Harvard-A-Holics

It was oddly inevitable, if you look back on it,” says Maya R. Jasanoff ’96, speaking out about her recent hire as an associate professor in theHistory department. Jasanoff notes that while she didn’t always have “an incredibly strong sense” of what profession she would pursue after college, academia “was always one of the options.”

Following her post-doc work, Jasanoff taught at the University of Virginia. She applied for a tenure track position at Harvard in 2006. Jasanoff’s parents are also on the Harvard faculty.

Although most Harvard professors may seem as old as Harvard itself, some departments feature recent Harvard graduates, like Jasanoff, who return to Harvard to teach after relatively short hiatuses in the real world.

Assistant Professor of Government Eric M. Nelson ’99 abandoned his decision to attend law school. “I became increasingly fascinated with what I was doing,” says Nelson, who is also a former Crimson editor. After graduating from the College, he journeyed to the U.K. on a Marshall Scholarship, finally returning to Cambridge in 2003 for the Society of Fellows post-doctorate program. He became an assistant professor in fall 2005.

The History department hired Trygve Van Regenmorter Throntveit ’01 as a lecturer after most of his dissertation committee retired or decided to take time off. “I pitched a few classes to them, and I guess they took the bait,” he says. Apart from a year taken off before his PhD—which he completed at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences—Throntveit has been at Harvard for 11 out of the past 12 years.

For Timothy P. McCarthy ’93, a lecturer in the History and Literature department and the Kennedy School of Government, and a resident tutor in Quincy House, has a much more personal reason called him back to Cambridge. While pursuing a PhD at Columbia University in summer 1998, McCarthy became legal guardian of Malcolm Green, a boy he had mentored through the Big Brother program as an undergraduate. McCarthy essentially “adopted and raised him through high school,” while simultaneously writing his dissertation and teaching in Hist & Lit—a job, he notes, he was fortunate to get.

“I wouldn’t trade [this experience] for the world,” McCarthy says. “It certainly gave me a different sense of priorities.” He further notes that his department was incredibly supportive of his unique situation.

After Green graduated from high school, McCarthy taught at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2003 to 2005 before returning to Harvard in his current capacity.

MAKING THE GRADE

Despite these examples of recent graduates who return to Harvard in a teaching capacity, their presence should not be interpreted as any indication of favoritism.

Professor of History Mark A. Kishlansky, who chairs the committee that hired Jasanoff, emphasizes how any faculty candidate must have “both talent and achievement,” especially if they apply while still in graduate schools.

“It’s very hard to predict how people are going to turn out before they finish their theses,” he says of GSAS’s students.

Kishlansky adds that the window of opportunity for being hired after graduating from the GSAS is fairly small, typically no more than seven years. Ideally, potential candidates would teach elsewhere for a few years, publish their work, and then apply for a position on the Harvard faculty. However, professors who obtain tenure track positions at other universities during this time rarely intend to leave, and Kishlansky says his department has “only once ever hired someone who had tenure and gave it up.”

The faculty is not primarily composed of Harvard graduates, since “the selection process at the college level has gotten so much more effective,” says Kishlansky. He explains that the most qualified candidates tend to come from a very select group of colleges.

“If anything, we’re a little cautious about [hiring Harvard graduates],” says Kishlansky. “We’re aware that people who we know better than other people have an advantage.”

“You can’t go into academics thinking, ‘I want to teach at Harvard,’” says Jasanoff. “You can think it, but it may not be a reality.”

STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONS

Several recent-graduates-turned-faculty have the advantage of firsthand understanding of the College experience.

Having been an undergrad “helps me relate to [my students] better than I otherwise might,” Nelson says. “If you enjoy the place and feel connected to it and feel invested in its future, I think that probably makes you a more committed teacher and a better colleague.”

“It’s fabulous when you hire your own students because they know the system,” Kishlansky says.

Faculty also note that their previous college affiliation helps create stronger relationships with their students, who share a similar set of undergraduate experiences.

“I want [my students] to know I’m on their side of the fence,” Throntveit says. Professors are not to be feared. In fact, they are “as intimidated by teaching undergrads as undergrads are of them.” At least, he adds, in the earlier stages of their teaching careers.

“My relationship with my students was very symbiotic,” McCarthy says, referring to the period when he was juggling the responsibilities of school, work, and home. “I tried to support them during a period of transition; they in turn supported me during a time of my life when I needed them.”

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS?

Jasanoff and Nelson are both currently on tenure track, while others wonder what might come next.

McCarthy says that while he didn’t “set out” to be here, teaching at Harvard feels right.

“I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me,” he says.

Throntveit says that while during graduate school he experienced a brief period where he “kind of got to thinking, maybe I’ve been here too long.” But he now considers Cambridge home. “It’s going to be sad to leave, whenever I do,” he says.