November-December 2002 > John Harvard's Journal

University People

Robert D. Reischauer

Harvard News Office

Familiar Fellow

Robert D. Reischauer ’63 was appointed to the Harvard Corporation (The President and Fellows of Harvard College) on October 6, succeeding Herbert S. Winokur Jr. ’65, Ph.D. ’67. Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, is the son of the late University Professor Edwin O. Reischauer. More complete coverage will appear in the next issue.

 

Fiscal Farewell

Elizabeth Huidekoper

Jane Reed / Harvard News Office

Elizabeth Huidekoper, vice president for finance since 1996, relinquished the position on October 15—after 21 years of financial-management service at Harvard—to become executive vice president for finance and administration at Brown University. Harvard’s senior financial officer oversees budgets, sponsored research, cash and debt management, and fiscal planning. At Brown, Huidekoper has a broader portfolio, including human resources, labor relations, police and security, facilities, and investments. In a letter announcing her departure, she said of Brown’s smaller, more centralized structure, "In other words, you can get your arms around it…I hope!" and cited the personal opportunity as "the only one that could have lured me away from Harvard." Huidekoper is the third vice president, of five, to move on in the past 16 months; President Lawrence H. Summers hired a new vice president for government, community, and public affairs early in his administration (filling a vacancy) and must appoint a new vice president and general counsel (Anne Taylor also departed this fall). Calling Huidekoper "one of Harvard’s most talented, versatile, and effective administators," he thanked her for teaching him "a great deal about how Harvard really works." Former Arts and Sciences financial associate dean Ann Berman will serve as acting vice president for finance.

 

Richard M. Losick

Kris Snibbe / Harvard News Office

Law Beyond Borders

William P. Alford, Stimson professor of law, is the new associate dean for the graduate program and international legal studies at Harvard Law School. An expert on Chinese law and on the resolution of international trade disputes, he oversees 200 students from several dozen countries enrolled in masters’ and doctoral programs. Alford succeeds Anne-Marie Slaughter, who accepted a deanship at Princeton (see July-August, page 84).

 

Better Biology

Cabot professor of biology Richard M. Losick—named a Harvard College Professor for excellence in teaching—is one of 20 research scientists nationwide to receive $1 million each from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to develop new, enhanced methods of undergraduate instruction. Losick, who teaches "Introductory Molecular Biology," plans enriched first-year experiences for disadvantaged students, high-level research partnerships for more experienced students, and a program of computer animation to illustrate molecular processes in motion.

 

After Winthrop

Master Paul D. Hanson, Lamont professor of divinity, and his wife and co-master, Cynthia Rosenberger, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, intend to leave Winthrop House next June. They will have served for a decade, after previously leading Dudley House. Both intend to focus on their teaching. Harry R. Lewis, dean of Harvard College, will initiate a search for their successors.