Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) is preparing for a significant restructuring of its administrative operations, Dean Hopi Hoekstra wrote in an April 8 letter to faculty and staff. Launched last summer, the effort aims to streamline complex internal systems and address mounting financial challenges—including a projected $100 million annual reduction in endowment distributions caused by an increased federal tax on endowment gains that will take effect in the 2027 fiscal year.
Hoekstra described the initiative—which will be implemented starting this summer—as an effort to rethink how the FAS operates at a fundamental level. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make deliberate and sustainable changes that will reduce complexity in our administrative work and improve the support we provide for our teaching and research,” she wrote. While financial pressures were a key catalyst, she emphasized that “the potential gains it offers go well beyond cost savings.”
At the center of the redesign is a shift to a new model of administration, recommended by the task force and accepted by the dean, which seeks to balance local autonomy with greater coordination across the FAS. As Hoekstra explained, the model “balances the local, dedicated support that our faculty and students value and the consistency and coordination that come from better integration….”
An FAS website dedicated to the new model highlights the overarching problem the reorganization is meant to address: an administrative system that has grown “complex and difficult to navigate—marked by duplicative processes, decision-making ambiguity, and limited career growth opportunities for staff.” In some cases, department administrators must navigate more than 60 different systems, with processes that can involve “67 steps required to hire a staff member.” And there are more than 1,500 unique job titles within FAS suggesting a “lack of role clarity.”
The new approach aims to redefine roles and reduce inefficiencies by distributing work more deliberately. “This model clarifies what work happens where—many tasks belong near the people and departments and units they serve, while other tasks can be better managed in a shared, FAS-wide way,” explains the FAS website describing the anticipated changes. The new model combines several key structural elements—including shared services for high-volume tasks, centralized “centers of expertise,” and locally embedded staff connected to broader functional hubs.
Over the winter, 10 design teams comprising more than 80 staff and faculty have undertaken detailed work to develop proposals for how this model would apply across core administrative functions, Hoekstra said. Their work drew on broad community input, including advisory groups, surveys, and nearly 150 submitted ideas. Before final decisions are made, Hoekstra—together with incoming dean for administration and finance Warren Petrofsky and other senior FAS leaders—will be actively refining and “pressure-testing” these proposals, a process expected to be their principal focus between now and then end of the academic year.
In her email to faculty and staff, Hoekstra stressed that the goal is not change for its own sake: “Rather, we will adopt new models when it is clear they are stronger than the current state.” Implementation is expected to begin this summer, with adjustments anticipated as the system evolves.
The restructuring comes at a moment of financial strain for the FAS, whose leaders last fall outlined a structural deficit of $350 million. FAS relies on endowment income for roughly half of its operating revenue; alongside the new tax burden, the division also faces uncertainty in federal research funding and deferred maintenance on more than 250 aging buildings. Hoekstra wrote that heightened pressure to reduce costs has compelled FAS to “become nimbler in our ability to put resources behind our core academic work.”
Although the dean did not explicitly address staffing reductions, she acknowledged widespread concern among employees. “Uncertainty about roles, reporting lines, and what change may mean personally is difficult,” she wrote, adding that the administration will “approach this process with care and respect for the people who have helped build and sustain the FAS.”
Ultimately, the effort seeks to reshape how Harvard’s largest faculty supports its academic mission. The aim, Hoekstra concluded, is “to build a clearer, more sustainable administrative model that better supports faculty, researchers, and students and creates stronger, more viable pathways for staff expertise and growth—allowing us to focus more of our collective energy and resources on the core teaching and research mission of the FAS.”
