Low-Profile Group Has Strong Impact

Every Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m., the chief executive officer of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) meets with his kitchen cabinet.

The Committee of Deans, an advisory board appointed by Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence, is the inner loop of FAS. And while its actions and influence may remain outside the public eye, this low-profile group continues to maintain a high-profile membership.

Indeed, it's hardly suprising that only one week after Spence announced plans to leave Harvard, Faculty watchers are looking to members of this inner cabinet for possible interim--or even permanent--successors.

The Committee was first convened by Spence's predecessor as dean, Geyser University Professor Henry Rosovsky, who said he set it up as a "sounding board."

Since then, it has shifted its emphasis considerably. Once merely an advisory council for the dean, this cabinet has taken on more extended responsibilities.

The Spence committee has increasingly worked on policy development, and has provided an important link between the administration and academia. Aside from Spence and his two top administrators--Associate Dean for Administration Robert A. Rotner and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Phyllis Keller--eight "academic deans" now sit on this inner council.

As both administrators and teacher/scholars, these senior professors have been essential to Spence's plans for FAS, helping him to establish grass roots faculty support for a number of longterm and highly ambitious projects.

For instance, since the economist took office six years ago, the Committee has begun to review promotions and examine junior faculty evaluations in an effort to increase tenure promotions from within the University--long a priority of the dean.

"The most important thing to do in improving junior faculty promotions is to get an understanding of the Faculty at large--especially senior faculty," says Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Brendan A. Maher, considered a top contender for interim dean.

"There's a very substantive lag in the development of this policy," Maher says, adding, "you can shorten that if there are members of the Faculty in on the [high-level] discussions."

Dean of the Division of Applied Science Paul C. Martin '52, a long-time member of the dean's committee, also points to junior faculty promotions as a central concern of the Spence administration. And he says it is one in which the academic deans can have considerable influence and offer expertise.

Balancing scholarship and teaching along with administrative tasks, these advisor-professors have been Spence's main links to his several hundred member faculty.

"He's done a very good thing," Maher says. "He has decreased the sharp dividing line between who is a faculty member and who is an administrator."

The eight academic deans on the Committee all have appointments in their respective departments. And although Martin, like Keller, has been on the committee since Rosovsky's administration, most of the part-time associate deans maintain their positions for three-year terms.

While some academic deans--like Martin and Maher--have specific "portfolios" which outline their job descriptions and responsibilities, others maintain positions as general representatives from the senior faculty.

Although Maher, Henderson professor of the psychology of personality, sits on the dean's council this year in his capacity within GSAS, he held an associate deanship last year as a representative from the social sciences.

And according to Maher, it is this connection between departmental activity and University Hall administration that is the key to Spence's ability to maintain political consensus and faculty support for his proposals.

Reflecting his most recent Faculty priorities, Spence has created two new positions in his cabinet, adding specific "portfolios" for internationalization and affirmative action.

These posts are currently held by Berkman Professor of Economics Andreu Mas-Colell and Professor of Government Joseph S. Nye, who are the associate deans for affirmative action and international affairs, respectively. Nye, a well-known expert on international security, has been pegged as an obvious candidate to succeed Spence.

The other four professors who sit on the Committee of Deans are James J. McCarthy, professor of biological oceanography; Helen H. Vendler, Kenan professor of English and American literature and language; George M. Whitesides '60, Mallinckrodt professor of chemistry; David Pilbeam, professor of anthropology and associate dean for undergraduate education.

Looking back on the Spence years, Rosovsky says he sees the growth of the advisory board as "one part in the bureaucratization of a large entity" such as FAS, whose budget has grown more than ten-fold in the last 10 years.

But while professors acknowledge that the increase in academic deans over the last six years has made the planning process longer and decisions more complex, most say the end results are well worth the wait.

"From the outside it may seem that things go more slowly," Maher says, but adds that the careful consideration and attention to detail provided to Spence by the advisory board "is worth the time."

And Professor of Government Roderick MacFarquar, who has helped to develop Spence's faculty governance structure, says the committee method pays off in the end.

"Having thorough input, Mike Spence can then go to the Faculty with a reasonable prospect of getting that through--in that sense, not having the committee is a slower method," he says.