So Far, So Good

When A Michael Spence took over as Dean of the aculty last July, most people agreed that filling the shoes of former dean--and originator of the Core Curriculum--Henry Rosovsky would be a tall order.

But, while most department chairman agree that Spence has yet to initiate any major changes, they say that he has land the foundation for a number of his own innovations

More specifically, since taking over at the helm of the Faculty he has prioritized three issues.

* a review of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

* an analysis of the problems facing junior faculty.

* the computerization of the University.

Spence has spent a large part of his time this year meeting the Faculty members, especially the department chairmen. In fact, he said that he plans to meet personally with each of the more than 300 tenured members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"I have been getting to know my colleagues, the staft, and the departments so that I can be helpful to them in accomplishing their educational and scholarly goals," he said.

In addition, the former Rhodes Scholar and Princeton hockey player said that has also been meeting with groups of junior faculty members at the Faculty Club to discuss their concerns and problems.

"He's been spending a great deal of time educating himself in the biological sciences, and he's been doing a great job at that," said Richard M. Losick, chairman of the Cellular and Developmental Biology Department

Chairman of the Geology Department Adam M. Dziewonski said that Spence spent a day with the Geology Department listening to their concerns and examining their research. "It's not the kind of things deans used to do," he added.

Moreover, Spence has reinstituted regular monthly meetings between the dean of the Faculty and all the department chairmen--a tradition which Rosovsky had let slide.

"It's an attempt to set up a useful forum for the department chairmen to find what problems other departments face," said Dziewonski.

"One can see already that this will be a productive forum," said Albert Henrichs, chairman of the Classics Department.

"I met the other department chairs for the first time and learned what their problems were. It gave me a better perspective of how our department was run in relation to other departments, especially the sciences," Henrichs said.

Reviewing the GSAS

What appears to be Spence's most immediate priority, however, is his review of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Spence appointed Leverett Professor of Physics Karl Strauch to head a review committee. The last such review of the GSAS, completed in 1969, recommended a reduction in the size of the graduate school. No major changes have occurred in the GSAS since then, according to Assistant Dean of the College John R. Marquand.

"The Strauch Committee will analyze the needs of the GSAS over the next 10 to 15 years," said Marquand.

Faculty members, moreover, are quick to praise Spence's concern with the graduate program.

"For a few years, there were other distractions such as the Core and the Harvard Campaign. It's overdue, and the time is ripe," said History Department Chairman John Womack '59.

"From my point of view, and from the point of view of the Faculty, the [GSAS review] is the most reassuring thing he's done," Womack added.

Spence, moreover, stated that the emphasis on the GSAS would not mean diverting, attention away from he College.

"I just felt that when I came in, the College was in good shape. I didn't plan to ignore it. I just felt that the Faculty needed to look at the graduate school," he said.

Aage B. Sorensen, Sociology Department chairman, said that the review of the GSAS may in fact boost undergraduate education at Harvard since many of the College's teaching fellows are recruited from the graduate program.

The new dean is also looking into the problems that junior, or untenured, faculty members face at Harvard. Currently, only 15 percent of the junior faculty at Harvard receive tenure here.

Spence said that he has not only asked the Faculty to look into the question of whether there are adequate possibilities for promotion at Harvard, but whether or not junior faculty have the opportunities and support to get their work done.

"The dean is determined to find better ways to serve the career needs of the junior faculty," said Henrich. "One of the priorities of the dean is making sure that in ever, department, the junior faculty get individual attention as far as their career is concerned."

"He wants to make this a more attractive place for young people, and wants to make this the best place for people to grow professionally," said Sorensen.

According to Psychology and Social Relations Department Chairman Sheldon H. White '50 Spence requested each department chairman to submit an analysis of their junior faculty.

"He asked each department chair to tell how he could best use the resources of his office to attract the best junior faculty and to develop them when they are here," White added.

Spence's final priority, and the only one where anything concrete has been accomplished, according to the department chairmen, is in "computerizing" the University.

Spence has placed priorities in this area on installing small computers into the departments as well as providing computers for research, word-processing, educational uses, and the Library system.

Office work

Spence has also reorganized and restaffed the University Hall administration. Already, he has named Steven Ozment as associate dean for undergraduate education and Robert A. Rotney as associate dean for administration. Spence will be appointing a new dean of the College probably later this year to replace John B. Fox Jr. '59 who will step down by June, 1986. Also, Spence will likely choose a permanent dean of the GSAS to replace an acting dean.

Spence said that he would wait for the Strauch committee to report before appointing a new GSAS dean because he suspects that the committee may suggest a reorganization of the way the GSAS is administered.

Not all of the department chairmen are entirely pleased with Spence's priorities. East Asian Language and Civilizations Department Chairman Edwin A. Cranston has complained about Spence's refusal to fill some of their staffing requests.

"[Spence] sees the big picture. I see the picture of my department," Cranston said.

Celtic Languages and Literature Department Chairman John Collins said, "On arriving here as a tenured faculty member and a department chair, I found out I had been allocated no personal office." Collins said Spence told the new faculty members that when he arrived here, he was assigned a desk but no chair.

If he got no respect then, he's hinted that much hasn't changed since. Speaking at a dinner in his honor at North House last week, he described the Faculty's administration as one man on top and 600 professors lined up underneath.

Or that's what he thought until he assumed the deanship, he said. Actually, he concluded, there's 600 professors on top and one administrator underneath.