New Committee Is Future Model

Less than a year since his appointment as Harvard's 26th president, Neil L. Rudenstine is already well on the way to establishing a Harvard of the future.

"We need to build a new agenda, beyond the confines of any one or two schools or faculties," Rudenstine said in his inauguration speech last October.

The recently announced Committee on Environmental Studies is a perfect example of Rudenstine's "new agenda," and it's a good indication of just how he intends to turn that vision into reality.

The first item on the new agenda is cooperation. The University-wide Environmental Studies committee, for instance, is an effort to bring professors from various Harvard faculties closer together.

"I think there will be a lot of interschool cooperation," said Provostdesignate Jerry R. Green, who is also Wells professor of political economy.

When Green assumes his new post in July, he will be the University official chiefly responsible for just this sort of coordinated academic effort.

With the vision that Rudenstine and Green have for the future, University-wide committees will likely plan and administer joint academic endeavors.

In other words, the Environmental Studies committee may emerge as "a good model," Green said.

Such a committee would keep faculty members more closely tied to their home faculties than if they were removed to form a special foundation or research center, Green said.

But before the new agenda of co-operation can be fully implemented, Rudenstine insists upon careful and intensive academic preparation.

Rudenstine initiated this form of University-wide planning operation this fall when he called upon deans from every faculty to assess formally their needs for the future.

While not part of the academic planning process per se, the Committee on Environmental Studies will play a similar role. Rudenstine said he expected from the group "a kind of analysis [of] which fields of environmental studies we should be thinking of as our strengths."

"Right now," Rudenstine said, "if somebody walked in the door and said `here's three faculty positions for the environment,' you would say,

`Whoops, let's wait a minute. Wonderful gift,great gift. Let's take a few months to try tofigure out where to put those positions."

The final aspect of the new agenda--and perhapsthe most critical to assuring its success--is a $2billion plus fundraising drive, set to begin nextyear.

Just as the academic planning process is aimedat building a case for the capital campaignappeals, the Environmental Studies committee isalso ultimately directed at clarifying fundraisinggoals.

"Once you've figured out what those prioritiesare, then you know what to go after," Rudenstinesaid.

Of course, in addition to being a model ofRudenstine's new agenda, the Committee onEnvironmental Studies is also charged withcompleting some specific tasks: creating anundergraduate concentration and coordinatinggraduate programs.

There has already been some progress andcriticism in that area. Committee Chair Michael B.McElroy, who is also Rotch professor ofatmospheric science, submitted a report in Januaryto Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences JeremyR. Knowles outlining the proposed concentration.

Phillips Brooks House's Environmental Actioncommittee responded by commending the committee'seffort, while expressing concern about the largenumber of introductory science courses to berequired

`Whoops, let's wait a minute. Wonderful gift,great gift. Let's take a few months to try tofigure out where to put those positions."

The final aspect of the new agenda--and perhapsthe most critical to assuring its success--is a $2billion plus fundraising drive, set to begin nextyear.

Just as the academic planning process is aimedat building a case for the capital campaignappeals, the Environmental Studies committee isalso ultimately directed at clarifying fundraisinggoals.

"Once you've figured out what those prioritiesare, then you know what to go after," Rudenstinesaid.

Of course, in addition to being a model ofRudenstine's new agenda, the Committee onEnvironmental Studies is also charged withcompleting some specific tasks: creating anundergraduate concentration and coordinatinggraduate programs.

There has already been some progress andcriticism in that area. Committee Chair Michael B.McElroy, who is also Rotch professor ofatmospheric science, submitted a report in Januaryto Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences JeremyR. Knowles outlining the proposed concentration.

Phillips Brooks House's Environmental Actioncommittee responded by commending the committee'seffort, while expressing concern about the largenumber of introductory science courses to berequired