Creating Dynamic Structures
Led by the Division of Arts & Humanities
During the 2022 fall term, Dean Robin Kelsey visited all 21 Departments and Programs in the Division to discuss the strategic planning efforts and gather faculty input directly. Also in the fall, based on input from broad-scale outreach in spring 2022, individual study groups met regularly to dive deeply into the critical topics of (1) Administrative Support, (2) Graduate Programs, (3) Making, (4) Regions, Languages and Cultural Histories, and (5) Undergraduate Concentrations and Secondary Fields. The chair of each study group visited with the Strategic Planning Committee to further inform deliberations and the study groups convened together in a retreat to discuss their proposals in December 2022.
During the 2023 spring semester, the Strategic Planning Committee met regularly to consider the recommendations of the study group and formulated specific proposals for the future of the division. Key proposals have been shared with our community as a document on the A&H website and discussed with the division faculty in a series of Faculty Discussion Group meetings. Implementation of certain proposals to bolster administrative support for our departments and programs has begun. Other proposals are subject to revision, based on these conversations, which will continue in the fall of 2023.
For more information, visit the Arts & Humanities Strategic Planning Process page or reach out to arts-hum@fas.harvard.edu.
Aligning Our Academic Communities
Led by the Division of Social Science
Based on input from department and Center faculty and administrative leadership, over the course of fall 2022 the DoSS Centers & Departments Steering Committee developed a set of shared priorities for DoSS Centers:
- Support Harvard faculty members in the convening of broad intellectual communities and the creation of new knowledge
- Enrich Harvard undergraduate and graduate student learning and research opportunities
- Lead interdisciplinary and cross-cultural engagement at local, national, regional, and global levels
The Steering Committee identified three areas of opportunity to begin acting on in spring 2023, with the broad goal of further aligning the divisions Centers and Departments in support of the core research and teaching mission: (1) developing structured mechanisms for introducing new faculty to Centers, (2) detailing and more broadly communicating graduate student funding opportunities provided by Centers, and (3) developing a mechanism for sharing information about departmental faculty searches with Centers.
For more information, visit the Social Sciences Strategic Planning page or reach out to socsci@fas.harvard.edu.
Shared Intellectual Inquiry
Led by the Division of Science
In Fall 2022, the Division sought feedback from the Science community on its proposal for a Shared Intellectual Inquiry Program (SIIP). As proposed, the SIIP would support term-limited intellectual interdisciplinary projects to support faculty interest and research, development of new curricular areas, and to nurture the evolution of new areas of scholarly inquiry across the FAS. SIIP projects would receive funding, space access, and centralized administrative support. In spring 2023, the focus will be to expand engagement beyond Science and across the FAS, with a goal of further refining the program proposal and ensuring its design and implementation will enable nimble intellectual inquiry.
For more information, visit the Division of Science’s Shared Intellectual Inquiry Program Strategic Planning page or reach out to Erin Collins, Divisional Administrator, at erin_collins@fas.harvard.edu.