Ed School Dean To Step Down

After only three years at the helm of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education (GSE), Dean Ellen Condliffe Lagemann announced that she will step down at the end of the semester.

Lagemann—whose last five predecessors each served at least eight years—made her announcement in an e-mail to GSE students, faculty, and staff at about 12:40 p.m. yesterday.

After this afternoon’s regularly scheduled GSE faculty meeting, several professors said they were surprised by Lagemann’s announcement.

“The news is new to everyone today,” GSE spokesman Michael Rodman said.

Five of the last six deans of Harvard faculties to step down have announced their decisions at least six months prior to their departure. Lagemann will step down in three months.

Lagemann said that the timing of her announcement makes sense, adding that while she didn’t know the details of other Harvard deans’ departures, her “impression is that March and April is when deans usually step down.”

“You don’t want to be a lame duck for a long period of time,” she said. “You don’t want to do it too precipitously because you want your faculty to make a smooth transition.”

Lagemann, who is the Warren Professor of the History of American Education, said that her decision was based on her desire “to return to writing history.”

Lagemann said she will return to the classroom full-time after taking a one-year sabbatical to write a history book that uses the life of one educator to look at the decline of humanities in education research.

“Frankly, this is a very personal decision,” Lagemann said. “It’s about how I want to spend my life.”

Eliot Professor of Education John B. Willett said after the meeting that the transition from teaching to administration can be difficult.

“We’re scholars and teachers and because an administrative role is different you’ve got to learn a new job,” he said. “It’s tough, but it’s a growth experience.”

Willett served as GSE academic dean for two years and acting GSE dean for one year before returning to the classroom full-time.

Lagemann added that the Allston planning process also factored into her decision to step down. The GSE is slated to move across the Charles River to the University’s new campus in Allston.

“Allston planning is heating up,” Lagemann said. “The person who is in this job after this year will need to stay until Allston gets planned, and that’s longer than I’d want to stay.”

Although she wrote in her e-mail announcement that she steps down with “considerable reluctance,” she added that she accepted the deanship in the spring of 2002 “with great trepidation.”

“I never wanted to be a Dean,” she wrote.

Willett said that Summers persuaded Lagemann to take the position.

Lagemann said she left yesterday’s faculty meeting 25 minutes early to discuss public relations strategy with University Provost Steven E. Hyman. On her way out, Rodman shielded her from a photographer.

In a statement, University President Lawrence H. Summers wrote that the search for Lagemann’s successor would start immediately. Summers declined to comment beyond his letter yesterday.

Lagemann said that she plans to work very closely with Summers, Hyman, and other administrators in Mass. Hall to select the new dean. She said that she also plans to involve the GSE Faculty in the search.

Willett said he is confident that Summers will conduct a collaborative search.

“The last time we went through this, Larry was very consultative with us, much more than we had expected,” he said.

Hyman said yesterday it was “premature” to discuss what the search committee will seek in a new dean.

Willett added that GSE faculty are now discussing who could serve as interim dean if the dean search is not completed by Lagemann’s departure in June.

“I’m sure there are several people on our senior faculty that could easily do the job, including the current academic dean,” he said.

Professor of Education and Social Policy Gary Orfield agreed that there are plenty of qualified GSE faculty members to fill the administrative post. But he said that convincing professors to take the position would be a “hard sell.”

“The University is in a crisis right now,” Orfield said. “Finding someone who wants to take the deanship under difficult circumstances is going to be tough.”

Lagemann said that as dean, her main achievements were to strengthen the school’s curriculum and raise “a lot of money.”

Willett agreed that Lagemann was crucial in restoring financial grounding.

“She came into the school when costs were rising and our income was falling,” Willett said. “She replaced senior administration and had the place audited.”

Summers and Lagemann have also stated their desire to use the GSE’s resources to improve American public education.

“Ellen deserves enormous administrative credit for overhauling the school,” Hyman said. “I have nothing but praise for Ellen’s stewardship.”

Many other GSE faculty declined to comment yesterday.

—Joshua P. Rogers contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Evan H. Jacobs can be reached at ehjacobs@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Sarah E.F. Milov can be reached at milov@fas.harvard.edu.