FAS Faculty Meeting (March 3, 2026)

The future of undergraduate education was the focus of the March Faculty Meeting with rich presentations and discussions about proposals related to a new grading policy and a new interdisciplinary climate concentration.

Before taking up the aforementioned topics, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Hopi Hoekstra shared an update on the alumni challenge to fundraise for new endowed Ph.D. fellowships. Announced a mere one month earlier, the Research Accelerator Challenge has already raised $64 million of the $100 million target. Hoekstra also noted plans to convene a new advisory committee on Campus Use and Operations this spring.

Harvard College Dean of Undergraduate Education Amanda Claybaugh presented a proposal on behalf of the Standing Committee on Undergraduate Educational Policy (EPC) that would: 

  • use average percentile rank (APR) instead of average grade (GPA) to quantify student performance for honors;
  • cap the number of A grades to no more than 20 percent plus 4 undergraduates in a course, with no limit to A- or other letter grades;
  • and allow instructors to opt out of the limit on A grades with SAT/UNSAT grading. 

If the proposal passes, a review would occur after three years.

EPC members Stuart Schieber, James O. Welch, Jr., and Virginia B. Welch Professor of Computer Science, and Alisha Holland, Gates Professor of Developing Societies, gave context to the proposal, which resulted from 18 months of study. One of the most talked-about changes – the limit on A grades – recognizes the existing Harvard College Student Handbook definition of this grade as one of “extraordinary distinction.” “All things being equal, this change would result in about 35% straight A grades; about 60% of courses already satisfy this condition; and we had a distribution like this as recently as 2011,” Schieber noted.

Added Holland: “We think of the benefits in terms of solidarity and transparency. Informal exhortations to tighten grades often produce small, temporary, and uneven effects. Those most vulnerable among us — junior faculty, non-ladder faculty, women and minorities— best understand the costs of trying to tighten grades alone.  A cap binds us all equally and makes expectations clear across instructors, courses, and departments.  And crucially, it lets us communicate this policy to employers and admissions officers. A coordinated, visible shift is better for instructors and students.”

During the discussion portion of the meeting, which was moved from University Hall to the Science Center given the robust faculty engagement, Hoekstra heard from nearly a dozen faculty sharing a range of responses, from support to skepticism. Interest was also expressed in the possibility of adding an Honors ranking for the SAT/UNSAT option. Hoekstra said further discussion of the proposal would take place at the April Meeting of the Faculty. The faculty approved a motion that, when a vote on grading takes place, it will be taken by email ballot sent to all voting members.

Claybaugh returned to the podium to introduce a second EPC proposal – the establishment of a new concentration Energy, Climate and the Environment (ENCE). Lene V. Hau, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics, and Robin Kelsey, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography in the History of Art and Architecture, described the track of learning as one long and deeply desired by students and that would engage all three FAS divisions as well as SEAS. The proposed concentration will be voted on at the April Faculty meeting.

David Reich, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology in the FAS and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, presented on his pioneering work in the field of ancient DNA research. By way of introducing Reich, Hoekstra said: “Ancient DNA reveals a story defined not by isolation but by movement – waves of migration, encounters among populations and continual exchange across continents. The human story, it turns out, is dynamic, surprising and far more interconnected that was once believed.”

“David’s work has reshaped conversations about the origins of languages, the peopling of continents, and the sometimes intimate relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans,” she added.

Earlier in the meeting, Memorial Minutes were read for Thomas Noel Bisson, Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History, Emeritus.

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