Unequal Resources Burden Psych.

Harvard may be about big things--big names, big buildings, big endowment--but the College is a fickle beast when it comes to accommodating any physical growth.

The number of students concentrating in computer science (CS) and psychology has increased by more than 50 percent in the last several years.

Both departments have experienced growing pains, and both have made hiring new faculty members a priority.

For CS, the process has been eased by Maxwell-Dworkin, the campus' new $20 million computer-science building, and by $5 million in endowed professorships from Bill Gates, Class of '77. And as part of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science (DEAS), CS has also benefited from Dean Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti's leadership and his position on the Council of the Deans.

But just as the CS department gets room to expand, the psychology department faces a space crunch inside of William James Hall.

Because there is no space to house new faculty, the department can't hire any. And administrators and faculty in the department say that their time and resources are being stretched to the line--there are too many students per faculty members, too little laboratory space for professors and students and too few advisers for senior thesis writers.

RAM'ed into classes

Interest in CS has boomed along with the Internet and information-technology industries in the last several years.

The explosion of interest isn't limited to Harvard, says John W. Hutchinson, associate dean of academic programs in DEAS.

"It's going on all over the country, and it's pretty obvious that it's driven by the excitement of the computer world and the Internet," he says.

Students "with a flare for math" flock to computer science, says Hutchinson, to hone their skills for lucrative careers in the field.

CS Director of Undergraduate Studies Steven J. Gortler says the concentration has had to compensate for bloated courses, some of which have doubled in size over the last four years.

"We're having to cope by having lots of teaching assistants and by adjusting the way we're teaching the courses," Gortler says.

Concentrator growth has left its mark on CS seminars.

"When you have a growth from 12 to 30 people [in a seminar}, it changes the flavor of the course," Gortler says.

Demand for more courses has been an impetus for hiring new faculty

Over the last four years, four junior faculty members have been added to the CS roster, in part to broaden the department's coverage and to strengthen the quality of research.

But ultimately, says Gortler, "if there was no demand for courses, it would be hard to justify the growth of faculty. "

More Central Processors

More faculty brings at least two benefits.

Each new lecturer or professor has introduced a seminar to help broaden course offerings.

And a perennial problem--so called "orphan classes" that were taught irregularly and by different professors--has been eased by the glut of new hires.

CS 124: "Data Structures" was one such orphan, Gortler says, but now it has a father: Professor Michael D. Mitzenmacher, who intends to teach it regularly.

CS 152: "Principles of Programming Languages" hadn't been taught regularly until Professor Norman Ramsey came on board.

Eventually, Gortler says, the department hopes to be able to split large introductory classes--specifically CS-50--and have two faculty members teach different sections. For now, the priority remains to "adopt" out courses and to broaden course offerings.

And although advising and other number sensitive programs, like independent study, haven't suffered from the number crunch yet, Gortler anticipates that the growing number of concentrators may cause problems in the future.

"There's a general understanding that we will continue to grow, we'll probably aim to hire one person a year," Gortler says.

Gigabytes of Space

Space to accommodate new faculty has been the primary problem for most expanding departments.

For CS, the problem has been resolved by its recent move to a brand new building--Maxwell-Dworkin.

Gortler points to the new building as another indicator of the increased demand to study computer science at Harvard, and Hutchinson says that CS and other DEAS departments had no trouble finding good use for the new space.

"As soon as any space becomes available, it gets filled," says Hutchinson, "[But]it's made an enormous difference. It's exciting, certainly, and we have the room for new junior faculty," Hutchinson says.

Hutchinson also says the growth has been helped by "Dean Venky's" commitment to the department's growth.

"We're different in that our [department] head is the dean," Hutchinson said. " He's been tremendously effective, he's been working very hard."

A Crowded Social Group

Psychology is one of the few concentrations at the College that can match the phenomenal growth rate of CS.

The concentration has grown from 282 concentrators during the 1995-1996 year to 427 concentrators this year, according to Undergraduate Program Administrator Shawn C. Harriman.

And, just like in the CS program, the sheer increase in numbers has hit the department across the board.

"Our numbers have increased to such a large extent in the last several years," Harriman says, "But our faculty, our number of courses, our building and lab space, and our grad student population--not one has increased [to match the new demand]. We're feeling a stress across the board."

Advising for seniors has experienced the greatest distress over the last several years. The number of thesis writers has grown from 28 to 58 in the last five years.

But the number of faculty--junior and senior members--has declined slightly. This year, the number of active faculty is 20, compared to 24 in 1995.

"We have felt the growth most strongly in our increased number of senior theses," department chair Professor Daniel L. Schacter writes in an e-mail message. "We're glad to see more undergraduates in research, but it does stretch our faculty resources."

The advising system been revamped to ensure that all concentrators have at least an in-House graduate student adviser, who also usually serves as a sophomore tutor and who signs study cards, answers questions.

The department has also looked beyond departmental faculty in the concentration to help with the influx of senior thesis writers.

"We're bringing grad students who are often great researchers in their own right into the thesis process along with faculty," Harriman says.

The department has also instituted a Board of Honors Tutors, which consists primarily of faculty and researchers at the Harvard Medical School, to serve as single or co-advisers for senior theses.

Harriman says students can benefit from a seasoned researcher as an advisor, as well as from having access to better facilities at the Medical Office.

"It's often the case with [Mind, Brain and Behavior]-track students that the Medical school laboratories are the ideal places for students to do neuroscience theses," Harriman says.

Harriman says the department hopes to expand the program to include researchers at the Harvard Business School to help students who are interested in social or organizational psychology.

"We encourage students to cast their nets broadly" in finding an adviser, Harriman says.

Claustrophobia

The issue of space, however, has proven to be a crucial factor in determining whether the department can expand course offerings and hire new faculty.

Although a senior faculty member has joined the department, and two senior and one junior member will come on board next year, the size of the faculty is not likely to change for a while.

"These appointments have replaced our departing faculty, so they have not increased our overall staffing numbers," Schacter writes. "The faculty are very much concerned with being stretched too thin [and are] eager for us to proceed with appointments in the near future."

Professor Stephen M. Kosslyn notes that each member of the faculty bears increased responsibility, and that sabbaticals and other leaves of absence affect all faculty members in a new way.

"The rest of us now really feel it when a colleague is gone, since it places more responsibilities on our shoulders," he writes in an e-mail message.

Most faculty members agree that the basic problem is lack of space, which precludes the department from making too many new faculty appointments.

"There is pressure for more courses, and we are eager to offer them, but we need additional faculty to do so. And to add new faculty, we need additional space," Schacter writes.

But there is only so much the administration can do with existing resources, Kosslyn notes.

"Although the University has been very generous in giving our most recently appointed faculty space outside of William James Hall, this obviously isn't ideal--and it appears that even this strategy may have reached the end of the line, [since} there isn't much free space on campus," he writes.

While space remains so closely connected with faculty appointments--and while the concentration continues to grow--pressure isn't likely to diminish until a new solution can be reached with the University.

"There will always be departments that are facing a surprisingly large number of new concentrators, and (to provide the best experience for those students), we must be responsive," writes Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles in an e-mail message. "But there are always some matters, (e.g. space) that can't be changed rapidly."

For the psychology department, waiting for creation of new space will mean waiting to expand the faculty.

"Right now, lack of space is clearly a deterrent to hiring new faculty," Schacter writes. "The University administration is in the early stages of a long-term space planning process. We are involved in ongoing discussions, and are hopeful that relief will come sooner than later."