Dean Evelynn Hammonds
Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, and Professor of African and African American Studies
Academic Year 2009-2010

Admissions and Financial Aid

For the first time in Harvard’s history, over 30,000 students applied to Harvard College, leading to an admission rate of 6.9 percent for the Class of 2014. Letters of admission were sent on April 1 to 2,110 of the 30,489 applicants. Over 60 percent of the admitted students will receive need-based scholarships averaging $40,000, benefitting from a record $158 million in financial aid. Families with students on scholarship are expected to contribute an average of $11,500 annually toward the cost of a Harvard education.

Applications to Harvard have doubled since 1994. About half of this increase has occurred over the last five years as the University implemented a series of financial aid initiatives to ensure that a Harvard education remains accessible and affordable to the best students regardless of economic background.

In December 2007, Harvard announced a sweeping change in financial aid for middle and upper-middle income families. Families with incomes up to $180,000 a year and typical assets are now asked to contribute from zero to 10 percent of their income. Home equity is removed from financial aid calculations and loans have been eliminated for all students. For the first time, over 25 percent of admitted students are eligible for the original Harvard Financial Aid Initiative introduced in 2004, which asks for no parental contribution from those with annual incomes under $60,000 and reduces contributions from families with incomes of $60,000 to $80,000. This year’s new level – 25.5 percent – represents a modest increase compared to last year, and 33 percent above the benchmark level at the start of the program in 2004.

Undergraduate Education

The new Program in General Education, or “Gen Ed,” officially launched in the fall of 2009, making the entering Class of 2013 the first to matriculate under the new requirements. The new curriculum includes offerings in eight categories: aesthetic and interpretive understanding, culture and belief, empirical and mathematical reasoning, ethical reasoning, the science of living systems, the science of the physical universe, societies of the world, and the United States in the world.

With more than 300 approved courses, the program provides students with a wide range of possibilities for fulfilling their Gen Ed requirements. The Gen Ed curriculum prizes pedagogical experimentation and the program is now home to some of the most interesting and innovative courses in the undergraduate curriculum. Faculty have embraced the opportunity to integrate media and technology in the classroom and in assignments, to team teach across divisional lines, to create new and exciting hands-on learning opportunities, and to experiment with interactive lectures and unconventional sections. The Gen Ed program introduced the practice of providing course trailers, short videos that allow students to preview the course, a practice that has now spread beyond the confines of Gen Ed. The course trailers provide a sampling of some of the innovative approaches taken by faculty teaching in the program.

To help foster course development for this new program, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, under the leadership of Dean Allan Brandt, launched a new set of Graduate Seminars in General Education (GSGE) in 2008-09. GSGEs engage graduate students with faculty in the intellectual and pedagogical challenges of developing undergraduate courses, discussing issues of syllabus and assignment design along with the methodological and scholarly content of the field. By 2010-11, some thirty GSGEs will have been offered; more than a third have already produced new Gen Ed courses.

Concentrations and Secondary Fields

Figure 1. Number of concentrators in each division over time

Figure 1 tracks the numbers of undergraduate concentrators by division over the past ten years. Numbers for 2009-10 confirm the trends seen in recent years, with a continued slight decrease in students choosing social science concentrations and small increase in the sciences. Not shown in Figure 1, but of note nonetheless, is the number of students choosing to pursue secondary fields. Since the introduction of secondary fields in 2006 the number of students pursuing this option has risen to just under 40% of the graduating class. In June 2009, 532 seniors graduated with a secondary field; in May 2010, 606 seniors pursued this option. 

Advising

Two of the main programs of the Advising Program Office – freshmen and sophomore advising – continue to draw very positive reviews from students. Similarly, the fourth annual Advising Fortnight was very well received, facilitating more than 3,000 conversations between freshmen and representatives of all undergraduate concentrations. More than 60 events were offered during the two weeks, such as panel discussions describing differences among concentrations, which helped students distinguish between subject areas and provided forums for questions.

In August 2010, Adela Penagos, an assistant dean at the University of Notre Dame, was named the new director of the Advising Programs Office. Penagos began her tenure on September 1. Her experience working with a diverse student body—including her previous role as coordinator of multicultural student programs and services at Notre Dame—will be a strong asset to the APO.

Freshmen Dean’s Office

The Freshmen Dean’s Office (FDO) completed a very successful revision of its pre-orientation and opening days programs in response to the calendar change. The first ever freshmen convocation replaced the standard opening exercises with a formal ceremony meant to mirror the pomp and circumstance of Commencement. In addition to a welcome from Harvard’s president and Lincoln Professor of History, Drew Faust, the ceremony included remarks from Evelynn M. Hammonds, Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies and dean of Harvard College; and Michael D. Smith, John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The event included music from the Kuumba Singers, the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, as well as an invocation by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church. The freshmen were also serenaded by the Harvard Band, which performed “Fanfare for the Class of 2013,” an original composition written for the event by band member Hannah Horowitz ’11.

The FDO’s “Get Involved” program, a new event held over Labor Day weekend, was hosted by many of the 400 student organizations on campus and featured introductory meetings and many late-night activities for incoming freshmen.

Administration

Appointment of Dean for Administration

On February 10, 2010, D. E. Lorraine Sterritt was appointed Harvard College dean for administration. She succeeds Georgene B. Herschbach, who retired from role after nearly three decades of service to Harvard. Sterritt returned to Harvard after having served, from 1996–2000, as an assistant dean of freshmen and associate dean of freshmen for academic affairs in the Freshman Dean’s Office, and as lecturer in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. 

As Harvard College dean for administration, Sterrit leads the College’s administrative functions and is a key member of College Dean Evelynn Hammond’s senior leadership team. Working closely with the FAS Dean for Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwan and other administrative deans in the FAS, Sterrit has the responsibility for financial and business planning, strategic management, and service coordination in support of the undergraduate experience.  She collaborates with senior administrators, faculty, and operational managers within the College and across the University to promote the successful integration of academic, residential, and extracurricular life in the College.

Office Integrations

In July of 2009, Harvard College created a new Office of Student Life through the merger of the former Office of Student Activities and the Office of Residential Life. Suzy Nelson, previously the Dean of Residential Life, was appointed as the new Dean of Student Life. This reorganization follows the retirement of Judith Kidd, Associate Dean of Student Life and Activities, who had served in a number of roles at Harvard College since 1996. During the year, the new Office of Student Life oversaw the creation of a parents website, launched two committees to examine the staffing and financing models of the Houses, and implemented a new house information management system to administer housing assignments, adviser matching, term billing, and communications.

Harvard College also reintegrated the Office of International Programs, the Office of Career Services, and the Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives. The Office of Careers, Research, and International Opportunities, under the direction of Robin Mount, will pursue a more holistic approach to organizing opportunities in international study, public service, and research.

House Masters

In February of 2010, James L. Cavallaro, clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School (HLS) and executive director of the HLS Human Rights Program, and his wife, Nadejda Marques, were appointed interim master and co-master of Harvard College’s Currier House for the 2010-11 academic year. In March, Dean Hammonds appointed new House Masters for Eliot, Cabot and Mather Houses. Rakesh Khurana, the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School, and his wife, Stephanie, became master and co-master of Cabot House. Douglas Melton, the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences and a co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and Gail O’Keefe assumed those roles at Eliot House, while Christie McDonald, the Smith Professor of French Language and Literature and professor of comparative literature in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and Michael David Rosengarten will oversee Mather House.