The Year Ahead

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to a new academic year.

The start of the fall semester always brings a sense of renewal. As I watch the Yard fill with students and our community return, I am reminded of what anchors us: the pursuit of knowledge, a belief in the transformational power of education, and a shared commitment to our academic mission.

While aspects of this first week feel familiar, in many ways it is quite different. We are operating in a time of real challenge and uncertainty. I want to recognize the tremendous work that faculty and staff have done to prepare for the academic year and ensure our students are welcomed into an environment that is intellectually rigorous, supportive, and full of possibility. It’s a collective effort, and it matters.

In the FAS, we are meeting this moment together with clear priorities and steady action. Thanks to the work of colleagues across the community, our early efforts have already placed us on stronger footing as a School. This summer, we took several important steps forward. Following the recommendations of the Research Continuity Committee, we launched Research Continuity Funding to help faculty who have lost research funding transition to new sources of support. The faculty-led Resources Committee has been assessing our financial position and identifying opportunities to strengthen the long-term sustainability of our academic mission. The Task Force on Workforce Planning has been engaging faculty and staff across the FAS and Harvard to identify ways to reimagine our administrative model to better support teaching and research—exploring opportunities to increase collaboration and efficiency while reducing bureaucracy and duplication.

This is what progress looks like: aligning resources with mission, planning responsibly for the long term, and drawing on the insights and expertise of our community.

While this work calls on us to embrace change, my core conviction is that Harvard must remain a place where bold ideas take shape, where new directions take root, and where faculty, students, researchers, and staff are empowered to do their most ambitious work. That spirit of imagination, experimentation, and purpose is central to who we are, and it is what will carry us forward.

As an evolutionary biologist, I have seen how environmental challenges do not guarantee change but create conditions where adaptation, sometimes even rapid adaptation, can occur. But, unlike nature, we have the power to choose our path – to adapt with intention – and to emerge stronger.

Thank you for your partnership; it is our source of strength. I look forward to the year ahead with determination and optimism.

Warmly,

Hopi

Hopi Hoekstra
Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
C. Y. Chan Professor of Arts and Sciences
Xiaomeng Tong and Yu Chen Professor of Life Sciences