Doherty Leaving for Brown

Associate Dean of the College Elizabeth Doherty, who led the Freshman Seminar Program through its largest expansion in years, announced this week that she is leaving Harvard to take an administrative position at Brown University next semester.

She said that her decision to leave came purely because she felt that the post at Brown was the “right opportunity at the right time,” and that her departure from Harvard was an amicable one.

“I’m delighted to be taking on exciting new challenges at Brown, and was attracted by a position that represents expanded responsibilities at an institution with a lot of positive momentum,” Doherty wrote in an e-mail.

As an Associate Dean of the College, Doherty has been responsible for the Office of Academic Programs, where, she said, she has been involved in the oversight of the curricular review.

In her new position, according to Mark Nickel, director of Brown News Services, she will be the “primary interface” between the Office of the Dean and the faculty and department chairs, and will oversee appointments and tenure issues.

“It’s a substantial position and the people she’s going to be working with are really looking forward to having her on board,” said Nickel.

Doherty will continue at Harvard full-time throughout December and then part-time in January before she will assume the post of director of Faculty Affairs at Brown, said Robert Mitchell, Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) communications director.

Her colleagues at Harvard reflected upon her 10 years within the administration as one marked by significant expansion and reform.

According to Mitchell, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 circulated a note to senior administrators in which he thanked Doherty for her contributions to the College and FAS. Gross wrote that the position at Brown is a great opportunity for her.

Doherty joined Harvard in 1994, when she was appointed an assistant dean of freshmen. From 1996 to 2001, she served as assistant dean for economic affairs, and from 2001 to 2004, she was the director of the Freshman Seminar Program. In January, she was promoted to her current position of associate dean.

Under her watch, Harvard’s Freshman Seminar Program expanded significantly. “She’s responsible for the success of the Freshman Seminar Program, and really oversaw its expansion,” said Assistant Dean of the College and Secretary of the Administrative Board John T. O’Keefe.

“And she’s been a terrific colleague on a whole range of issues here,” he said.

Doherty said that she saw this growth—during which the number of classes offered more than tripled—as one of her most significant achievements during her tenure at Harvard.

“It expanded enormously from about 2000 until this year,” said Doherty, who also currently teaches her own seminar.

She is excited about her new job, she wrote. “At the same time I’m obviously very sorry to be leaving Harvard,” Doherty wrote. “I’ve worked with many wonderful colleagues over the past ten years, and have the greatest respect and affection for them.”