On Top of The World

Jeffrey Wolcowitz is currently the assistant dean for undergraduate education, the vice chair of the administrative board, the secretary of the educational policy committee and a senior lecturer on economics.

Despite this tremendous workload, the expert in micreconomic theory finds time to enjoy life's smaller pleasures, like the red Mazda Miata convertible that he bought while he was senior tutor of Dunster House, a post he held from 1983 until 1990.

"I love it. It's totally impractical as a car, but it's a great toy," he says. "You can only have one passenger and it has very little trunk space. But I love it."

While a shiny sports car may be Wolcowitz's favorite toy, the diversion hasn't kept him out of trouble. Perhaps one of Wolcowitz's most interesting experiences with his Miata came several years ago when he had to pick up his mother at Logan Airport.

"She had a big suitcase that didn't fit in the trunk," Wolcowitz says. "Fortunately, it did fit in her lap."

Sitting in his office in University Hall wearing a deep blue shirt and a yellow tie depicting a beach scene, Wolcowitz is surrounded by pictures on the walls of his voyages to such locations as Israel, Shanghai, Budapest and Portugal. He has new ones of Africa and Turkey that he would hang if he could find the time.

An experienced traveler, Wolcowitz's voyage to Harvard began when he entered the economics department as a graduate student more than twenty years ago.

In 1978, Wolcowitz was hired to be a assistant professor of Economics and run the administrative portion of what was then Economics 10 and is now Social Analysis 10, on the condition that he would only assume the post of assistant professor when he finished his dissertation.

"People thought I would finish that year or the next," he says. "But it took longer than anybody thought it would."

Wolcowitz, who wrote his dissertation on the financing of unemployment insurance, did not complete the project until 1982.

He originally believed the dissertation took so long because of the time he spent running Ec 10. But looking back now, citing his distaste for research, he says, "Ec10 took all my time because I allowed it to take my time."

As assistant dean, Wolcowitz is responsible for policy and budgetary issues.

"I work with head tutors of departments on academic policy and handle budgets for teaching fellows and courses," he says. "I handle all the things that cross my desk," he adds, identifying each of the eight piles of papers arranged on his desk. "Like this one here, the reaccreditation of Harvard."

When asked if he has any desire to become a senior faculty member, Wolcowitz says, "I'm not doing the sort of things that would lead me to be a senior faculty member," calling his lack of research a prime example. "I'm doing other things that I've personally found to be more fun," he says. "Ideally, if I can combine administration with teaching, that'll be great."

Wolcowitz may be best known among students for his role teaching Economics 1010a, "Microeconomics Theory."

"Being on stage is more fun than I thought it would be," he says of his stint teaching that class, which he enjoys teaching because of "the large number of students I come into contact with."

"I like picking and choosing my topics, and I actually believe the models are useful," he says. "That's what makes this arrangement work--I teach a course most people prefer not to teach."

Wolcowitz has taught 1010a since 1983, when Brian Hall, now assistant professor of economics, was a student in his class. "He's an outstanding lecturer. "He's very clear and he's really mastered teaching," Hall says.

While colleagues praise him for the mastering the art of teaching, it seems he has also mastered the art of publishing. He is currently under contract with Harper Collins to write a textbook on microeconomics theory.

It would seem he will have a hard time finding time to hang the pictures on his wall with all this on his plate.