FAS Administration
When Professors Speak Out, Some Students Stay Quiet. Can Harvard Keep Everyone Talking?
A faculty committee urged the FAS to assure professors that their opinions outside the classroom will not affect what courses they can teach — and advised instructors to make sure students know they won’t be penalized for disagreeing.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Diversity Dean Position Left Vacant For Nearly Two Years
Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences has been without an associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and belonging for nearly two years after Sheree M. Ohen left Harvard for Amherst University in April 2023.
What Does Harvard Look For in a College Dean?
As Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra looks to select a new College dean this spring, she has a long list of credentials she could look for and three decades of precedent to consider.
Harvard’s President Used To Chair Faculty Meetings. Is It Time for Garber To Return?
As faculty push for greater input in Harvard’s governance, some professors say the president’s absence has left the current officeholder, Alan M. Garber ’76, with limits on his knowledge of faculty concerns — and fewer opportunities to receive guidance from professors as the University faces mounting pressure from Washington.
Visual Arts Colloquium Hum 20 Will Become Department-Level HAA 10 in the Fall
Humanities 20, Harvard’s interdisciplinary art history colloquium, will no longer be offered under the Arts and Humanities division-wide “HUMAN” label and will instead be changed to HAA 10, a History of Arts and Architecture introductory course, starting this fall.
Harvard Begins Reviewing National Science Foundation Grants, Expanding Response to Trump’s Orders
Harvard Vice Provost for Research John H. Shaw sent an email Wednesday afternoon notifying faculty that the University would begin assessing National Science Foundation grants after the NSF instructed researchers to cease activities barred under President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Harvard Alumni Donate to Fund Construction of Economics Building, New Professorships
Several prominent Harvard alumni donated to the Economics department to fund two new professorships and the construction of the department’s new home, Pritzker Hall, the University announced Wednesday morning.
Ten Stories That Shaped 2024
At Harvard, 2024 began with an ending — the chaotic close of Claudine Gay’s short-lived presidency. It would not be a quiet year. Pro-Palestine student protesters staged an encampment in Harvard Yard. Congress expanded its investigation into campus antisemitism, issuing threats alongside blistering reports. Amid it all, Alan M. Garber ’76 quietly ascended from the interim presidency to a permanent post at Harvard’s helm. Here, The Crimson looks back at 10 stories that shaped the University, and Cambridge, in 2024.
Garber Privately Tells Faculty That Harvard Must Rethink Messaging After GOP Victory
Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said the turn against higher education in Washington posed a greater threat to the University than anything in recent memory, making his most direct comments yet on Republicans’ sweep to power during a closed-door session of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Harvard’s Derek Bok Center Lays Off 5 Employees Under New Faculty Director
The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning quietly laid off at least five employees over the past two weeks as part of a restructuring effort, reducing its total staff by almost 25 percent.
Harvard College Will Place Students on Involuntary Leave for Missing 2 Weeks of Class
Harvard College students who miss two weeks of classes will be placed on involuntary leaves of absence “in most cases” under a Student Handbook amendment that will take effect in the 2025-26 academic year.
Social Science Dean Lawrence Bobo To Take Unexpected Leave in Spring Semester
Harvard Dean of Social Science Lawrence D. Bobo will take a leave of absence during the spring 2024 semester due to “unanticipated personal matters,” he wrote in an email to Social Science faculty Monday afternoon.
Harvard Denied Its Only Yiddish Professor Tenure. Did the Process Fail Him?
When Yiddish studies professor Saul Noam Zaritt was denied tenure in June at the direction of Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, Zaritt’s own tenure review committee was stunned. They say Harvard mishandled the case — and left the future of Yiddish instruction in limbo.
FAS Faculty Council in Support of Increasing SEAS Representation
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is set to allocate three seats on its Faculty Council to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences following a proposal at the Nov. 6 faculty meeting.
Harvard FAS Reports $3 Million Surplus for Fiscal Year 2024, Lowest Since 2020
The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences closed fiscal year 2024 with a $3 million surplus — its smallest surplus since 2020, the school announced last week in its annual financial report.
Female Harvard Faculty Retire Earlier on Average, FAS Report Reveals
Female Harvard faculty members are retiring earlier than their male counterparts, per the 2024 Faculty Trends report presented at a Faculty of Arts and Sciences Administration meeting last week.
Harvard Officials Wanted Harsher Discipline for Student Protesters, Report Shows
Top University officials privately lambasted the schools’ disciplinary committees for not imposing harsher penalties on students who participated in the pro-Palestine protests that rocked Harvard’s campus earlier this year.
Harvard’s FAS Received $300 Million Last Year. Its Graduate School Has ‘Pretty Much No Funds.’
Despite bearing the name of billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin ’89, the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences “has pretty much no funds,” Dean Emma Dench said in an interview with The Crimson last month.
No ID Checks, but Harvard ‘Determining Next Steps’ After Second Faculty Study-In
Roughly 35 Harvard faculty members held a silent study-in in Widener Library on Friday afternoon, marking the second time faculty have gathered in the library to denounce the University’s protest restrictions.
Harvard College Dean Khurana Accused of Misrepresenting Professor’s Actions in Congress Report
Classics professor Richard F. Thomas accused College Dean Rakesh Khurana of falsely characterizing another professor’s role in the pro-Palestine encampment during a faculty meeting this week.
FAS Dean Hoekstra Defends 2-Week Library Bans for Harvard Activists
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra gave a full-throated endorsement of Harvard Library’s decision to temporarily ban protesters who staged library study-ins Tuesday.
Harvard Faculty Appeal Temporary Suspensions From Widener Library
Faculty members who were temporarily banned from Widener Library for participating in a study-in protest appealed their sanctions to Harvard Library, calling their suspensions “unlawful violations” of their contracts.
Harvard FAS to Review Student Disciplinary Processes After Faculty Backlash
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is reviewing the disciplinary processes of both Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, months after many professors criticized the schools’ sanctions against pro-Palestine protesters as inconsistent and excessive.
After Conviction for Lying About China Ties, Ex-Harvard Chemist Gets Approval to Visit Beijing
A federal judge gave former Harvard Chemistry professor Charles M. Lieber permission to visit China for “employment networking” and give a lecture in Beijing — nearly three years after Lieber was convicted for lying to federal investigators about his relationship to China.
Harvard Faculty Overwhelmingly Donated to Democrats Ahead of 2024 Election
Members of Harvard’s governing boards and faculty donated more than $2.3 million to political candidates and causes ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a Crimson analysis found.