Curricular Review Dean Leaves Abruptly

Associate Dean of the College Jeffrey Wolcowitz, one of three top administrators who spent the past year guiding the College’s curricular review, is leaving his University Hall post just one week into the school year.

The abrupt departure of Wolcowitz, who had previously said he intended to see the review through to the end, is the latest in a series of administrative turnovers.

Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans will step down from her post—involuntarily—at the close of this academic year.

The announcement of Nathan’s ouster came just after Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) chief financial officer Cheryl Hoffman-Bray announced that she was leaving her job to take on an advisory role within the FAS administration.

And Secretary of the Faculty John Fox quietly left his post as secretary of the Faculty this fall, retreating to an upstairs office in University Hall to write a book on the history of the Faculty.

Wolcowitz, who was listed as an ex officio member of the curricular review’s committee on General Education, did not attend the committee’s first meeting last Tuesday, according to two members of the committee, who added that no explanation was given for Wolcowitz’s absence.

Wolcowitz declined comment on his departure yesterday.

An announcement from the FAS communications office obtained after a Crimson request yesterday said that Wolcowitz would “step back” from his work with the review “to devote his time to teaching.”

Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 would not comment on the specifics of Wolcowitz’s departure but praised his administrative accomplishments.

“Jeff Wolcowitz is a great colleague who has guided a large number of faculty deans in undergraduate education,” Gross wrote in an e-mail last night. “He did outstanding work on the curricular review last year, and I will continue to seek his advice on many aspects of College life.”

Wolcowitz has worked in University Hall since 1988, when he left his post as Senior Tutor of Dunster House and came to work under then-Dean of Undergraduate Education David Pilbeam.

As associate dean for undergraduate education, with oversight of undergraduate academic life, Wolcowitz saw the succession of three deans for undergraduate education, and watched over turnovers of other posts in University Hall.

When a restructuring of the College administration combined the positions of dean of undergraduate education and dean of the college, and Gross took over the joint position in summer 2003, Wolcowitz remained an associate dean of the College under Gross. Gross’ predecessor, former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68, was forced to step down in March of that year.

Wolcowitz stayed on as a fixture of the old regime in University Hall, but quickly became involved with plans for the College’s future. He took on many of the administrative duties of the curricular review as a member of the review’s steering committee since fall of 2003.

But when these duties began to take up much of Wolcowitz’s time, Gross tapped Wolcowitz last January to become the College’s chief academic planning officer and devote all his time to guiding the day-to-day affairs of the review, calling him the “logical choice” for the post.

Former freshman seminar director Elizabeth Doherty took over management of the review’s administrative end to free up Wolcowitz for his new responsibilities.

Wolcowitz, as the self-titled “manager” of the review, was also charged with writing last spring’s report outlining preliminary conclusions for the new curriculum.

Though Wolcowitz’s job description was confined to the review, he showed no sign of wanting to leave before or after the review’s completion.

He said last spring that he expected to continue to manage the review this year and would sit on one of the new coordinating committees.

“I’m not exactly sure what will happen to me [once the review is done], but I’m not particularly concerned,” Wolcowitz said last spring.

Wolcowitz—who once had committed nearly all the items in the College course catalog to memory—earned the respect of many of his colleagues.

“He is really one of the only people around who sees the whole picture,” former Dean of Undergraduate Education William Mills Todd III said last spring.

Wolcowitz, a senior lecturer in economics who will continue to teach Economics 1010a, “Microeconomic Theory” this semester, studied economics in graduate school at Harvard with University President Lawrence H. Summers.

Summers declined comment through a spokeswoman yesterday.

Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby, who is Gross’ boss, did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. O’Brien can be reached at robrien@fas.harvard.edu.