Faust Sees ‘Long and Successful’ Term

Crimson staff writers Paras D. Bhayani and Claire M. Guehenno spoke with President-elect Drew Gilpin Faust via phone last night after the afternoon press conference announcing her selection. In the nine-minute interview, she offered thoughts on her predecessors, undergraduate education, and the origins of her first name.

THC: What lessons do you think can be learned from President Summers’ tenure and the problems he faced?

DGF: My feeling is that now—after nine months of Derek Bok—we have reinvigorated ourselves, we have a very powerful sense of purpose and engagement. I think the campus is in good spirits, and the Faculty is very committed on a variety of levels. And this means not only the FAS but the faculty across the University. I feel that we are well-poised moving forward to think about the future and not dwell on the past.

THC: If you had to pick one quality or aspect of President Summers’ tenure that you would like to emulate, what would that be?

DGF: His sharp analytic skills.

THC: Could you elaborate a little bit more on that?

DGF: Larry’s always been really good at identifying problems, analyzing problems. I felt in my interactions with him as a dean that I learned things in my conversations with him. He made me think harder and think better, and it behooves all of us to do that.

THC: How long do you see yourself serving in office?

DGF: At the press conference, Derek Bok said 30 years.

THC: Right, 30 or 40. Is that what you think—30 years?

DGF: I can’t say at this point how long I’m going to serve. I’ll just say I expect to have a long and successful term. But I also think it’s important for leadership at Harvard to change from time to time, so I think would be thinking more in terms of decades than centuries.

THC: Many of the alumni are still unhappy about what happened last year with President Summers’ forced resignation. It doesn’t seem that the Corporation does much outreach to alumni, and President Bok has openly said he’s not doing much outreach to donors. What do you plan on doing to bring back some of the alumni who are still disaffected with President Summers’ departure?

DGF: Fundraising has maintained a very high level and we don’t see dramatic changes. I think last year was the best fundraising year of all time at Harvard. Certainly those figures suggest that alumni remain very supportive and engaged with the University. I really look forward to interacting with alumni—it’s something I enjoy. There’s a lot of exciting things going on at Harvard that I want to tell them about. I know a lot of them already, and it will be fun to see them in my new role and be able to talk about more than just Radcliffe, and I look forward to meeting the ones I don’t know. I think this is going to be just a very high experience, and I don’t have any anticipations of bad outcomes or tensions at all.

THC: Have you had a chance to look at the final Gen. Ed. report?

DGF: I have.

THC: Do you have any impressions of it?

DGF: I think that the committee has made a really concerted effort to address many of the issues that were addressed by the Faculty from the discussions in the fall. You can see there’s been a lot of participation by faculty in the groups that were organized. I think there are important changes that have been made. The review committee listened hard and took to heart many of the criticisms and suggestions.

THC: President Bok has openly said he’s taken a hands-off approach to the curricular review, and he said that’s something he’s going to leave to the next president and the next dean of the faculty. What are you going to do personally over the next year or so to bring the review to a close?

DGF: I actually have been involved as a faculty member in the stages of the curricular review up until now. I think now it’s probably appropriate for me to back off. It’s the faculty’s business. The faculty is working on this review, and they’re very energized about it. I have great optimism about where it’s going, and I think it will be their decision and their involvement which will make it come to the best outcome.

THC: Have you had a chance to review the report by the task force on teaching and pedagogy which was led by Dean [Theda] Skocpol?

DGF: Yes.

THC: Do you have any impressions of that?

DGF: I think it’s excellent. I think there are a number of tangible suggestions that are in the process already of being implemented or could be implemented. I think it will also generate discussion. I’m very struck by the kind of imagination that it demonstrated in that report about ways to make us more conscious about our teaching and how to set up structured that will inspire people to be the best teachers that they can.

THC: One of the more radical things in that report was the idea of basing pay, or partially basing pay, on teaching quality. In principle is that something you support?

DGF: I think to say “basing pay on teaching quality” is a little bit overstated. What the report recommended is taking teaching into serious consideration when salaries are being set and I think the whole performance of the faculty members should be part of the considerations, and that teaching should certainly play a part in that.

THC: A couple years ago when the Faculty was in a bit of turmoil, President Summers offered you the deanship of the Faculty, and reports are that you turned it down. Can you tell us why?

DGF: I don’t want to say anything about conversations that happened between me and President Summers and that includes not confirming anything you just said.

THC: Why did you decide to change your name from Catharine to Drew?

DGF: I never changed it. I’m a southern child—I was to be called Drew. That was the understanding. There are lots of women in the South who get these male names. My father thought I should get a name that honored my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all of whom were named Catharine. So Catharine was put in front of my name Drew. I was never called Catharine; I was always called Drew. It was just a first name that I never used.

THC: Do you have any opinion on president Summers’ remarks on women in science at the NBER [National Bureau of Economic Research]?

DGF: I’d be happy to answer that one. I think women have the aptitude to do anything, and that includes being president of Harvard.

Thanks, and I look forward to talking to you soon again.