“She represents the University in ways no one else can,” Dominguez says. “When she travels, there’s really no comparison to anything I would do or anyone else would do.”

AN INTELLECTUAL PURSUIT—ABROAD

Before jetting off to a different time zone, Faust follows a multi-step regimen in preparation for her trips abroad.

A detective fiction aficionado who finds time to read every day, Faust makes a point of soliciting literary recommendations from faculty members and students with ties to countries on her trip itinerary. Books topping her list range from Nelson Mandela’s 700-page autobiography and South African politics writer Leonard Thompson’s “History of South Africa,” to the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” novel series set in Gaborone, Botswana.

“I used to be a scholar—I’m used to reading in my field all the time,” the Civil War historian says, gesturing to a pile of books stacked on her Mass. Hall office desk. Faust had left the remaining books on the list at her home in Elmwood, Harvard’s presidential mansion. “These trips provide the occasion for some intellectual input.”

To support her intellectual and cultural immersion efforts, her brother sent her several CDs featuring South African music for her birthday back in September. The strains of gospel and reggae now serenade her at the gym and in the car, she says.

The president’s trips abroad are often packed with meetings, alumni events, and press conferences for 16 hours a day, leaving little room to see the country.

“Her schedule is a killer. I saw her kind of roll her eyes only once,” Dominguez recalls of the time an aide presented her with another meeting request. “It was the equivalent of ‘Give me a break. I agreed to do the schedule, I’m going to do it, but don’t then ask me to do something else. I’m going to collapse the next day—I’m going to be useless.’”

Though sightseeing opportunities are limited to peering out the car window while being chauffeured from meeting to meeting, Faust—generally very low maintenance, aides say—often insists on a museum visit and some downtime to venture to local restaurants for ethnic cuisine.

But many of the catered meals in China, for example, feature continental breakfast items or filet mignon rather than traditional foods, she reflects.

BACK TO GIRLS’ SCHOOL

When Faust ascended to the presidency in October 2007, letters of admiration and hope from young women around the world congratulating her on her achievement poured into Mass. Hall.

“I thought to myself, ‘My goodness, I have an obligation to these young women,’” Faust says. “‘I ought to reach out to these young women when traveling.’”

And she has. On every extended trip, Faust schedules a visit to a local girls’ high school, where she meets with school officials and—in the case of Shanghai No. 3 Girls High School—a group of preselected, well-behaved schoolgirls in uniform. Faust says she was particularly impressed by the student musicians in a traditional Chinese music class she visited.

“I liked the drum section,” she says.