Summer Faculty Recruited From Afar

Besides attracting a diverse array of students who want a taste of the Harvard experience, Harvard Summer School brings in many off-campus instructors as well.

Many summer school courses are taught by non-Harvard faculty, which has led some students to wonder just how “veritable” a Harvard experience the summer school really is.

“I find it not unacceptable but disappointing that we are not being taught by Harvard professors,” says Ifiginia Petridou, a high school student from Greece.

Despite the administration’s annual efforts to recruit Harvard faculty for summer school teaching positions, few Harvard professors are available—either they want a break and vacation time or they want the time to conduct their own research—so every year the summer school recruits professors from other colleges like Boston College or Tufts University, to fill its roster.

According to Dean of the Summer School Peter Buck, the summer school recruits most of its outside faculty through the departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“I talk to the department chairs and we come up with a list. Then we go after people we are interested in,” Buck says.

Regina Boyland, assistant director for the summer school’s academic administration, explains that many of the summer instructors have previous experience at Harvard.

“Many trained at Harvard or have taught here as visiting professors,” says Boyland.

In fact, she notes, this year’s most popular course, Gov. S-40: “An Introduction to International Relations,” is taught by João Resende-Santos, who earned a Ph.D from Harvard and is now a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.

“We only recruit faculty who live up to the Harvard standard,” says Boyland.

In fact, administrators say, they strive to achieve a certain degree of parity between summer school and the regular Harvard curriculum since so many Harvard undergraduates enroll in summer classes to fulfill academic requirements.

According to Dean of Summer School Students Christopher S. Queen, “most of the courses offered in the summer are equivalent to courses offered during the year.”

Queen, who is officially in charge of registering complaints, says that summer school students are generally pleased with what they get.

“Summer school students are very happy with what they’re doing because without an admission process they are able to take Harvard courses and study with the distinguished Harvard faculty,” he says.

The school’s own surveys back up Queen’s statements. Each year the summer school conducts polls—similar to the CUE Guide course evaluations done during the regular term—in which students are asked to rate their instructors and their classes on a scale of one to five.

Last year, when eighty-six percent of students responded to the survey, the average instructor received a rating of 4.5 and the average course rating was 4.3.

“[The results are] pretty much what we have been getting for at least the last four to five years,” says Buck. “That suggests that the students like it.”

Many students say they are pleased with their instructors.

“The teachers are way more enthusiastic and exciting to listen to than what I am used to back home” says Jan-Willem Muller, a college student from Rotterdam. “They are interesting, fun, and I am learning a lot.”

And professors say they enjoy the experience of teaching in the summer school since they are given a chance to just teach.

“I think everybody at Harvard is a good teacher, but there are people here during the regular term that are here mainly because they are great scholars. In the summer everyone is here to teach,” says Bernbaum Professor of Literature Leo Damrosch, who is teaching a class on British Literature and another on the Enlightment.

Harvard recruits summer faculty almost solely on the basis of their teaching skills, he notes.

“I don’t think there’s ever bad teaching in the summer school, and if there were I don’t think they would be invited back,” Damrosch says.

Though the majority of Harvard faculty members do not teach during the summer, those that do generally speak positively of the program.

Beyond the obvious financial reward of teaching a third academic term, many cite the diversity of the summer school students as a key incentive.

“There is an interesting mix of Harvard undergraduates, working people, and high school students,” notes Katherine E. Boutry, a lecturer on English and American Literature and Language, who is teaching a writing course this summer.

“The age span in my class is from seventeen to seventy, and it makes for a very rich teaching environment,” says Theo C. Theoharis, who teaches in the extension school and whose comparative literature class on Homer, Dante, and James Joyce is a favorite among summer school students.

Others like the pace of summer school.

“It’s more relaxed,” says Damrosch. “During the year there is constant pressure. In the summer all you do is teach.”

Summer school also gives some instructors the opportunity to teach subjects they might not teach during the year.

“Screenwriting is something I’ve been wanting to teach for a while,” says Boutry, “so I jumped at the opportunity to teach it during the summer.”