DoSS Centers & Departments Steering Committee
Chair
Lawrence Bobo, Dean of Social Science; W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences
Members
- Sidney Chalhoub, David and Peggy Rockefeller Professor of History and of African and African American Studies; Chair of the History Department [joined in AY23]
- Ryan Enos, Professor of Government; Director of the Center for American Political Studies
- Brian Farrell, Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America; Professor of Biology (former director of DRCLAS)
- Erez Manela, Professor of History; Acting Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs [joined in AY23]
- Elaine Papoulias, Executive Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies
- James Robson, James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; William Fung Director of the Asia Center
- Damari Rosado, Executive Director of the Economics Department
- Martha Whitehead, Vice President for the Harvard Library; University Librarian; Roy E. Larsen Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Ex Officio
- Bev Beatty, Administrative Dean of Social Science
- Valerie Beilenson, Senior Project Manager, FAS Dean’s Office
- Mark Elliott, Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History; Vice Provost of International Affairs
- Jennifer Shephard, Special Initiatives Program Manager, DoSS
Past Members
- Ann Blair, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor; Chair of the History Department [AY22]
- Melani Cammett, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs; Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs [AY22]
- Mary Waters, PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences; John L. Loeb Professor of Sociology (former chair of Sociology) [AY22]
Committee’s Charge, Spring 2022
- Deepen outreach to Departments and Centers to establish and document:
- A shared understanding of the role of Departments and Centers in advancing the FAS’s core research and teaching mission
- Structures or processes that are working well and position us for future success
- Structures or processes that are working less well, along with possible solutions
- Principles to drive decision-making re the allocation of resources, which should ensure:
- Equitable & effective support of faculty research, particularly innovative & interdisciplinary efforts
- Equitable & effective support of graduate & undergraduate learning inside & outside the classroom
- Appropriate support of academic leadership
- Financial sustainability and proper accounting of costs, including space
- Develop recommendations for FY23 pilot projects based on input from outreach efforts
FSG Report Recommendations
The committee’s charge arises from the FSG report, which advised that the academic divisions and SEAS create robust, transparent mechanisms to engage faculty leaders of research centers directly in:
- The strategic planning process on the future of FAS academic structures
- Interdisciplinary program building and faculty hiring
- Academic planning to identify and support shared academic priorities and needs
- More formal coordination with GSAS and Harvard College in funding student programs and support
- Partnering with Director of Endowment Funds to review terms to identify opportunities for restricted funds to be used more broadly to support shared academic priorities
- Attaining greater administrative efficiency and reducing overhead perhaps through shared service units offering specialized support for common needs
- Engaging Centers in becoming financially sustainable, to include fully covering their total space costs with local funds
- Identifying opportunities to better support faculty directors, given their many other time-consuming responsibilities on campus and in the profession
DoSS Community Engagement
There will be plenty of opportunities for DoSS community members to contribute to the planning process via various mechanisms from surveys to small group discussions and more. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to send thoughts, concerns, and questions to the Divisional office at socsci@fas.harvard.edu.