Harvard by the Numbers

As FAS dean Michael D. Smith illustrated with these figures, social sciences (economics, government, history, and so on) attract the largest number of College concentrators...

From The September-October 2008 Issue

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) faces interesting challenges in maintaining expertise in current fields of knowledge, bringing in professors to pursue new frontiers, training future scholars, and educating undergraduates. As FAS dean Michael D. Smith illustrated with these figures, adapted from his annual report dated May 2008, social sciences (economics, government, history, and so on) attract the largest number of College concentrators, and account for the largest faculty cohort. Arts and humanities professors rank second, but the number of concentrators (not the only students taking courses, to be sure), is much smaller, and diminishing. Graduate-student enrollments (importantly, the source of teaching fellows) are largest in the sciences, but fastest-growing in engineering and applied sciences—the only group within the faculty to expand in relative size during the past decade (see “A ‘Pause’ and Progress in FAS,” July-August, page 68).

Published in the September-October 2008 print issue in the John Harvard's Journal section.

Related topics
University News
Harvard College

You might also like

Lafayette’s Unexpected Gift to George Washington: Pheasants

The two birds will be on display at Harvard this summer.

Harvard Graduate Student Workers Strike

Union demands higher pay, protections for non-citizen members, and changes to the harassment complaint process.

Boston Board Approves Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus Framework

City planners adopt principles to guide future development of the commercial innovation district in Allston.

Most popular

AI Outperforms Doctors in Emergency Room Tasks, New Harvard Study Shows

Researchers say the technology could help physicians with triage, diagnosis.

Why Is Silicon Valley Turning Conservative?

At the Harvard Kennedy School, Van Jones analyzes how Democrats lost the tech industry’s vote.

Government Seeks to Move Funding Case to Contracts Court

In a new appellate brief, the Trump administration shifts its argument for rescinding Harvard’s grants.

House - Email

Explore More From Current Issue

Illustration of two students in Harvard hoodies, one speaking animatedly to a phone, the other reading, looking annoyed.

Undergraduate Column

We’re All Harvard Influencers, Like It or Not

In the digital age, it’s hard to avoid playing into the mythology.

Portrait of a man with white hair, wearing a black coat, arms crossed, thoughtful expression.

Harvard Celebrates America’s 250th

The Framer Who Refused to Sign the Constitution

Harvard’s Elbridge Gerry helped draft the U.S. Constitution, but worried it might create a new monarch.

Brick archway with a sandy base, surrounded by wooden planks and boxes in a dim space.

Harvard Celebrates America’s 250th

How the American Revolution Freed a Future Abolitionist

Darby Vassall, an enslaved child freed after the Battle of Bunker Hill, dedicated his life to fighting for liberty.