Faculty to Vote on New Environmental Engineering Concentration

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will vote on a proposal to create a new engineering concentration and discuss a new Ph.D. program in business administration at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

The proposal seeks to establish an Environmental Science and Engineering concentration within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The Faculty first discussed the possibility of adding a new concentration at its last meeting in March, when Professor Daniel P. Schrag presented the proposal.

If the proposal passes, it will bring the number of concentrations Harvard offers undergraduates up to 50. The College most recently added the Theater, Dance, and Media concentration in 2015.

Environmental Science and Engineering is currently a track within the Engineering Sciences concentration. It is the only area of study within Engineering Sciences that does not have its own separate concentration. Students can already concentrate in Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.

The Faculty Council voted unanimously in February in favor of the new concentration, but their vote is purely advisory.

At the last faculty meeting, Schrag explained that the new concentration does not significantly deviate from the environmental engineering track that students can currently pursue under Engineering Sciences at SEAS. Instead, Schrag said, the new concentration will allow for more flexibility in the curriculum. The new Environmental Science and Engineering concentration will grant students a Bachelor of Arts degree upon completion.

Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria will also present a proposal at the Faculty meeting. He will argue in favor of the creation of a new Ph.D. program in Business Administration to be jointly offered by HBS and FAS.

Under the proposal, the new Ph.D. program will replace the existing Doctor of Business Administration degree. The change is needed to better reflect the work D.B.A. students do and to strengthen their disciplinary training, according to the proposal.

“An interfaculty Ph.D. in Business Administration will facilitate closer connections between HBS and FAS faculty members and doctoral students, and further enhance training in the disciplines and the quality of business and management-related research at the University,” the proposal reads.

Nohria’s proposal already garnered the support of the Faculty Council at a meeting last month. While the proposal is up for discussion only at this meeting, the Faculty will be able to vote directly on the proposal at its next meeting in May.

—Staff writer Angela N. Fu can be reached at angela.fu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @angelanfu.

—Staff writer Lucy Wang can be reached at lucy.wang@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @lucyyloo22