New Fellow To Oversee Online Projects

Harvard will offer a new Management Fellowship focused on developing online course evaluations and moving other academic functions online, the University announced Friday.

The fellowship will be offered to graduates of Harvard schools in addition to the 11 existing Management Fellowships, which include an Allston planning position, a green campus coordinator, and the Campus Life Fellow.

The Fellow for the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) will be charged with coordinating several ongoing IT projects at the College as well as the development of the online CUE evaluation.

The fellow will work with Registrar Barry S. Kane and other administrators “to transform the way that Harvard College students conduct their academic and administrative business,” according to an online statement announcing the new fellowship.

The fellow will take charge of the CUE project and will be responsible for all the processes and decision-making relating to the initiative, including soliciting feedback about the system and promoting it to undergraduates, according to Kane, who currently manages the fellowship.

Kane added that the fellow will maintain direct communication with the CUE as well as other interested members of the College.

Last spring, when the electronic course evaluation system was first launched, over 83 percent of undergraduates submitted the online forms, gaining enough faculty support for the system to continue, according to the online statement.

“A successful course evaluation process in Harvard College will translate into higher levels of satisfaction on the part of our undergraduates with their overall educational experience in the College,” Kane wrote in an e-mail.

The fellow will also collaborate with various College offices to develop electronic applications and systems for current databases, like the Freshman Dean’s Office’s roommate pairing process.

Of the 12 management fellowships offered by the Office of the President, two are now contained within the College. In addition to the CUE fellow, the Harvard College Fellow for Campus Life position will be offered for the second year to graduates of the Class of 2006.

With the changing face of the campus, the Campus Life Fellow will be charged with the programming of social space within new establishments such as the pub in Loker Commons, student group facilities in Hilles, Yard basement areas, the planned Lamont café, and the women’s center, according to the online fellowship description.

Next year, the fellow will also work to convert various indoor and outdoor campus sites, such as Annenberg Hall and the Gordon Track and Field Center, into functional student-event venues, according to the description.

“The position will change because the College is constantly changing,” said Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II, who supervises the Campus Life Fellow. “I think we learn a little more every year.”

The fellow will continue to work closely with students and undergraduate groups to implement ideas for new social events as well as to coordinate signature events such as the Harvard State Fair and the campus-wide dodgeball tournament, McLoughlin said.

A University-wide session was held last Wednesday evening at Holyoke Center about the various fellowships. Descriptions of the fellowships were posted on the Harvard employment website on Friday.

Applications are accepted until Jan. 27, followed by an interview and selection process that extends into March. The new fellows will begin work in July.

—Staff writer Ying Wang can be reached at yingwang@fas.harvard.edu.