OCS and OIP To Join Forces

A “neighborhood” is forming on Dunster Street. That’s what Robin Mount, interim director of the Office of Career Services, is calling the organization’s newfound partnership with the Office of International Programs—which was spun off from OCS in 2002 to highlight international programs.

This fall, the OIP moved for the second time in roughly a year to be near their larger counterpart, a shift administrators say is intended to increase coordination between the offices’ offerings for undergraduates by creating shared office space, joint events, and further collaborating in their online efforts.

Administrators said the changes stem from a growth in responsibilities for the OIP, which recently began administering the new David Rockefeller International Experience Grants—which funded over 500 students in its inaugural year.

Between the influx of funding and increasing overlap with OCS as students spend more time abroad, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds has been pushing for closer cooperation.

The organizations will retain separate leadership and separate budgets—which won’t be reduced, according to Mount. The OCS director said they aren’t reuniting, but “there may be more of an umbrella structure coming.”

In the coming weeks, they expect to submit a proposal outlining their plans for cooperation to Hammonds.

Among other joint online projects, the OIP and OCS are testing a new internet application with the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship, a grant program for graduating seniors. They said they are now working out the bugs and may extend the application to more OCS/OIP programs next year.

The OCS Fellowship Office is now being housed in the OIP’s two-story building at 77 Dunster St., which was formerly home to the Core Curriculum Office.

The OIP temporarily had been located at 2 Arrow St, after moving out of its University Hall offices last summer. The OCS is located at 54 Dunster St.

The offices recently held a joint fair to provide students with an opportunity to explore their options in the United States and abroad and are planning similar joint events this year.

Administrators from both organizations said that their offices’ physical proximity will provide the opportunity to initiate the cooperation that they—and Hammonds—see as increasingly necessary.

Hammonds, who oversees the two offices, said that she has asked for the cooperation as part of a University-wide effort to streamline programs. “We want to see a structure in the College where the various offices are closely collaborating,” she said.

The increased coordination follows the merging of two other pairs of Harvard offices in recent months. Within the College, the Offices of Student Life and Activities and Residential Life folded into the Office of Student Life. And earlier this month, the Faculty of Arts and Science communications were merged into the University’s Public Affairs and Communication Office.

Hammonds said the cooperation between the OIP and OCS was especially apt. “This is about the two organizations that work on student internships, fellowships, study abroad, career issues they just had a joint career fair,” she said. “These are things that fit well together.”

OIP Director Catherine H. Winnie emphasized the two offices’ ability to productively coordinate their efforts.

“We have a responsibility to step up, and you can’t do that alone,” Winnie said in a joint interview with Mount and Erin E. Goodman, Assistant Director of the OIP.

Mount and Winnie added that the new proximity will improve their offices’ teamwork.

“It was hard, we had to walk all the way over there,” Mount said.

“Oh, give me a break,” Winnie playfully retorted.

—Staff Writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu. —Staff Writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.