FAS To Lay Off High-Level Administrators in Staff Restructuring

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences will lay off three high-level divisional administrators as part of its sweeping staff restructuring plan, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The school plans to eliminate the positions of its three divisional administrative deans, who oversee administrative functions — including finance and information technology — across units in their divisions.

Two people confirmed that Sciences Administrative Dean Russ Porter would be laid off; one confirmed that Social Sciences Administrative Dean Beverly S. Beatty would be laid off; and a fourth person confirmed that Arts and Humanities Administrative Dean Gretchen Brodnicki would be laid off. All three administrators have worked at Harvard for decades.

FAS spokesperson James M. Chisholm declined to comment on the layoffs, citing a policy against commenting on personnel matters.

A person familiar with the FAS administration confirmed that the layoffs were connected to a staff restructuring plan, which is intended to help close the FAS’s $365 million structural deficit. The person said that the divisional administrative dean role would no longer exist in the new staffing model.

Under the plan, developed by the FAS’s Task Force on Workforce Planning in consultation with McKinsey & Company, departments, centers, and institutes would be grouped into administrative “clusters” with shared functions, including human resources and finances.

Initial plans indicate that the school may lay off up to a quarter of staff in the process.

The elimination of the administrative deans’ positions — the highest-level roles yet known to be affected by the restructuring — marks the first confirmed step toward layoffs, which are expected to take place this summer.

But the FAS has yet to publicly announce any layoffs or position reassignments, and notification so far has been piecemeal.

Brodnicki told Arts and Humanities department administrators and center directors on May 20 that her position would end after Commencement but that she would be available to help with the transition, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Beatty told Social Sciences division department administrators and center executive directors on May 22 that she would be laid off, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Brodnicki, Beatty, and Porter did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The 2,300 full-time staff positions examined by the Task Force on Workforce Planning cost the FAS roughly $300 million, 17 percent of its total budget, according to a recording of a December all-staff meeting obtained by The Crimson.

The school has also cut costs elsewhere — slashing Ph.D. admissions and non-tenure-track faculty budgets, keeping spending flat for fiscal year 2026, and pausing spending on non-essential capital projects.

In April, Harvard College Dean David J. Deming pledged to cut back-office administrative operations before interfering with student-facing services.

His comments drew significant backlash from the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, which slammed them as “dismissive and demeaning” in an open letter last month.

In an email to staff earlier this month, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the restructuring and said she would hold sessions to describe the new staffing model and timeline.

“As we move forward, I am committed to being clear about the decisions being made and to approaching this process with care and respect for the people who do this work every day,” she wrote.

—Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at abbysg.97. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at amannsm.38. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.