After Eight Yeras, Eliot Masters to Depart

Eight years after the first slice of Kristine L. Forsgard's cheesecake found fame in Eliot House, she and Co-Master Stephen A. Mitchell will leave their posts at the end of the year, the couple announced Wednesday.

In an e-mail message to House residents, the husband-and-wife team announced their desire to spend more time with their family, explaining that their children--twins Katrina and Erik--will be entering high school next year. Mitchell and Forsgard have a third child, daughter Annika, who is in the fourth grade.

Their announcement is the first such masters' resignation this year, but follows a number of high-profile departures in the past few years, including those of former Adams House Masters Robert J. Kiely '60 and his wife Jana, 26-year veterans who left their posts last year.

Before becoming masters, the pair both served as House tutors--Forsgard in Eliot and Mitchell in Pforzheimer, then-North House. When the two married in the mid-1980s, Forsgard also moved to Pforzheimer, where their children were born.

According to J. Woodland Hastings, former Master of Pforzheimer House, having the couple in the House as tutors made their jobs more enjoyable.

"We could be sure that things would always be done well, with imagination, exuberance and sensitivity," Hastings said. "At Eliot House they have continued to provide the type of leadership that makes Harvard Houses so unique and so important in the lives of students."

Since their appointment as Masters by then-Harvard President Derek C. Bok in 1991, Mitchell and Forsgard have been amongst the most outspoken opponents of randomization, arguing instead for students' responsibility over their decisions.

But according to Mitchell, it has become increasingly difficult to balance family, House and academic responsibilities. He said it was the realization this summer that he hadn't been able to devote enough time to his youngest daughter, Annika, now 9, that added momentum to his and Forsgard's decision to leave the House.

Eliot House Alston Burr Senior Tutor Margaret Bruzelius '74 said she has been impressed by Mitchell and Frosgard's openness and their degree of personal involvement in House affairs.

"They'll be a hard act to follow," she said. "They've been very, very engaged on every level."

Students also laud the co-masters for their genuine interest in House activities.

Winnie M. Li '00, co-chair of Evening of Champions, an Eliot House skating event that raises money for charity, said Mitchell and Forsgard have gone out of their way to helping her group in whatever way possible--from lending them coffee pots to driving students to Cape Cod for meetings.

"They've just put so much into the show," Li said.

She said she was impressed by little things the co-masters have done to improve House life, like buying up a large section of seats at the Evening of Champions event in order to take House resident tutors on a special night.

The couple presided over large projects as well, including this year's major dining hall renovation.

But above all, Li said many will remember the couple for Forsgard's famous cheesecake.

"It's pretty legendary," she said. "Words won't really do it justice."