Pforzheimer Resident Dean To Leave Harvard for Brandeis

Lisa M. Boes, resident dean of Pforzheimer House, will leave the College this fall for Brandeis University, where she will serve as dean of academic services starting in November. Boes has been Pfoho’s resident dean since 2007.

“She is excited about the opportunity to lead a collection of advising and student support programs at a small liberal arts institution with clear social justice mission,” Co-House Masters Anne Harrington ’82 and John R. Durant wrote in an email to the Pfoho community last week. “It is a wonderful opportunity for her, but we will miss her sorely.”

Gabriel A. Katsh ’04, a Pfoho resident tutor, will be stepping in as Pfoho’s interim resident dean until the end of the school year.

Although Boes will no longer be affiliated with Pfoho, she said she will continue to work at the Graduate School of Education following her departure from the College. Boes also directed Wintersession—an optional week of activities for undergraduates during the last week of the winter recess—and will continue her work with the program as the College searches for a replacement.

Reflecting on her time in Pfoho, Boes said that her work with students and tutors in the House has prepared her for her upcoming role at Brandeis.

“I’ve had this really amazing breadth [of work], but with a small scale, and now I get to take what I’ve learned from that breadth and apply it to a bigger scale, but with a really clear focus,” Boes said in an interview in her Pfoho office on Thursday.

In an email to The Crimson, Harrington wrote that Boes was an “invaluable support and guide” to her and her husband as they transitioned into their new roles as House Masters. Appointed in the spring, Harrington and Durant have just begun their first semester living in the House.

“We both admired, not only her deep knowledge of the ways of the House, the needs of the students, and the workings of the College, but the mix of common sense, good judgment, and unflagging capacity for caring that she brought to the advising and pastoral side of her work with students,” Harrington wrote.

Pfoho residents who have interacted with Boes say they will miss her when she departs from the College. Blake Zenuni ’14 said Boes has “been a huge, huge help” to him throughout his time at Harvard.  “I feel if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have overcome the large obstacles I faced at Harvard and outside Harvard,” Zenuni said.

Harrington said she hopes Boes will continue to stay in touch with the Pfoho community.

“She has been a treasured member of the Pfoho community, and we hope that she will stay connected to our House and to all of us in the years to come, even as she moves forward into a new and exciting chapter at Brandeis University,” Harrington wrote to The Crimson.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at  laya.anasu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LayaAnasu.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.