Rudenstine Focusing on Weaving Together Harvard's Many Schools

Harvard never changes noticeably--it evolves across decades, not months. So it is not surprising that, in President Neil L. Rudenstine's first 200 days in office, not much has changed.

And strangely, facing tough times that many say require the fresh, energetic leadership that is the unspoken promise of a new president, University officials are quick to point out the similarities between Rudenstine and his predecessor, Derek C. Bok.

They are both easy to talk to and friendly. And they both have a keen understanding of how a university works.

At the same time, however, it is quite clear that something has changed in the southwest corner office of Massachusetts Hall. There sits a man who listens a little better than Bok, who is more likely to change his mind in the course of a one-hour meeting and who has a far clearer conception of the University as a whole.

Critics of Bok charged the former president with a vision of Harvard as a collection of separate tubs. And so far, Rudenstine's most visible push has been for the University's separate schools to work more closely together.

The new president has been fostering inter-faculty collaborations in the areas of public education policy, the environment, biomedical care and research and democratic institutions, according to John H. Shattuck, vice president for government, community and public affairs.

"He's doing all the things he can to bring the University together, to achieve a sense of community...as it enters very difficult times," Shattuck says.

And beyond the financial imperatives implicit in Rudenstine's message of cooperation--almost every administrator links the effort to the University's gloomy financial future--lies a notion that Rudenstine wants to work with everybody.

He certainly is meeting with everybody. He is sticking his toes in the waters of every part of the University.

Last week, he visited the University police department for an hour, and he stopped by The Crimson building as well, after speaking at the Kennedy School of Government and before heading home at around 7 p.m. He is meeting regularly with the deans and vice presidents.

600 Letters Per Week

He gets about 600 letters a week, and his appointment book is so filled he already has commitments scheduled for as late as August.

Harvard officials close to Rudenstine say that the new president is skilled as an all-around people person.

"I think he's a warm and humane person who cares a lot about people as individuals," says Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54.

"I think Neil Rudenstine is interested in the people who are the Harvard community," says Vice President for Finance Robert H. Scott.

In fact, Rudenstine will continue to hold regular office hours to talk with students. Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 says Rudenstine is doing well at "listening and hearing what is going on."

Of course, bouncing around campus is in the job description, but Rudenstine's associates say he has taken an active interest in his "get-to-know-you" sessions.

"He listens very carefully," says Steiner. "He not infrequently will express a point of view at the beginning of a meeting, then...express a different point of view having absorbed different people's viewpoints."

`Supportive'

James D. Wilkinson '65, director of the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, says Rudenstine has been very supportive of the center's efforts. He says Rudenstine was "instrumental" in arranging for the Overseers to hear a report on undergraduate learning from Wilkinson and Professors of Education Howard E. Gardner '65 and Richard J. Light.

Clearly, the hands-off days of Bok are over. Rudenstine and his Mass Hall compatriots are expanding their involvement in the planning process of every part of the University.

For now, selecting a provost and filling the vacant graduate school deanships--at the Education School and the Graduate School of Design--are on the top of Rudenstine's agenda. Not much lower on the agenda is a University-wide long-term academic planning initiative in preparation for the ever-looming fund drive, which could have a target of as high as $2.5 billion.

Expanded Agenda

In addition, Rudenstine plans to appoint an administrator to help update the University's computing networks, and he hopes to launch a broad review of undergraduate academic and residential life by late spring or early fall.

In real terms, Rudenstine has barely begun to make his imprint on Harvard as an institution. He has chosen a new dean for the Kennedy School, but for now, he's still getting to know Harvard, something Wilkinson calls "a big assignment in itself."

And slowly, Harvard is getting to know him, too.