As House Masters Prepare To Leave Pfoho, House Master Candidates Visit

House Master candidates Anne Harrington ’82 and John R. Durant, and their eight year old son Jamie, visited Pforzheimer House on Friday evening to engage with the students they may soon oversee.

With current House Masters Nicholas A. Christakis and Erika L. Christakis ’86 departing for Yale this summer after a four-year stint, the College is searching for a new family to take the reigns at Pfoho.

They are being “strongly considered” as new House Masters, Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds wrote in a message to Pfoho students.

Harrington serves as the Director for Undergraduate Studies in the History of Science Department and Durant is the MIT Museum Director. The pair also leads a Harvard Summer School class in Cambridge, England that involves interacting with students in a residential setting.

“Anne and I have been doing summer school together [for Harvard] and enjoy doing that,” Durant explained. “It partly made us interested [in the role].”

The couple had preliminary conversations about serving as House Masters a few years ago. Earlier this year, College administrators contacted them to ask if they would still be interested in the role, according to Harrington.

“I’ve thought for several years that this might be a good fit,” she said.

Harrington and Durant both said they were particularly interested in Pfoho.

“I love Pfoho. We really like the Quad,” she said. “I love its sense of peaceful self-containment.”

Harrington added that she has a special connection to Pfoho. Suzanne Watts, current Pfoho House Administrator, served as Quincy House’s House Administrator when Harrington lived there as an undergraduate.

Students had a chance to mingle with the potential House Masters at Pfoho Friday, a weekly hour-long House social event.

Students who met Harrington on Friday said they were impressed.

“She’s a really accomplished woman,” Eric Lu ’14 said. “She definitely could be a great role model for a lot of people.”

Tanner A. Anderson ’15, a Pfoho resident who is enrolled in Harrington’s History of Science sophomore tutorial, said the professor’s enthusiasm and understanding as an instructor would carry over to the role of House Master.

“I think she’s awesome,” he said. “I definitely like her as a choice to take over the role of House Master after the Christakises leave.”

Pfoho residents can submit feedback on Harrington and Durant, which Pfoho Resident Dean Lisa Boes, will send to Hammonds.

The two will have to go through additional interviews before a final decision is made.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @layanasu.

—Staff writer Elizabeth S. Auritt can be reached [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eauritt.