Thompson Returns Early to Associate Provost Post

Long-time Associate Provost Dennis F. Thompson has returned to Harvard two months before his year-long sabbatical was up. Thompson will continue to serve as Associate Provost, helping to fill the void left by Provost Harvey V. Fineberg ’67 who stepped down on July 1.

University President Lawrence H. Summers announced Thompson’s return in a memo to Provost Office and Mass. Hall staff.

“As most of you know, I am actively engaged in a search for a new provost,” Summers wrote. “As that position may well remain unfilled for the summer, I will rely on Dennis Thompson’s counsel and advice on a range of issues and will ask him to direct the work of the Provost’s Office during this period.”

The associate provost is a part-time position intended to act as a liaison between the faculty and the central administration—which is comprised of the offices of the president and provost and the vice-presidents. Thompson continued his work in ethics during the ten years since he was named to the position, and will continue to do so this summer and into the future.

Thompson was one of the original candidates for provost when former University President Neil L. Rudenstine reintroduced the position. Though some faculty members floated Thompson’s name as a possibility in the search for the fourth provost, at least two administrators cast doubt on his interest in the position.

Thompson was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Fineberg, meanwhile, said that he has been consulted about the future of the Provost position, but did not anticipate any further involvement.

“President Summers spoke with me about the role of the provost and desirable qualities in the next provost,” Fineberg wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.