Summers says he was excited to return to Harvard, and that although being a part of making consequential decisions was exciting, he “missed students, young people, and freedom.” Summers says that watching students learn something he’s studied for decades “keeps you fresh.”

Meltzer and Liebman missed more than their students; they say that their positions in Washington made life difficult for their loved ones.

Metlzer—who is married to the Assistant City Manager of Human Services for the City of Cambridge—commuted from Washington to Cambridge during his stint in government. He says he’s excited and relieved to be living under the same roof with his wife.

Like Meltzer, Liebman commuted to Washington for a total of eight months, at one point moving his family to Washington for a year. Liebman says that the position was “very hard on the family,” since his children—of which the oldest is in elementary school and the youngest in the last year of pre-school—had to switch schools.

Liebman says this was “definitely a hard transition.”

“If it was not for family cost, I would still be in Washington,” Liebman adds.

Unlike Meltzer and Liebman, Tribe left his post due to medical concerns. Tribe was diagnosed in 2008 with a benign brain tumor that caused him to suffer facial seizures, among other symptoms. Tribe says that he left Washington to be closer to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he receives treatment. Despite this, Tribe says he would have left the DOJ in the coming months anyway in order to retain tenure.

As Summers, Tribe, Meltzer, and Liebman settle back into life in Cambridge, they say they believe that their experiences in Washington will enrich and improve their teaching.

Liebman says he believes that his first-hand experience with health care and energy policy will make him a more effective policy teacher. “I became an expert on broad set of issues,” he says.

Tribe says that what he “saw on the ground” illustrated to him the discrepancies in the letter of the law and how it is actually implemented.

—Staff writer Caroline M. McKay can be reached at carolinemckay@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Benjamin M. Scuderi can be reached at bscuderi@college.harvard.edu.