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The Gang's All Here

The News Deans

By Christopher J. Georges

After just one year in office, Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence has fully selected his supporting cast of administrators. Three positions were filled this summer with the appointment of a new dean of the College and two new deans of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aids L. Fred Jewett '57 was selected as the new dean of Harvard College, replacing John B. Fox Jr. '59. Fox, in turn, was named administrative dean of the GSAS. Sally F. Moore, an anthropology professor and Master of Dunster House, was selected as new dean of GSAS.

The University Hall shake-up came after months of speculation prompted by Fox's announcement in February that he would step down from his post as dean of the College no later than the spring of 1986. Jewett, who assumed his new post just two days after the appointment, said that his top priorities as dean will be to "enable students to make use of the facilities and resources available to them."

His first task, however, will be to review the controversial Committee on Rights and Responsibilities, which this year heard the cases of students involved in recent anti-apartheid protests.

Jewett has also inherited a job that has him overseeing the completion of $27 million renovation project to two Radcliffe Quadrangle Houses; monitoring the development of the Harvard Foundation, an organization set up to coordinate the affairs of minority students at Harvard; and responding to an upsurge of student protest against University investments in South Africa.

As the College's top administrator, Jewett will oversee the non-academic lives of the more than 6000 undergraduates. In addition he will chair the Administrative Board and the student-faculty Committee on College Life and Committee on House Life.

Jewett has spent most of his professional career at Harvard, and was one of the original freshman senior advisors in 1958. Since then he has held posts at Harvard including assistant dean of freshmen and dean of freshmen scholarships.

Moore, who replaces Acting Dean of the GSAS Peter S. McKinney, will oversee the school's academic life, including its 2400 graduate students and will make all final budgetary and policy decisions.

Fox as administrative dean will be the primary manager of the GSAS's finances, admissions and financial aid, offices and personal, student affairs, alumni relations and other administrative tasks.

The appointment of Fox and Moore comes in the wake of the first major review of Harvard's graduate program in 15 years. The so-called Strauch report, which took a 10-member committee eight months to complete, recommended broad changes in the school's enrollment and financial affairs. One of their recommendations was to add a dean for GSAS administration. Spence's appointment of Fox represents one of the first changes prompted by the Strauch's report's findings.

Fox and Moore are expected to give what Spence calls an "institutional response" to the report

Spence made the appointment after a year-long search. Former GSAS Dean Edward L. Keenan '57 and former Associate Dean for Administration Jeremy W. Rusk stepped down last summer.

The 61-year-old Moore, who was instrumental in establishing the Anthropology Department's first Master of Arts program, is universally praised for the active role she has taken both in recruiting and instructing graduate students.

Moore, a renowned anthropologist has held tenured posts at three Universities and is one of only 21 tenured women at Harvard. At the University, she has served on the Faculty Council the Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Faculty Committee on Women.

Fox, who had served as dean of the College since 1976, was regarded as determined, hard headed, and effective. Among his major accomplishments was the "Fox Plan," which assigned all freshmen to housing in the Yard, while reserving the 13 residential houses for upperclassmen.

Involved in the recently completed $350 million Harvard Campaign, Fox was also considered a fundraising genius. He had been criticized, however, for being "too administrative" in his College post and for not concentrating enough on education and other general policy questions.

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