Student Named New ‘Fun Czar’

Fun has a new face in the Harvard administration.

Justin H. Haan ’05 was named the new Campus Life Fellow in the Harvard University Management Fellowship Program yesterday, according to a report from the Office of Student Activities (OSA). He will take over from Zac A. Corker ’04.

After more than a month of deliberation, Haan, who is also a Crimson editor, was selected by the OSA from a competitive pool of 12 senior applicants. He will officially assume his post July 5.

The post, based on the position of special assistant to the dean for social programming that Corker now holds, is the first and only Management Fellowship to be offered within the College and aims to provide students with resources to execute their ideas for social events.

“[The position] will still have at its core the idea that Justin will work with social groups to bring their ideas into fruition and serve as a liaison to the administration,” Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II said.

As director of the Harvard Concert Commission, Haan was instrumental in bringing acts like Busta Rhymes and Bob Dylan to campus.

McLoughlin said that this experience would be a significant asset for Haan as he undertakes planning of large-scale campus social events.

Haan says he will help students navigate through bureaucratic red tape and aims to standardize procedures and catalog important information relevant to event planning.

The post hinges on the idea that improving social life, in academic pursuits, is an integral aspect of maximizing the college experience, Corker said.

“Upon graduation, Justin will continue to fight the good fight to ensure that the Harvard experience is about more than term-papers and eighty-hour work weeks,” Corker wrote in an e-mail. “If that’s all we were about then we’d be MIT!”

Haan said that he plans to work with the prefect program to put more emphasis on the freshman experience, saying that first years lack the benefit of social perks offered by House life and social committees.

Working throughout the summer will give Haan a head start in preparing for and improving on events such as Freshman Orientation and the student activities fair, Corker said.

Haan also anticipates looking into the relationships other universities have with their social groups, as well as meeting with visiting administrators and students this summer.

He added that Harvard’s traditionally “inward-looking” tendency can be ameliorated by learning from the role other schools take in enhancing their students’ social lives.

Having already assisted Corker in planning events like Pub Night, Haan proposed the creation of a centralized, web-based calendar of events that will effectively publicize campus happenings.

Prior to his selection, Haan underwent three rounds of interviews, in which he presented his platform of proposed events in front of administrators and representatives from the Undergraduate Council.

“We had a terrific pool of applicants to choose among and the selection was very difficult,” Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd said in a statement. “It is really exciting to see so many seniors who are interested in working in higher education in general, and student life in particular.”

Haan said that he wants to be visible and approachable in his position, adding that he is considering relocating his office to a more accessible location.

“Now is the time for students to start talking to Justin,” McLoughlin said. “He’s ready, he’s listening.”