After Dean's Exit, K-School Lacks Direction

When Dean Albert Carnesale took over leadership of the Kennedy School in 1991, he found a directionless and divided facutly plagued by low, morale and the lack of a unifying vision.

Next month, as he departs to become provost of the University, he leaves a school on the mend but not fully recovered from a series of abrupt leadership changes and its own too-rapid expansion in the 1980s.

His departure raises questions about the future of the school, which many say will need a steady hand and a strong leader to continue on the path set during Carnesale's successful term.

"I think [Carnesale's promotion] is a great choice for Harvard and a terrible choice for the Kennedy School," says Robert Z. Lawrence, Williams professor of international trade and investment.

Carnesale was the third administrator to assume the School's reins in the space of just five years.

Such rapid flux is relatively rare at Harvard, where deans such as John H. McArthur of the Business School and Daniel C. Tosteson '46 of the Medical School lend a sense of stability to their schools with tenures of a decade or more.

Such stability is particularly lacking at the Kennedy School, some professors say.

"I think it is a problem when leadership in any of the schools turns over that rapidly, particularly in a School like the Kennedy School that's still defining its identity," says Dennis F. Thompson, Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy.

And at the Kennedy School, which has a shorter tradition and less entrenched sense of mission than most schools, the dean may exert more influence, the professor says.

"The dean has more authority than in most schools, so when it changes you don't have clear direction of where the school's going," he says.

A History of Growth

This lack of direction dates back to the origins of the school and its rapid growth over the last 20 years.

Founded in 1936, the Kennedy School took on its present name and modern form in 1966.

Dillon Professor of Government Graham T. Allison '62, who took over as dean of the revamped schools in the late 1970s presided over the its quick expansion from a small institution to a huge amalgam of programs, professors and brand-new angular buildings.

Allison, a stellar fundraiser whose ability to woo donors fueled the rapid growth, was plagued by controversy toward the end of his term.

In 1986, he was rebuked by the national press and members of the University's faculty for awarding a medal of "distinguished public service" to Attorney General Edwin Meese III.

Allison was also chastised for overly-aggressive money seeking tactics.

In 1987, he again received national attention when The Crimson learned that he had approved a draft agreement to give a Texas couple "officer of the University" status in exchange for a $500,000 donation.

Many say the scandals, and Allison's commitment to growth without analysis or consolidation, left the school depressed and bloated with no firm idea of a mission or centralized curriculum.

"I think the School got a little out of breath," Ramsey Professor of Political Economy Richard J. Zeckhauser said at the time.

But perhaps most surprising, in light of Allison's fundraising abilities, was the financial status of the school on his departure. Despite his years of successful rainmaking, the school was financially insolvent and unable to complete its Taubman building project with the allotted funds when Robert D. Putnam took over as dean in 1989.

Financial Consolidation

Putnam, Gurney professor of political science and associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, began a period of financial consolidation for the school.

The Taubman building, an ambitious project typical of the aggressive growth of the Allison years, cost twice as much as the donation to build it.

The fiscally cautious Putnam focused on the financial crisis and successfully brought it to heel.

"Putnam inherited a financial situation that was not very good and straightened it out pretty well," says Thompson. "That was Putnam's major achievement."

But that achievement came at a price. Putnam whom many say never really wanted the deanship, spent little time on faculty or curriculum issues.

He did not provide either a vision or a direction for the School, which many said at the time was "flying apart."

"Putnam made an enormous contribution, but he didn't lay out any goals or direction for the future,' Thompson says.

The result was plunging faculty morale and widespread tension among the School's professors.

"Putnam did not like the job of being dean and that really disturbed the faculty," Thompson says. "For two years we really didn't know where we were going."

And by 1991, just two years after assuming the deanship, Putnam was ready to abandon it to return to teaching and research.

Carnesale Arrives

It was in November 1991 that Carnesale took over, promising a "new phase of consolidation" for the Kennedy School.

His work was cut out for him in the rudderless institution.

"The next dean has an opportunity to set the direction for the next 10 years," Hale Champion, lecturer in public policy, said at the time.

And, according to many at the Kennedy School, Carnesale, in just three years, made huge strides toward healing the school's wounds and unifying the divided faculty.

He raised faculty morale, helped integrate Kennedy School programs into the rest of the University and worked to make the school's curriculum more cohensive, faculty say.

"During the transition before Carnesale, the faculty was a little unhappy. Carnesale had the confidence of all the various people," Thompson says. "That kind of confidence is hard to recreate."

Carnesale was also a success in the crucial area of faculty recruitment. Colleagues credit him with increasing faculty diversity at the Kennedy School, Which has long had a problem drawing women and minorities.

According to the University's most recent affirmative action report, "The Kennedy School has achieved significant gains in the number of women and minorities on the overall faculty in the past five years."

"We've begun some major searches. One is still going on for distinguished people, "Thompson says.

"Rather than trying to fill spots, Carnesale identified a general 'we wanted to get very good people,": he adds. "You're more likely to get women and minorities that way, because you're looking for the very best people."

The worries raised by the rapid succession of deans were soothed under Carnesale's steady leadership, professor say.

"We are a school that has had a lot of uncertainty," Lawrence says. "We'd not only had a rotation of deans, we'd finally found the right one."

Kicked Upstairs

But the "right one" is about to be kicked upstairs and professors now fear that the gains of the past three years will be lost.

Ramsey Professor of Political Economy Richard J. Zeckhauser says that although the school is recovering from its period of turmoil, it's not ready to have Carnesale leave.

"It's job that's not completed. I would have loved to have Dean Carnesale stay. We're letting him get away too early," Zeckhauser says. "I would have liked for them to give us Dean Carnesale for another three years."

Many say the best thing a new dean could do would be to continue Carnesale's progress, with his own input as provost aiding the process.

"I don't believe we need any sort of major change in direction," says Pratt Public Service Professor Lewis M. Branscomb. "We need to sort of proceed straight ahead."

One part of the continuation would be to keep up Carnesale's effort to integrate the Kennedy School into the rest of the University.

"I would like to see the Kennedy School be much more involved in the rest of the University," Zeckhauser says. "I hope that's priority of the next dean."

But the most important things for the new dean to have according to faculty and carnesale himself, is faith in the school and a firm a vision for its future.

"The single most important thing is that it be someone who believes strongly in the mission of the Kennedy School and who has a vision for how to accomplish that mission," Carnesale says. "Secondly, it must be someone who commands the respect of the Kennedy School community."

President Neil L. Rudenstine has already begun the search for Carnesale's replacement. The president says he is looking for "someone just like Al Carnesale, of either gender."

Given Rudenstine's penchant for long searches--18 months for the new vice president for government, community and public affairs, for instance--it is unclear when the leader will arrive to give new direction to the Kennedy School.

But until he or she does, the Kennedy School is in transition for the fourth time in six years, with faculty students and staff on the edge of their seats to see where their school will go next.