Dean Stephen Kosslyn
John Lindsley Professor of Psychology in Memory of William James
Academic Year 2009-2010 

Activities-Based Learning

In AY2009-10, the Division developed a pilot to test a new "Activities-Based Learning" program, ABL-91r, in four departments: Anthropology, Government, History of Science, and Sociology. This is two-year experiment will launch in the fall of 2010, to be assessed at the end of AY2010-11.

Anthropology Reorganization

On July 1, 2009, the Department of Anthropology was reorganized with a governance structure that increased the interactions of the Archaeology and Social Anthropology programs and stimulated cross-fertilization, most notably through the creation of a new curriculum committee.  The administrative staff of the department was also reconfigured to reflect the new departmental structure.

New Secondary Fields

Two new secondary fields were instituted by the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) in Gender and Sexuality Studies and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Studies.

Revised Teaching Loads

Each department filled in a detailed template that indicated how courses are allocated and how much each faculty member teaches. Each department presented this material to the chairs of the other departments at the regular meetings of the Social Science Council (attended by chairs and their Department Administrators), which engendered stimulating discussion. At the end of this exercise, a new set of teaching load guidelines were produced, which have since been widely discussed and implementation is planned for next year.

Administrative Review

An administrative review was conducted in both the Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities divisions with the goal of ensuring sustainable, effective and efficient administrative structures, and of providing more robust career development and mobility for staff. Participants included fifty-three senior administrators from units within both divisions (i.e., all department administrators and center executive directors). 

Data collection for the review included quantitative data via survey distributed to all administrators, qualitative data gathered through one-on-one interviews with all administrators, and feedback gathered during a large group brainstorming meeting.

Recommendations resulting from the review include, for example, efforts to engage faculty in the evaluation of services, further evaluating the utility of shared resource centers, new tools and processes to support faculty searches, and ways to build community.

Actions in support of these recommendations are planned for the coming academic year.  In addition, we will continue our evaluation of the Division’s “Administrative Support Group”(ASG), a two-year pilot program initiated by two of the Division’s departments that just completed its first full year of operation.  The ASG is an administrative service model that offers participating departments high-level support in financial administration, IT/web design, and faculty assistance. The ASG now resides under the administrative umbrella of the Social Science division and recently added a third department to its portfolio of clients. The lessons learned from this pilot program will be analyzed and shared for potential application more broadly.

Divisional Events

• 4 November 2009: Digital Social Science Fair
• 3 December 2009: “Dean’s Conversation: Changing Education at Harvard: What 20 Years of Research Tells Us About Effective Teaching and Advising” (moderated by Dean Stephen Kosslyn, with Professors Eric Mazur and Richard Light). As with all Dean's Conversations, the formal event was followed by an informal dinner hosted by Dean Kosslyn for participants and invited colleagues from across Harvard.
• 11 February 2010: “Dean’s Conversation: Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis” (moderated by Professor John Campbell with Professors Jeremy Stein, Kenneth Rogoff, and Niall Ferguson)
• 26 - 27 March 2010: Workshop on “Peace in the Middle East” (organized with Sir Ronald Cohen)
• 10 April 2010 – June 2010: “Hard Problems in Social Science” symposium and ongoing “web event” (funded by the Indira Foundation)
• 26 April 2010: A reception and panel discussion on “What Makes a Life Significant?” in memory of the 100th anniversary of the death of William James
• 26 April 2010: A panel discussion (with 7 of the 8 department chairs, moderated by Dean Stephen Kosslyn) for admitted students and their families: "Social Science at Harvard – Best in the World”