Faculty Council Considers New Ctr.

The Faculty Council was formally introduced to the new Center for Basic Research in Social Science yesterday.

The Center, which will be headed by Professor of Government James E. Alt, aims to bring together members of various social science departments, including anthropology, government and sociology to perform research in areas of common interests.

"The aim of the center is to become the leading institution for applying empirical methods and formal theories to systematic research," said Alt yesterday.

The Center received start-up funds from the University, but will be responsible for raising long-term out-side funding.

"We are actively pursuing fundraising on all levels," Alt said.

The multi-departmental focus of the center is in line with a nationwide trend towards increased interdisciplinary work. Several similar cross-disciplinary centers have been created on college campuses in recent years.

While the Center will primarily focus on financial support for faculty and graduate research, it will also sponsor an undergraduate lecture series.

The first of these lectures will take place today, in a discussion of political economy with Arthur Lupia, an associateprofessor in the political science department atthe University of California, San Diego.

According to Alt, the Center will also beinvolved in designing courses for the newQuantitative Reasoning requirement in the CoreProgram.

While Alt said Council response to the Centerwas mostly positive, he noted that some Facultymembers questioned the relationship between theCenter and current departments.

"There's a sort of standing question of howcenters relate to departments," said Alt. "Myattitude is there are spaces between departmentsand centers flow into those spaces."

"As centers grow they can either be bridges orthey can be obstacles. I hope we will be abridge," he added.

The Center will be housed at 34 KirklandStreet, prior to moving to a permanent location inthe Knafel Center. The design for the complexremains in the planning stages due to communityconcerns expressed when plans were originallyunveiled last spring.

In addition, the Council received an update onthe progression of Harvard Educational RecordsSystem (HERS II) implementation which continues torun on-schedule and on-budget. HERS II will serveas the official database for all student recordsexclusive of financial aid.

The new software, which is scheduled to befully operational by June 1999, will allow greaterflexibility for the Administration and greateraccess to the services of the Office of theRegistrar for students. Parts of the system,including the online course catalog, have alreadybeen put in place. The system is also designed toaccommodate online registration and courseselection

According to Alt, the Center will also beinvolved in designing courses for the newQuantitative Reasoning requirement in the CoreProgram.

While Alt said Council response to the Centerwas mostly positive, he noted that some Facultymembers questioned the relationship between theCenter and current departments.

"There's a sort of standing question of howcenters relate to departments," said Alt. "Myattitude is there are spaces between departmentsand centers flow into those spaces."

"As centers grow they can either be bridges orthey can be obstacles. I hope we will be abridge," he added.

The Center will be housed at 34 KirklandStreet, prior to moving to a permanent location inthe Knafel Center. The design for the complexremains in the planning stages due to communityconcerns expressed when plans were originallyunveiled last spring.

In addition, the Council received an update onthe progression of Harvard Educational RecordsSystem (HERS II) implementation which continues torun on-schedule and on-budget. HERS II will serveas the official database for all student recordsexclusive of financial aid.

The new software, which is scheduled to befully operational by June 1999, will allow greaterflexibility for the Administration and greateraccess to the services of the Office of theRegistrar for students. Parts of the system,including the online course catalog, have alreadybeen put in place. The system is also designed toaccommodate online registration and courseselection