Hammonds Tweaks College's Administrative Structure

As the new school year draws near, the College’s new leadership is working to reorganize its administrative structure to map more closely with that of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds said this week.

Georgene B. Herschbach, formerly the associate dean of academic programs, has been appointed dean of administration within the College, a mirror of the executive dean position currently occupied on an interim basis by Robert L. Scalise.

On Monday, FAS announced that Brett C. Sweet, the chief financial officer at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, will take over for Scalise in a modified role as dean for administration and Finance on Sept. 2. Scalise will return to his position as director of athletics. Sweet graduated from Harvard Business School in 2000.

In her new role, Herschbach will complement newly appointed Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris’s role. She will be in charge of “planning, strategic management, and coordination of services supporting the undergraduate experience,” according to an announcement.

Herschbach will also help oversee the College’s offices of residential life, student activities, and administration and finance.

Before Hammonds’ appointment in March, the prospect of creating an executive dean position to assist with administrative responsibilities was discussed by several people familiar with the deanship as a way to lessen the College dean’s workload.

Harris said that this is essentially the role Herschbach is filling, though the title differs.

“We had two goals in mind. The first, was to align the College's structure to better correspond with the administrative offices of the FAS,” Hammonds wrote in an e-mail. “The second, was to strengthen the Office of Undergraduate Education in order to address the challenges of implementing the new General Education curriculum.”

As Hammonds begins her first academic year in office, she said her primary focus would be on the implementation of Gen Ed, though House renewal plans will remain of high importance.

Associate Dean and Secretary of FAS Noel Bisson will fill the position Herschbach has left, though her day-to-day responsibilities may be slightly different than those of Herschbach as a result of recent administrative adjustments.

Prior to 2003, the College was led by two co-equal deans—a dean of the College and a Dean of Undergraduate education. In 2003, then-Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby consolidated the deanships into a single job, which is the structure Hammonds inherited.

In July, Harris was named Dean of Undergraduate Education, distinct from the old deanship by the same name. Harris will report to Hammonds, working on the academic side of the undergraduate experience. 

According to Bisson, Harris will be overseeing some of the offices that had previously reported to Herschbach and she will be stepping into Herschbach’s role in overseeing the Office of Academic Programs, which will now be renamed the Office of Undergraduate Education.

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