Martha Minow, Harvard Law School dean, who was one of President Obama’s professors at the school, is among about 10 people under consideration to be his nominee for the Supreme Court, a White House official said.

Minow joins a number of other Harvard-affiliated possibilities, including the dean she replaced, Solicitor General Elena Kagan.

Minow helped inspire Obama to enter public service instead of seeking his fortune on Wall Street. “When I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life — Martha Minow,’’ Obama said during the 2008 presidential campaign, according to Rabbi Samuel Gordon of Wilmette, Ill. Gordon cofounded a group called Rabbis for Obama during the campaign.

In an interview yesterday, Gordon said Minow “was one of the very first people to identify’’ Obama as a future political leader. He also noted strong ties between the Minow family and Obama. Minow’s father, Newt, was one of Obama’s mentors at the Chicago law firm where Obama worked.