Office for Academic Affairs
About Our Team
The Office for Academic Affairs (OAA) brings together Faculty Affairs, including the Department Services Team and the Researcher Affairs Team, and FAS Institutional Research into a single home base of support for faculty and researchers across the FAS. OAA advises on appointments, promotions, professional development, leaves, and retirement. Together, these teams support all FAS academic departments, centers, and divisions, including the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Faculty Affairs and Institutional Research are already operational. The Researcher Affairs Team and the Department Services Team expect to be fully operational in mid-October. Until then, colleagues should continue working with their usual contacts.
Our Core Services
- Advising on and processing faculty appointments, promotions, and reappointments
- Managing faculty recruitment and retention
- Advising on faculty professional development, retirement, and other support of academic appointees
- Supporting leaves for ladder and senior non-ladder faculty
- Managing the full lifecycle of researcher appointments (new hires, reappointments, reclassifications, and promotions) — for SEAS research appointments, continue to contact the SEAS Office for Faculty Affairs
- Coordinating researcher background screening with the Office for Research and Academic Compliance
- Providing end-to-end administrative support for ladder and senior non-ladder faculty hiring and reviews, including dossier preparation, teaching charts, I-9 processing, and Aurora data entry
- Providing administrative onboarding support for non-ladder faculty appointments, including offer letter distribution, I-9 processing, and Aurora data entry
- Developing policies, orientations, trainings, and handbooks to support faculty and researcher life
- Coordinating faculty and researcher visa requests with the Harvard International Office (HIO)
- Coordinating with Global Support Services when hiring a researcher or faculty member based overseas
- Providing data and analytic support, including survey administration and analysis, to Divisional, College, GSAS, and FAS leadership
- Providing community support for non-discrimination (including Title IX) and anti-bullying
- Managing labor relations for the Harvard Academic Workers union
- Providing support for the FAS Standing Committee on Professional Conduct (CPC), responsible for review of allegations of research misconduct and other research integrity matters
Related Resources
A few common requests fall outside the Office for Academic Affairs, but here's how to find help, where applicable:
- TA, TF, RA, or visiting undergraduate/graduate student research appointments
- Lecturers, Preceptors, College Fellows, Visiting faculty, and researcher leaves of absence: handled by FAS HR for Divisional appointments
- Costing changes when researcher salary is charged to a different funding source: handled by the research portfolio managers in FORA
- Academic appointments primarily in SEAS: go to the SEAS Office for Faculty Affairs
How to Work With Us
Colleagues can email the OAA team directly or continue working with their usual department/center or OAA contact until intake forms for researcher appointments are ready in mid-October. Standard turnaround times and seasonal deadlines will be posted once the team is fully operational.
Key Contacts & Coverage
OAA Leadership
- Nina Zipser, Dean for Academic Affairs
Key Contacts and Coverage
| Name | Title | Coverage Area |
|---|---|---|
Senior Associate Dean for Recruitment, Retention and Researchers | Researcher policy | |
Director of Researcher Affairs | Researcher policy | |
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs | Non-ladder and Visiting Faculty; Labor Relations; Misconduct, non-discrimination, and community support | |
Director of Department Services | Provides operational support to FAS departments/units for faculty searches and reviews; and manages ladder and non-ladder faculty appointment processing. | |
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Division of Arts and Humanities | Supports reviews and promotions, advises on faculty policies. | |
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Division of Social Science | Supports reviews and promotions, advises on faculty policies. | |
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (SEAS) | Supports reviews and promotions, advises on faculty and researcher policies. | |
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Division of Science | Supports reviews and promotions, advises on faculty policies. | |
Chief of Staff | Faculty Retirements | |
Interim Director of Institutional Research | Data and analytic support | |
Program Director for Community Support and Nondiscrimination | Nondiscrimination (including Title IX), anti-bullying, and community support | |
Director of Research Integrity | Research integrity and misconduct |
FAQs
Academic units will receive communication on their point of contact for researcher affairs by October 5, 2026.
By October 13, 2026.
Additional Information
The Researcher Affairs Team and Department Services will assign each department and center a contact person.