Roso II: The Sequel

When A. Michael Spence resigned as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last year, President Derek C. Bok had only one person in mind to replace him.

Bok brought the one person who understands the Faculty better than any other--Geyser University Professor and Corporation member Henry Rosovsky.

As the 63-year-old economist ends his second, and he hopes last, tour of duty in University Hall, he says this past year has not been without its difficulties. They are the difficulties, one might say, of one who knows too much.

"The last time around, I had goals and ambitions," says Rosovsky. "[This time] it is quite different. Basically I had to operate without a long-term plan. It turns you basically into a fireman."

Few faculty members, however, say they expected Rosovsky to be anything more than a stabilizing figure, someone to stay the course. As one faculty member puts it, it was a "caretaker deanship."

Those close to Rosovsky say that it is his experience and his friendship with many faculty members that make him a powerful leader.

"He has put his personal stamp on the deanship," says Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Phyllis Keller. "He is a collegial person--people like him and respect him."

And perhaps it was Rosovsky personability that has made this year a surprisingly productive one for an interim dean.

The University made 22 senior appointments this year, including several in Afro-American Studies and History, which have been lacking faculty in recent years.

Rosovsky credits Spence for laying much of the groundwork for this faculty growth and a national economy for making Harvard look more attractive. Yet he is clearly pround of his work: "the Faculty has been strengthed," he says.

Even as Rosovsky tried to expand the Faculty's roster, he had to trim in other areas as a result of a budget crunch that gripped FAS and the entire University. This fall Rosovsky was faced with the unpleasant task of cutting 6 percent from departmental budgets.

Despite successful budget trimming and faculty hiring, Rosovsky himself continues to downplay his role in the past year. "I accepted and tried to operate this intricate machine," says Rosovsky. "But I didn't try to redesign the machine.