Guide to Administrators

DREW GILPIN FAUST—UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

A Civil War historian by training, the affable Faust was chosen by the Harvard Corporation to patch up tensions left over from the University’s own civil war between the Faculty and Faust’s predecessor, Lawrence H. Summers. So far, Harvard’s first female president seems to have won the goodwill of many—even eating lunch with students in Eliot House on one occasion, only to find herself the recipient of an over-sized t-shirt protesting layoffs. While the endowment plunges, she continues to cling to her “green” initiatives and her plans to expand the Harvard arts scene.

Thus far, Faust has played a seemingly hands-off role as an administrator, relying heavily on departing Executive Vice President Edward C. Forst ’82—a former Goldman Sachs executive who served as Faust’s right-hand man in a post that she created. For the most part, she has continued to allow the deans of Harvard’s twelve different schools to make policy decisions on their own—reverting to Harvard’s age-old decentralized philosophy of “every tub on its own bottom.”

STEVEN E. HYMAN—UNIVERSITY PROVOST

Even though the Provost’s Office was created just over a decade ago, this behind-the-scenes operator is Harvard’s top academic administrator and second-in-command to the President. Former President Larry Summers tapped Hyman, a neuroscientist by training, for the Provost’s post in 2001, after Hyman had spent five years in Washington as director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He may now be a tenured neurobiology professor at the Medical School, but Hyman actually completed his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in philosophy and humanities at our beloved rival school in New Haven.

The recent expansion of the Provost’s Office underscores Hyman’s growing power as a counterweight to Harvard’s traditional decentralization. He decides which interdisciplinary, multi-school initiatives the University should undertake—for example, between the Medical School, the Law School, and the College. And with Faust preoccupied by the financial crisis and appearing to lack a grander vision for the University, some see Hyman as the flag-bearer for her predecessor’s ambitious plans, continuing pricey initiatives in stem cell research and other sciences.

MICHAEL D. SMITH—DEAN OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Known for his calm demeanor, Smith has stood at the helm of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for just over two years, overseeing both calm growth and the great market crash. In July 2007, he became the fourth Dean of the Faculty in just over a year, as one dean was fired by Summers, the next had to take medical leave due to prostate cancer, and the third’s term expired. A popular professor and former software company chairman, Smith actually co-taught an undergraduate Computer Science course last spring, even though he’s technically granted a teaching exemption as a high-level administrator. But with budget cuts looming large, he won’t be teaching any undergraduate classes this year. Smith’s next task: “reshaping” the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (composed of Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Extension School) into a smaller, more efficient entity, and slashing FAS’s remaining $143 million deficit by the summer of 2011.

EVELYNN M. HAMMONDS—DEAN OF THE COLLEGE

Hammonds is both Harvard’s first minority and first female Dean of the College. In a 2004 article in The Black Studies Reader, she described herself as “a Black, lesbian, feminist, writer, scientist, historian of science, and activist.” Taking her minority status to heart, she chose Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and Stephanie Robinson—an African-American couple that teaches at Harvard Law School—as Winthrop House’s new masters when the previous House masters stepped down. But some students have complained about Hammonds’ lack of transparency and visibility on campus, especially this past spring when various budget decisions—slashing hot breakfasts, cutting JV sports teams, and originally even trimming the shuttle schedule—were made without student input. Indeed, the most likely place to find her is in University Hall.

JAY M. HARRIS—DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

This indefatigable worker is simultaneously loved and feared by students. He can be found lifting weights in the Cabot House gym, in a lecture hall teaching Biblical history, in a seminar room running a General Education committee meeting, in Cabot Dining Hall eating dinner with sophomores, or in his University Hall office listening to jazz music while working. While Harris can have a short temper with the press, his dedication is unquestionable: this curricular czar wakes up at 4:50 a.m. every morning and always seems to be juggling five different jobs, all of which have some focus on undergraduates.

THE HARVARD CORPORATION

The Harvard Corporation—the shady governing board that actually runs Harvard University—was first formed in 1650, over a century before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also known as “the President and Fellows of Harvard College,” the Corporation determines the fate and funding of all major University projects, appoints the new University President in a secretive selection process, and decides how much money is paid out from the endowment to each (now cash-starved) school in the University.

The Corporation’s seven members serve lifelong terms, and when any one of them chooses to retire, the group appoints the successor. The Corporation’s meeting agendas and minutes are also kept secret. The group is composed of President Faust, two professors (at Georgetown and Princeton), the head of an economic policy research institute, a couple of business leaders, and the former director of Citigroup, Robert Rubin. Some alumni might think they’re electing representatives when they vote for members of the Board of Overseers every year, but in reality, that governing board usually just rubber-stamps the Corporation’s decisions.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.

For more information on the ins and outs of Harvard life, visit the My First Year homepage.