Altered Offerings Greet Freshmen

With Advising Fortnight nearly halfway over, Harvard freshman are now officially on the path to picking a concentration. But for the class of 2012, the choices available are a little different from years past—life sciences majors will find themselves with a new concentration to consider, while potential Classics concentrators will enjoy reduced requirements.

Human Development and Regenerative Biology, approved by the Faculty Council last November, is the newest undergraduate concentration. A part of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, HDRB which will become Harvard’s ninth undergraduate concentration in the life sciences and will be available beginning in the fall of 2009.

The Classics department has also updated concentration requirements with its recently-adopted reforms that include eliminating general exams and having fewer language requirements.

For department administrators, the key challenge may be to market these new options in a way that makes their fields both attractive and understandable for potential concentrators.

HDRB representatives were present at the Advising Fortnight kickoff dinner in Annenberg Hall on April 6 to inform current freshmen about the new concentration. They will also participate in a Life Sciences Open House on April 13 as well as a panel discussion with Life Sciences Concentration Advisors on April 15.

Elias A. Shaaya ’12, who is a Crimson editorial editor, said that he is considering concentrating in HDRB after learning more about the concentration during the Advising Fortnight kickoff.

“I’ve always been interested in cell development,” he said, “And after talking to [William J. Anderson, SCRB’s undergraduate curriculum manager], I found it was a very well planned-out concentration. That got me to be more interested in it.”

Helal Syed ’11, currently a Molecular and Cell Biology concentrator, said he hopes to transfer into HDRB next fall, although his plans are not yet certain.

“The transfer shouldn’t be that hard,” he said. “Many of the classes I’ve taken will count for concentration credit because they’ve already been offering classes through the department that will count towards HDRB, like ones on stem cell biology.”

The Classics Department has yet to make formal efforts to communicate news about the concentration requirement changes, as they are still waiting for official approval from the Educational Policy Committee, said department chair John M. Duffy. Veronica R. Koven-Matasy ’10, the Junior class representative for the Classics department, however, has been updating her fellow concentrators about these reforms via e-mail.

Athena L.M. Lao ’12, a freshman who plans to concentrate in Classics, said that she learned about the upcoming changes through the Crimson and her TFs.

“When the changes they have in mind are set in stone, I think it’s important they communicate them so people know what they’re getting into,” Lao said.

Duffy said that he hopes that the changes will encourage freshmen to become Classics concentrators. But neither Lao nor Christopher J. McCarthy ’12, another prospective Classics concentrator, said these changes had any effect on their decision.

“This is what I wanted to do for a while, and so the nuts and bolts of it are not much of a concern,” McCarthy said.

Although Koven-Matasy remains optimistic, she does not think the new requirements will vastly change freshmen decisions.

“There aren’t a lot of people on the fence about Classics,” Koven-Matasy said, noting, though, that these changes will make it easier for people to enter the concentration at a later date.

—Staff writer Wendy H. Chang can be reached at whchang@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Rachel A. Stark can be reached at rstark@fas.harvard.edu.