Deputy Provost for Administration Tapped

Eric Buehrens ’75, the executive dean for administration at Harvard Medical School (HMS), was named the University’s first deputy provost for administration yesterday.

Buehrens will begin his new appointment in September, working with University Provost Steven E. Hyman to provide oversight for a variety of initiatives that span the University.

Though other initiatives will be placed under Beuhrens control in the future, his most immediate task will be to spearhead the University’s development of scientific research facilities for the campus in Allston it is currently planning.

In an interview, Buehrens called the University’s Allston initiative “an enormous opportunity of the type that I think few very institutions in the world have.”

The University’s latest vision statement for Allston, dating from early June, places the construction of two 500,000-square-foot science complexes as one of its first priorities for the planned campus across the Charles. University President Lawrence H. Summers has said he “would not be surprised” if science labs were among the first buildings completed there.

Hyman also said that the variety of “centrally-administered institutions” Buehrens will head includes University Health Services, which provides health care to College and University affiliates.

Buehrens comes to his University planning role with experience in supervising academic expansion. At HMS, he oversaw the design and construction of the New Research Building, a $260-million, 525,000-square-foot facility at the school’s Longwood campus, which opened in 2003 on the other side of the Charles River.

Cynthia Walker, who is currently dean for finance at HMS, will step up to fill Buehrens’ position when he leaves for Mass. Hall.