All Three Dudley Administrators to Depart as Harvard Shutters Community

All three members of the Dudley Community’s administrative staff are set to depart this month as Harvard shutters the more than 90-year-old undergraduate community amid a broader restructuring of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Resident Dean Laura Chivers and undergraduate coordinator Carvina Williams were laid off as part of the workforce planning process and will leave their roles this week, Chivers wrote in an email last week to Dudley affiliates. Visiting Undergraduate Students program manager Chris Gilbert had already planned to depart in August for medical school in a move unrelated to the restructuring, according to a July 22 email to Dudley affiliates.

Beyond its three administrators, Dudley also employs 13 resident and non-resident tutors.

“We are both committed to ensuring we pass along to your Houses all the information that we can to help ease the transition and are sharing with the College what we know about the often unique needs of the Co-op and off-campus students,” Chivers wrote of herself and Williams.

Chivers declined to comment beyond her email to students. Williams, Gilbert, and an FAS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

An automated email reply from Gilbert’s email account states he will depart in August to begin medical school and directs visiting undergraduates to the Harvard International Office for visa-related inquiries. His position has not yet been filled.

Nearly 70 students are expected to participate in the College’s semester- or year-long visiting undergraduate program this fall. A Fall 2026 informational document for participants says all VUS academic advisers are Dudley tutors and describes Dudley as “the community center for the VUS program.”

In a Wednesday email to Dudley staff, Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne wrote that he did not anticipate “substantive changes” to the VUS program.

In an email to Dudley students the same day, Dunne attributed the community’s closure to “difficult decisions” made as the College restructures its workforce. Students and residential tutors assigned to the Dudley Co-op this fall will be able to remain there through the upcoming academic year, with additional details expected before the start of the term, according to the email.

The closure comes after a recent wave of FAS restructuring broadly reached rank-and-file College staff. Roughly 13 percent of College staff covered by that round were directly laid off, bringing the first major impact to student-facing services, including the Harvard College Writing Center and the Phillips Brooks House.

Once Dudley’s independent advising structure is eliminated, its students will instead receive support through the House system. Students who were previously affiliated with a House will return to that House, while those without a previous House affiliation will be assigned one.

In her email, Chivers sought to reassure students that they would continue to receive support after Dudley’s phase-out.

“Dean Dunne has been a strong partner in recognizing what made Dudley special and has assured me that the College will continue to offer support and advice for these needs, albeit in a new way,” she wrote.

Chivers added that while the Dudley Community would no longer exist, its “spirit and camaraderie” would remain.

“I have truly been impressed with what we have created here together in building community despite being far-flung,” she wrote.

—Staff writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at sbc.23. Follow him on X @SebastianC4784.

—Staff writer Summer E. Rose can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ser.85. Follow her on X @summerellenrose.