Following his promotion to full professor in 1953, Bundy was appointed dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Only thirty-four, he remains the youngest person to have received a decanal appointment in the University's history as of 2019. An effective and popular administrator, Bundy led policy changes intended to develop Harvard as a class-blind, merit-based university with a reputation for stellar academics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1954. During his time as a Dean at Harvard, Bundy first met Senator John F. Kennedy who sat on the Harvard Board of Overseers, and to got to know him well.