Faculty Discusses Hiring, Finances

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Dean of the Faculty Michael D. Smith got a lot of exercise.

The former swimmer dominated the proceedings at the year’s penultimate meeting—which featured a look at the Faculty’s year and little debate—getting up from and sitting down in his chair on at least four occasions as he presented the substance of the meeting.

Smith spent the bulk of the afternoon discussing his Annual Report, which summarized progress made at the College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, developments in the Faculty and with the administrative staff, and the state of FAS finances between September 2006 and February 2008.

Several points from the report sparked questions from professors—including the spread of student to faculty ratios across divisions and the financial condition of FAS.

History professor Charles S. Maier ’60 noted the disparity between high concentrator to faculty ratios for undergraduates in the social sciences relative to other disciplines. Maier said that the concentrator to faculty ratio in the social sciences was nearly 10:1 while the ratio for the humanities was closer to 4:1.

“We’re still attracting a great number of students to the social sciences,” Maier said. “But will these numbers be borne in mind with respect to hiring [of new faculty]?”

Smith said yes, but Susan R. Suleiman, a literature professor, said that the concentrator to faculty ratio was “not a genuine picture of what we do and the number of students we teach,” as social science concentrators often take classes in the humanities as well.

In light of the current financial crisis, engineering professor Frederick H. Abernathy asked Smith for a “peek” at the financial outlook for the fiscal year ending in June 2008.

Smith deferred to Associate Dean for Finance Deena Giancotti, who responded that the approximately $1 billion budget would run an estimated $28 million deficit for the coming fiscal year, in contrast to the $11.2 million surplus for the fiscal year ending in June 2007.

Another point of focus during the meeting was diversity within the Faculty. Smith said that he had fielded some comments about how the ballot to elect five new members to the Faculty Council—the Faculty’s governing body—lacked female representation.

The 18-member group’s new members will be former Graduate School of Arts and Sciences dean Peter T. Ellison, former history department chair Andrew D. Gordon, zoologist Farish A. Jenkins, former earth and planetary science department chair Michael B. McElroy, and former Classics department chair Richard J. Tarrant—throwing the gender balance from eight women and 10 men to six women and 12 men.

Smith said that the individuals on the ballot had to be both nominated and had to agree to the job. He said that “a good number of women” were present for the first step, even if their names did not wind up on the ballot.

Smith also called attention to the need to improve representation of women and underrepresented minorities within the Faculty and the administrative staff, soliciting input in finding a replacement for Lisa L. Martin, who had served as senior adviser to the Dean of FAS on diversity issues.

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Maxwell L. Child can be reached at mchild@fas.harvard.edu.