Radcliffe Eyes Cronkhite Center

As the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study awaits the appointment of its first permanent dean, the Institute is taking steps to centralize its four research branches and streamline its fellowship application process.

In their continued effort to make Radcliffe a world-renowned research institution, Institute officials said they hope to convert a large portion of the Cronkhite Graduate Center to office space and living quarters for Radcliffe fellows.

The decision comes as Radcliffe expects to host and fully fund 56 research fellows in the coming year--more than double this year's number.

"We will have 56 new fellows coming next year, and that's going to be a regular occurrence every year," said Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini. "Being able to house these fellows as close to [Radcliffe Yard] as possible is a real priority."

Radcliffe administrators met earlier this month with graduate students who live in Cronkhite, bracing them for the likely possibility that as many as 70 dorm rooms will be converted into space specifically for the Institute's use as soon as this summer.

Once Cronkhite is renovated, administrators say they will bring the Bunting Fellowship Program--long housed several blocks from Radcliffe Yard on Concord Avenue--closer to the core of Radcliffe, thereby centralizing fellows and solidifying the Institute as an academic community.

Radcliffe also expects to utilize Byerly Hall when the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Office of Admissions and Financial Aid vacates the building in 2006, the year its lease expires.

Acting Dean of the Institute Mary Maples Dunn said the Institute will definitely use the space, but Radcliffe officials say they do not yet have a clear purpose for the building in mind.

"An important point to remember is the new Radcliffe will be significantly larger," Armini said. "Because Byerly Hall will not be available for several years, we have to make plans based on the space that will be available. It's too early to say what we'll be doing six years from now."

He said a team of consultants is currently examining how Radcliffe uses its space.

Armini said having centrally located living and working space for fellows is critical to the Institute's goals.

"To have this very intellectually stimulating environment that we're shooting for, we need to build a community," Armini said. "Some people will not need housing. For those who do, we'll guarantee housing."

But if all of next year's 56 fellows were to request Radcliffe-provided housing, the Institute would be hard-pressed to convert Cronkhite in time.

Yet Armini said that once converted, Cronkhite might ultimately be adequate, since some fellows would already have places to live in the Cambridge area.

Armini said that the Institute might also house fellows in a building that Radcliffe controls at 83 Brattle St., which currently houses Harvard-affiliated faculty and students.

And just as Radcliffe works to physically centralize its four academic programs, it is also streamlining its fellowship application process to create a common application.

The Bunting Fellowship Program, the Murray Research Center, the Public Policy Center and the Schlesinger Library all use different applications for individuals applying to be Radcliffe fellows.

Dunn said she hopes a common application will increase the number of applicants for Radcliffe fellowships and allow the Institute to better shape how each fellow spends her or his funding.

She said the directors of the four branches are in the process of "hammering out" the new application--which will be available online and will have a single due date.

"We're looking for this to be easier and more efficient," Dunn said. "This will give us internal consistency and coherence. We'll be making selections on a common standard."

In addition, fellowship funding will now come out of one Radcliffe fund, as opposed to having each branch fund its own fellows.

"We'll be more efficient and economical if we use money in one pool, as opposed to breaking the money up," Dunn said. "With a single process, we might find that we can have some shared fellowships. We want to put the right people in the right place."