Pfoho Resident Dean To Take Semester-Long Sabbatical

Pforzheimer House tutor Emily G. Rosenthal will serve as the House’s acting resident dean for the spring semester while Resident Dean Lisa Boes takes a sabbatical.

Pforzheimer House Masters Nicholas A. Christakis and Erika L. Christakis ’86 chose Rosenthal for the position in conjunction with Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds and Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson, according to Boes.

Last spring, Rosenthal served as acting resident dean of Currier House.

In an email to the Pfoho community announcing her sabbatical, Boes said that Rosenthal was so popular in Currier that “the students begged her to stay.”

Boes, who has served as Pfoho’s resident dean for four and a half years, said that Rosenthal is well prepared for her new position given her experience in administrative and advising roles in Currier and in Pfoho.

“Emily has the skills and disposition to handle the demands of the resident dean position,” Boes wrote in an email to The Crimson.

Boes will stay on campus during her sabbatical to work on several projects related to education. She plans to develop a course at the Graduate School of Education and work on a research project on pedagogy.

She will also repeat a House seminar open to all undergraduates which she has offered in the past, Pforzheimer 70: “College Student Development Theory,” and will continue in her role coordinating and assessing the College’s Wintersession programming.

“We all have academic backgrounds and fields where we’ve done research,” Boes said about the Houses’ resident deans. “This sabbatical term gives me a chance to focus on college student development and pedagogy.”

She said that she anticipates the transition will be “seamless.” She will return to her position as resident dean next fall.

—Staff writer Eliza M. Nguyen can be reached at enguyen@college.harvard.edu.