November-December 2005 > John Harvard's Journal

Brevia

Finding a Fellow

The search for a new member of the Harvard Corporation—to fill the vacancy created by Conrad K. Harper’s resignation last July—is in the hands of a six-member committee. Its members are three current Fellows of the Corporation (James R. Houghton ’58, M.B.A. ’62, chairman of Corning Inc.; Nannerl O. Keohane, LL.D. ’93, president emerita of Duke; and Robert D. Reischauer ’63, president of the Urban Institute) and three members of the Board of Overseers (U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris ’73, J.D. ’76, president of the Overseers; M. Lee Pelton, Ph.D. ’84, president of Willamette University and vice chair of the Overseers executive committee; and Roger W. Ferguson Jr. ’73, J.D. ’77, vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve). Nominations and comment may be sent to the Office of the Governing Boards by e-mail at corporationsearch@harvard.edu.

An Allston COO

President Lawrence H. Summers has appointed Christopher M. Gordon chief operating officer for Allston development, responsible for implementing the University’s first-phase plan for the pending extensive campus expansion, expected to last 10 to 15 years. Gordon, who oversaw the $4.4-billion reconstruction of Boston’s Logan Airport, will report directly to Summers. All other school development and construction activities will be supported separately by a reconstituted Harvard Planning organization.

Ratings Rerun

Harvard and Princeton again shared the top ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s annual col­lege beauty contest, followed by Yale. Penn was ranked fourth, followed by Duke and Stanford, in a tie. Separately, the schools of business, education, and medicine occupied their customary positions atop the magazine’s yearly rankings of graduate schools, with the law school ranked second to Yale (as it has been peren­nial­ly). A newcomer to the increasingly crowded roster of raters, the Washington Monthly, judged institutions for their service to society (measured by contributing to social mobility, creating knowledge and driving economic growth, and encouraging an ethic of service). On these criteria, MIT came in first, Yale fifteenth, Harvard sixteenth, and Princeton forty-fourth.

Development Decapitated

Update (10/14/05) When this article was on press, Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood announced that Professor Ricardo Hausmann was named director of Harvard’s Center for International Development (CID).

For the third time in recent years, the Center for International Development is leaderless. Founding director Jeffrey D. Sachs decamped for Columbia. Cabot professor of public policy Kenneth S. Rogoff (see “Harvard Portrait,” January-February 2004, page 51), stepped down in early 2004, shortly after taking the job, preferring to focus on research instead of raising needed resources. His successor, development economist Mark R. Rosenzweig (see “Re-Development,” November-December 2004, page 57), has returned to a faculty position at Yale. While citing “tremendous colleagues and great staff support at Harvard,” the Yale program, he said, “has resources; CID does not”—a continuing challenge to Kennedy School dean David T. Ellwood, who indicated that endowment funds were being sought.

Eric Buehrens

Courtesy of Eric Buehrens

Cynthia L. Walker

Liza Green / HMS Media Service

Linda Zedros

Stephanie Mitchell / Harvard News Office

Provost’s Point People

Signaling the priority being given to building scientific laboratories in Allston (see “Allston Options—and Actions,” September-October, page 58), Provost Steven E. Hyman has appointed Eric Buehrens deputy provost for administration. His portfolio includes “administrative leadership and management oversight for current and future cross-institutional and cross-faculty initiatives,” particularly “the development of scientific research facilities and programs” for Harvard’s Allston campus. During the past seven years at Harvard Medical School, most recently as executive dean for administration, Buehrens spearheaded development of the huge New Research Building. His successor at HMS, Cynthia L. Walker, was previously the school’s dean for finance. Separately, Linda Zedros, formerly director of administration at the Harvard School of Public Health department of health policy and management, became the provost’s chief of staff in August, succeeding Sean T. Buffington, now associate provost responsible for arts and cultural programs. Finally, Shawn Bohen, formerly executive director of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, became assistant provost for faculty development and diversity, working with senior vice provost Evelynn M. Hammonds (see “Diversity Director,” September-October, page 56).

Nota Bene

Research roster. The National Science Foundation survey of academic research-and-development spending for fiscal year 2003 (the most recent period available) shows total federal expenditures of $24.7 billion. Johns Hopkins University ranked first, at $1.1 billion. Harvard was reported as receiving $348.6 million, good for fourteenth place.

Medicine and social science. Com-plementing its biomedical—sciences track, the joint M.D.—Ph.D. program now offers a social-sciences concentration for students, combining work in anthropology, health policy, government, or psychology with clinical medicine. Kass professor of the history of medicine and professor of the history of science Allan M. Brandt will direct the new program.

Business and human rights. Kilpatrick professor of international affairs John G. Ruggie, of the Kennedy School of Government, has been appointed the United Nations special representative for human rights and business, a two-year assignment to identify standards and appropriate practices for enterprises in relation to human rights. The work links businesses with human-rights organizations and governments, as does Ruggie’s continuing work as director of the KSG’s Center for Business and Government. Ruggie was UN assistant secretary-general and adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1997 to 2001.

Suzy M. Nelson

Stephanie Mitchell / Harvard News Office

Comings and goings. Christine Atwood, formerly director of development for Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts, is the Kennedy School’s new senior associate dean for external affairs, responsible for fundraising and alumni programs. ...Michael Quinn now directs University and commercial real estate for Harvard; he arrives with more than two decades of experience in commercial property and asset management in Greater Boston, including a stint as president for the local chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association. ...The College continues a flurry of administrative appointments, including John Ellison, M.T.S. ’91, Ph.D. ’02, formerly senior tutor in Lowell House, who becomes assistant dean and secretary of the Administrative Board, succeeding John O’Keefe, who took a new position at Wellesley; and Suzy M. Nelson, formerly associate dean of students for fraternity and sorority affairs at Cornell, who is now Harvard’s associate dean for residential life, responsible for all the Houses and freshman dorms and for helping to plan for prospective changes “due to expanded study abroad programs as well as the possible construction of new Houses in Allston.”

Miscellany. The National Book Foundation chose Norman Mailer ’43 as 2005 recipient of its annual medal for distinguished contribution to American letters. ...Princeton’s common grading standard, adopted in 2004, reduced the number of A-level grades in undergraduate courses to 41 percent for 2004-2005 from 46 percent and 48 percent in the two prior years. As previously reported, Harvard’s jawboning approach to “grade inflation” yielded no net reduction in such marks (A and A- total about 48 percent of grades awarded), and the mean grade in fact crept up in the most recent year analyzed.