A Master Selection Process

As with most major Harvard appointments, the University president ultimately decides who will be the master of each of the College's residential domains.

But for all practical purposes, the process of appointing House masters is primarily the Dean of the College's responsibility. Harry R. Lewis '68, who has helped select five masters in the last three years, narrows down the choices using a House-based advisory committee and in consultation with other College administrators.

The search this spring to fill the positions being vacated by outgoing 26-year Adams House Master Robert J. Kiely '60 and Co-Master Jana Kiely--like Lowell and Leverett Houses last year and Cabot and Pforzheimer Houses the year before--followed the same general procedure.

Inevitably though, each search is influenced by many of the personalities involved--of the House, the students and tutors on the search committee, the candidates. Thus, while Lewis has composed a set of guidelines to direct the process each time a mastership becomes available, there are few hard and fast rules for evaluating master candidates.

Except for the fact that the candidates' identities are kept a secret throughout the period of consideration, no two searches are the same.

Making a Move

The decision to step down from the helm of a House is rarely one that masters take lightly. As was the case with the Kielys, masters often make initial plans to leave a House, only to postpone the decision for a number of years.

But when a master does make public his or her intention to vacate their masters' residence, it usually occurs in the fall--giving Lewis a window of a few months to begin composing an initial list of potential candidates.

Suggestions for candidates, Lewis says, come from a number of sources: students, outgoing masters, Faculty members, other administrators, and, frequently, candidate pools from past searches.

Using these suggestions, Lewis contacts many of the candidates himself--after all, "You don't want to appoint someone who they themselves is still tentative about it," he says--and listens to concerns from deans and senior Faculty members, some of whom request that a person not be considered to allow them to dedicate more time to their College duties.

With the "long list" whittled down to a more manageable size of about 10--Adams House considered nine candidates this year, Lowell and Leverett faced about 12--the time for House involvement begins.

The College's selection guidelines dictate that the dean appoints an advisory committee, but in practice, Houses have a good degree of flexibility in determing the composition of the committee.

According to Lowell House Senior Tutor Eugene C. McAfee, Lowell's master search last year involved three students and three Faculty members associated with the House's senior common room (SCR). McAfee says he allowed the House's junior common room to elect its three student representatives, while he was responsible for choosing the SCR participants.

In Adams House, on the other hand, Senior Tutor David B. Fithian selected four House residents and two SCR representatives.

In both cases, the senior tutors also participated--a role which McAfee says is vital, if only so that a centralized person is making the calls to candidates and reserving the right rooms for interviews.

He compares the role of the senior tutor in the process to the middle of an hourglass--the candidate pool above, the House below, with the tutor as the point-person in between.

"You really do need one person doing it," he says. "The pivotal role we play is purely logistical."

But once on the committee, many describe the process as egalitarian--if even as a bonding experience--where all members work together despite wide age and power differentials, putting in long huors to find the best master for the House.

McAfee says the Lowell group interviewed all 12 candidates over 14 days last year, not to mention the time spent after each interview drawing up initial reactions to the candidates.

Another search committee participant last year said he pegged the total time commitment at about 50 hours--and said the group met with and discussed some candidates for upwards of two and a half hours.

Over Dinner

Meals with the candidates are often the first point of interaction with search committee members using a shared supper as a chance to judge each candidate on a number of levels.

In general, participants say they hoped to glean from the interview the prospective masters' personalities, possible time commitment to the job, hopes for the position and interaction with students, among other things.

They also considered each candidate's marital status, the relationship between the potential master and co-master, and whether the candidate had children, although all involved say neither of these criteria was a determing factor.

Weld Professor of Law Charles R. Nesson '60, who says that three years ago he and his wife Fern were offered the Pforzheimer House--then North House--mastership, recalls having dinner in the House with only Lewis, who was overseeing his first master search, and a tutor.

Nesson, who turned down the offer and who tried unsuccessfully to replace the Kielys this year says he doesn't remember meeting with an official search committee.

This year, the Adams House search committee--students included--questioned Nesson extensively at thier dinner meeting with him.

"The dinner went well. Fern thought I could have been more enthusiastic, but I thought I was pretty enthusiastic," Nesson says, adding that the questions at dinner aimed to determine "if we were authoritarian types or not, if we'd be eating there or not, if we were going to make the environment flower."

But according to Associate Dean for the House System Thomas A. Dingman '67, the committees are also charged with looking for that extra something that makes for a great master.

"The right person could do this job without being special," Dingman says.

By the same token, McAfee says there's another component to a master than just doing the job.

"You're going to have a dammed cold House is the master just follows the job description," he says. "You realize that it is that something 'more' that brings the House warmth."

That "more," he suggests, occurs in more subjective characteristics like generosity, friendliness and a good understanding of the academic side of residential community, not to mention whether they can have fun.

"We didn't pepper them with questions," McAfee adds. "The whole point was to get a sense of their fit. It was the something else that was tremendously crucial."

Do You Promise Not to Tell?

But perhaps the most crucial aspect of the entire process, all say, is maintaining a high degree of confidentitality to protect the interests of current candiates. Elementary statistics dictate that the majority of the candidates will not be chosen for the current vacancy at hand.

Lewis acknowledges the difficulty of maintaining this level of privacy is not lost on him, even as the advisory committees walk through House dining halls with candidates at their side.

"It does require a degree of privacy for something that is relatively public," Lewis says.

He says that although there is an interest in keeping master candidates' names out of the student press, there intent is not to keep people totally in the dark. McAfee points out that no one likes to be known as an "also-ran," especially someone who may be considered for another mastership in the future.

The End Result

But after all the interviews and confidential proceedings, it is sometimes a matter of circumstances or some unquantifiable characteristics that wins someone an appointment as master.

Lewis says he looks at the "raw data"--informal evaluations submitted by search committee members on each of the candidates--of each of the candidates who make the committee's unofficial short list. On his own, Lewis also takes into consideration the specific needs of each House. Special weight may be given to a master who is considered best able to best address one of the House's identifed weaknesses.

As the process draws to a close, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and President Neil L. Rudenstine are apprised of the committee's and Lewis' recommendations. And from that point on, it is only a matter of time before a letter appears in House residents' mailboxes announcing the new face in their dining hall.

And despite the often strong sentiments for outgoing masters, many of whom, like the Kielys, have become synonymous with the House community they led, McAfee says the search for a new master is a never just a search to replace the old one.

"In order for the institution to treat itself right, it has to recognize that personalities come and go, and it's the mastership that's important," the Lowell House senior tutor says. "There's no one way to do tea."