Dean Search Team Meets for First Time

University President Lawrence H. Summers held two meetings this week to solicit feedback from Faculty members in his search for a new dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Summers met for the first time yesterday with the 13-member Faculty committee he appointed last week to advise him in the dean search process.

No specific names were mentioned at the meeting. Summers and the committee focused instead on the ideal characteristics the next dean should possess, from intellectual qualities to management skills, committee members said.

Since current Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles announced his resignation last month, some Faculty have speculated that Summers will select a humanist to provide balance to an administration led by Summer—an economist—and Provost Steven E. Hyman—a neuroscientist.

But committee member Daniel L. Schacter, who is the chair of the psychology department, said there was no discussion at yesterday’s meeting of a need for the dean to come from a particular academic area.

Much of the meeting was devoted to evaluating the role of the dean said committee member Benedict H. Gross, chair of the mathematics department.

“A lot of the discussion was about the job, whether it can be reasonably done by one person or it could be devolved a bit,” Gross said. “Seventy to 80 hours a week is asking a lot of one person to do.”

The committee plans to meet once more this month and again in April.

Summers also said at yesterday’s meeting that he plans to hold private discussions with members of the committee to discuss actual candidates, as a 13-member committee is not an ideal environment for debating the merits of individuals.

“It’s impossible to discuss candidates in a meeting of that size,” Gross said. “We’re just a sounding board.”

Summers also met Wednesday with members of the Faculty Council to seek their views regarding the dean search.

Council members said this discussion also focused more on the general characteristics they would like to see in the next dean than on individuals whom they feel would be suited for the job.

In addition to the official meetings held this week, Summers has said he will consult widely with Faculty members.

In an e-mail distributed last week, he urged all Faculty, students and administrators to send him their thoughts and suggestions regarding the dean search.

Summers is expected to make his decision by the end of June, when Knowles will officially end his 11-year tenure as dean.

—Dan Rosenheck contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.