A Dean Reflects on His Tenure

As the semester wound down Monday afternoon, an interview found Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles in a reflective mood, musing on the future of Harvard College, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and his tenure as dean.

The 59-year old administrator seemed particularly engaged in the discussion, speaking freely and at length.

The interview began with a question he said people ask him often: does he ever miss the intellectual engagement of being a professor?

He gave what he said is his standard answer: "Of courses--when I have time, which isn't often."

Knowles was a chemistry professor at Harvard before becoming dean in 1991.

He added that he enjoys trying to shape the way Harvard works.

"There is a real satisfaction that comes from trying to improve the institution, to make this place more exciting in scholarly terms and more effective in teaching teams," Knowles said.

On another personal issue, Knowles was asked what makes him most frustrated about his administrative position.

"What makes me kick the furniture when I go home?" the dean asked rhetorically. "Being misunderstood. It probably is for you too, for any of us."

Knowles said that he is pleased with the quality of the students and faculty who come to Harvard.

"The enjoyment comes in bringing deeply creative individuals to the Faculty and in bringing all of this starting talent into the student body," Knowles said.

Considering the three-quarters yeld of students who matriculate at Harvard of those accepted, Knowles said, "There's nowhere to go but down."

The Future of Harvard

Looking ahead, Knowles said that he wants to leave the Faculty of Arts and Sciences "a steadier ship than I found it, of even higher quality."

"I walked into a $12 million deficit, rising," Knowles said. "The ship was taking on quite a bit of water."

The deficit has decreased each year since Knowles has been dean.

He also said he would like to leave Harvard "positioned for the next century."

The boundaries of academic diciplines must become more blurred, Knowles said.

"It must be intellectually flexible, nimble in organizational terms and responsive to changes in society," Knowles said.

"Intellectually, one of my concerns is to lower the boundaries between classically defined disciplines," Knowels said. Nature and knowledge were not tidily divided into the subjects of University departments. So often, exciting advances occur on the edges, of our fields, which are the edges of some-one else's."

He also said that Harvard must respond to changing information technology.

"You've got to be able organizationally to respond to changes in learning--how teaching is done, how information is made available," the dean said.

"If you think of IT (information teachnology), there are a lot of hard decisions going to be made in the coming years," Knowles said.