education has enabled the most ambitious among us to rise economically and socially.

And every step the nation has taken to print more such tickets into the middle class, and beyond, has powered our economic growth and leadership in innovation.

[25] In 2019, Bacow wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan, expressing his view that international scholars and individuals who entered the U.S. illegally at a young age and been provided various protections under DACA should not be subject to deportation and should be given U.S. work permits.

[26] He praised the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate DACA in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California,[27] and, alongside MIT President Leo Rafael Reif, led Harvard's successful legal challenge to Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidance issued in July 2020 that would have forbidden international students from staying in the country if they were taking online courses.

The University remains committed to academic excellence, expanded opportunity, and diverse educational experiences—and to the perennial work of preparing students for fruitful careers and meaningful lives.

Under his leadership, the university revisited the quality of air filtration systems throughout classrooms and campus buildings and instituted regular testing protocols.

[43] In an interview with Harvard Gazette, Bacow described surprise at the diagnosis, claiming he and his wife had been completely isolated in their house for close to ten days before experiencing symptoms.

[45] Shortly after the Bacows tested positive for COVID-19, both custodians who had been cleaning his house also began experiencing symptoms of the disease.

[49] The university followed through and did not lay off any idle workers during the pandemic, and was fully staffed when campus operations ultimately resumed.

Harvard has made a decision to maintain an in-person campus in order to preserve the academic vibrancy and the emotional wellness of its community members.

[52][53] The committee was chaired by Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and included Sven Beckert, Paul Farmer, Annette Gordon-Reed, Evelynn Hammonds, Meira Levinson, Tiya Miles, Martha Minow, Maya Sen, Daniel Smith, Davis Williams, and William Julius Wilson.

These include a public memorial, partnering with HBCUs, a legacy of slavery fund, and identifying current Harvard students who are descendants of slaves.

Bacow accepted the proposals and committed $100 million from the Harvard Corporation to implement them, with the funds divided between current-use resources and a long-term endowment.

[58][59] He and his wife, Adele Fleet Bacow, president of Community Partners Consultants, an urban planning firm, have two sons.