It is with genuine excitement and a sense of new possibility that I write to announce the appointment of Sheree Ohen as the inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, starting September 28.
Dean Ohen is currently the Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion at Clark University where she provides strategic direction in creating a campus climate that is welcoming, inclusive, respectful, and free from bias and harassment. A highly principled leader, Sheree is known...
As we look ahead to the start of a fall semester unlike any other, we confront the realization that we are now living history in the making. This moment has been shaped by crises old and new, as one pandemic has collided with another. The COVID-19 pandemic is a truly singular event; a public health threat that has spared no part of our academic enterprise from disruption, forcing us to reimagine everything from undergraduate residential life to the daily activities of our labs and libraries. Meanwhile, a second pandemic is unfolding, one...
On July 6, we announced our plan to invite up to 40% of our undergraduates to campus for the fall semester. We also described a number of public health practices and campus adaptations that this plan would require in order to ensure the health and safety of our community while also protecting our academic enterprise. With less than a month to go before the start of the fall term, I am writing today to share an update on our implementation of those plans and our approach to the ongoing management of our pandemic-adapted environment.... Read more about Looking Ahead to Fall
We are preparing for a fall semester unlike any we have previously encountered. Over the past several months, we have engaged hundreds of colleagues in considering how best to return to campus, with the health and safety of our community as our primary consideration. Now, as our planning goes into practice, we need your help to implement new procedures.... Read more about Undergraduate Access to Campus
Shortly after Monday’s announcement about our plans for the fall semester, we learned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced new regulations that imperil the lives and academic progress of our international students and scholars. These new guidelines directly undermine the careful planning and approach we have taken for fall, specifically our plans to deliver all graduate and... Read more about Support for our International Students and Scholars
On June 15, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences provided an interim report on fall planning efforts that outlined three possible pathways for how we might return students to campus. After careful deliberation, and informed by extensive input from our community, we write today to announce our...
It is with great excitement that I write to announce that Dr. Nancy Coleman has been named the next Dean of the Division of Continuing Education. She will assume the role on July 13, 2020.
Nancy is an accomplished and nationally recognized leader in professional, continuing, and online learning who leads with a passion for student success and a deep commitment to expanding access and opportunities for non-traditional...
At the end of May, I announced that the FAS had launched an extensive scenario planning process to develop a range of potential options for how to bring students and scholarship back to campus, safely. We are on track to make a final decision about fall plans by July. Today, I am writing to provide an interim update to our community on the scenarios (or “pathways”)...
I am writing to share the results of the first-ever study of Harvard’s Department of Athletics. As we approach the Department’s centennial anniversary in 2026, we sought to gain insights that would help answer a fundamental question—how can Harvard build on a century of success to continue to set the standard for collegiate athletics for the next hundred years? To that end, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences commissioned the organizational research firm Mercer to study the culture of athletics at Harvard and document the experience of our student-athletes...
With last Thursday’s Commencement, we reached the end of an historic year, unlike any we have experienced before, and I am confronted with a number of strong emotions. Foremost among them is a deep sense of pride in all that our community has accomplished together this year. The Class of 2020 enters a world of significant uncertainty. But their time here at Harvard—and the education they received—has armed them for what is to come, helping them to find new ways to lead as they navigate a changed world with no road map to guide them. I am hopeful about the... Read more about An Update on FAS Finances
