Even a casual observer of Harvard recognizes its widespread decentralization. The "every tub on its own bottom" philosophy has deep roots.

"While this decentralization works extremely well in producing academic excellence in our various Faculties, promoting flexibility, and maintaining fiscal stability, there are times it can lead to intellectual isolation," said Provost Harvey V. Fineberg. "One of President Rudenstine's and my goals is to support cross-faculty work in many different forms." (See related article on new Provost's Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration.)

This goal of "bringing the University together" has resulted in a number of academic programs that cut across traditional school boundaries. Often mentioned in this regard are the five "Interfaculty Initiatives," which emerged from the University-wide academic planning process in 1992-93 (Environment, Ethics and the Professions, Health Policy, Mind/Brain/Behavior, and Schooling and Children). But other forms of "interfaculty" programs are continuing to emerge and to thrive.

"We have some longstanding programs, like HIID and the Center for Population and Development Studies, which have engaged faculty from across Harvard since their start," said Fineberg. "And others which are emerging, like the Asia Center. What is particularly exciting is that while these are all different -- in their focus, their governance, and their organization -- they all share a vision that collaboration is the key to addressing important intellectual and societal issues."

Three examples of recent University-wide efforts illustrate this wide range of programs:

David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

In the less than three years since its founding in December 1994, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has energized the study of Latin America at Harvard and beyond. The Center's objectives are to promote teaching and research on Latin America at Harvard, strengthen Harvard's links to Latin America, and improve understanding of Latin America in the United States and abroad. To meet these objectives, the Center fosters interaction among the diverse populations interested in Latin America, from professors, students, policymakers, and business leaders, to artists, thinkers and writers.

"The Center's goal is to bring more of Latin America to Harvard and more of Harvard to Latin America," said historian John Coatsworth, Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs and director of the Center since its founding. "The Center tries to make life easier and more interesting for people at Harvard who want to learn more about Latin America or share their knowledge of Latin America with others."

Law School Professor Philip Heymann described how things at Harvard have changed since the founding of the Center. "For many years, I've worked in Guatemala and Colombia and have traveled extensively to Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina to look at their legal systems," said Heymann. "Now the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has become a catalyst for those of us at Harvard interested in Latin America. It provides advice and assistance and helps us find out what other people are doing in the region. But perhaps most importantly, it offers support. You don't feel like you're doing things by yourself in a vacuum."

Heymann worked with the Center this past summer to organize an international conference on the "Reform of Criminal Prosecution in Latin America" that brought together a group of prosecutors and legal experts from Latin America and the United States. That initiative is likely to build into something more significant. "This group may expand with time," said Heymann. "How can we help build up outside support, but also help prosecutors in specific areas? 'We' means all of us interconnecting to help each other."

Unlike some other regional or international centers at Harvard, traditionally based in one of the Schools, the Rockefeller Center creates unusual opportunities for fruitful exchange between scholars at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and those in the professional schools of Business, Design, Divinity, Education, Government, Law, Medicine, and Public Health.

The intellectual core of the Center's growth in the past three years consists of interdisciplinary Faculty Working Groups that bring together scholars from diverse departments and professional schools to address issues of common intellectual concern. Divided into five initial groups examining Environment, the Humanities (Cultural Studies), Immigration, Institutional and Economic Reforms, and Violence and Civil Society, the Faculty Working Groups have organized more than 50 special workshops, seminars, symposia, and international conferences since the Center was created.

In the area of immigration, Professor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco of the Graduate School of Education worked with the Center and other Harvard faculty colleagues to organize an interdisciplinary conference on Mexican immigration to the United States, which will result in a forthcoming book. Suarez-Orozco noted that the conference was unique not only in its interdisciplinary focus, but because "the participants included a binational group of leading Mexican and U.S. scholars who decidedly approach issues of immigration from very different perspectives."

The breadth and depth of the interests of those working on Latin America at Harvard is impressive. The Center's 1997-98 Directory of Faculty, Fellows, and Professional Staff lists (and indexes according to interests) 112 regular faculty members together with four visiting professors, 23 adjunct lecturers, and 54 visiting faculty and fellows with substantial research and teaching interests focused on Latin America, the Caribbean, the Iberian peninsula, and Latino Studies.

Similarly, the Center's 1997-98 Guide to Courses on Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Studies lists a total of 153 courses to be offered in the current academic year in which at least 25 percent of the course content is devoted to Latin America and related subjects.

While Harvard does not offer undergraduate or graduate degrees in Latin American studies, DRCLAS offers certificates to undergraduate students who meet its language and course requirements and write a senior honors thesis on a Latin American topic. Components of the undergraduate certificate program include research grants and monthly seminars with faculty.

"My undergraduate experience at Harvard has changed dramatically since I got involved with the Center two years ago," said Lauren Reiss, a senior social studies concentrator. "Working at the Center as a volunteer, traveling to Ecuador and Peru on a Center grant this past summer, and writing my thesis on the political system in Peru with Center Director John Coatsworth as my adviser has opened up a whole new world to me."

"DRCLAS brings people together," said Leandro Popik, a second-year doctoral student in the Government Department. "Participating in the Pampas symposium on sustainable development that the Center organized in Buenos Aires last March with Professor Otto Solbrig gave me the chance to see how the DRCLAS had effectively brought together Argentine academics, consultants, business executives, and policymakers to look for ways to ensure the sustainable development of the country's agricultural potential," Popik said. "I found it fascinating to see that in a country where communication among these different players is still so rare, Harvard could contribute to the creation (and, hopefully, institutionalization) of a dialogue of this constructive nature."

Many of the Center's activities are open to the public. Each Tuesday during the academic year, the Center invites leading academics from around the U.S. and Latin America to speak on issues of interest in contemporary Latin America.

In August, the Center moved into a handsome three-story brick Victorian mansion at 61 Kirkland St.

"The single concern that we had in moving into this new building at 61 Kirkland St. was that it was off the beaten path at Harvard and that people wouldn't find their way here," said Center Executive Director Steve Reifenberg. "That concern proved unfounded; the building has become a great hub of activity for our Harvard students, faculty, and staff. It is clear that Latin American studies has a permanent home here at Harvard."

Hauser Center for Non-Profit Institutions

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Institutions, a new University-wide center stewarded by and based at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), was established in the spring of 1997 through the founding support of Rita E. Hauser, L '58, and Gustave M. Hauser, JD '53.

The new initiative strives to become the world's pre-eminent center for the comprehensive study of nonprofit policy and management and for the education of individuals who work in the nonprofit sector. Drawing upon the resources of Harvard's graduate and professional schools, as well as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Hauser Center serves as an innovative model of interfaculty collaboration by engaging the entire University and by building bridges among education, practice, and research in nonprofit policy and management.

"More than ever we depend on the nonprofit sector to address problems that government and for-profit institutions have found hard to solve. Yet for all their powerful presence in our daily lives, nonprofit organizations -- taken as a whole -- have historically received little concentrated attention from our universities. The Hauser Center will bring together people and ideas throughout Harvard to help expand our understanding of this increasingly important sector," said President Neil L. Rudenstine.

Mark Moore, the Center's faculty chairman and acting director, and the Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy and Public Management at the KSG, noted that the questions which the Hauser Center will tackle are broad. "We're interested in exploring the purpose nonprofits serve in society, whether society derives those intended benefits, and the public policies appropriate to shaping an effective nonprofit sector."

The Center is University-wide in its approach, with links to related programs and activities across Harvard. The Hauser Center has assembled a compendium of courses offered at Harvard and other nearby institutions that are relevant to the issues of nonprofit organizations and management, so that students are aware of the breadth and depth of intellectual resources already available to them. In addition, a complementary initiative at the Business School, the Initiative on Social Enterprise, which focuses on the interrelationships between nonprofits and business, is working closely with the Hauser Center on several joint programs.

"We contributed toward the establishment of the Hauser Center because we believe in Harvard's unique capacity to address some of the most critical issues now facing the nonprofit sector," commented Rita and Gus Hauser in making their founding gift. Themselves members of numerous nonprofit boards and active philanthropists through the Hauser Foundation, they have experienced personally some of the central questions facing nonprofit organizations and their leadership.

The Center will focus specifically on five areas of inquiry: The Nonprofit Sector and Public Policy; International and Comparative Studies; Philanthropy and Social Investing, Leading and Managing For Performance; and Nonprofits In Political and Community Engagement. The work of the Center will be carried out through a variety of approaches: Faculty and students associated with the Center will engage in research on policy and leadership issues related to this sector -- both domestically and worldwide; will develop new materials and methods for teaching on the topic within Harvard schools and in executive education programs; and will work in partnership with nonprofit organizations outside Harvard to strengthen their abilities to function effectively, and to connect research to "real-world" practice.

In addition, a new concentration in nonprofit institutions will be available to degree students at KSG, and courses in the area will be developed for graduate students across the University. "As nonprofits become powerful contributors to the U.S. economy and are increasingly shaping the public realm in other countries, more of our graduates than ever are taking jobs in nonprofits. We need to train them better for the growing complexities nonprofit organizations face," explained Christine Letts, the Center's executive director and lecturer in public policy at the KSG.

Examples of new courses that have been developed and are being offered this year in association with the Hauser Center include: Philanthropy and the Creation of American Elites, The Secularization of American Charity, and Professionals and Volunteers in American History (taught by Barry D. Karl, a visiting scholar at the KSG and the first Henry William Bloomberg Professor of Philanthropy), and Financing Civil Society (taught by Letts and Peter Frumkin, assistant professor of public policy at the KSG). A new course at the Law School, Taxation and Regulation of Nonprofit Institutions, is being taught for the first time this term.

Students appreciate the Hauser Center's focus on the intersection of the theoretical and practical. "After 20 years of work in the nongovernment ["NGO"] sector in the Philippines, I welcomed coming to Harvard to study, although I did wonder initially about being in a school of government," said Corazon Juliano-Soliman (Mid-Career), Master in Public Administration, '98. "The Kennedy School experience is even more meaningful because of the new Hauser Center, which focuses on NGO/nonprofit work. The theories that have been developed over almost a century on nonprofits here in the U.S. is wonderful preparation for me as I contemplate returning to NGO work in the Philippines after graduation."

Other current initiatives of the Center include a research project facilitated by a planning grant from the Surdna Foundation, exploring the relationship between funders and nonprofits with an eye to improving the performance of those receiving grants. The Center is also planning an executive education course in this area.

A University-Wide Faculty Advisory Committee, chaired by Provost Harvey Fineberg, works with the Center. In addition to Professor Moore, the committee includes: Professors Alan Altshuler (KSG), James E. Austin (SPH), Robert P. Chait (GSE), Robert E. Cook (Arnold Arboretum), Richard J. Hackman (FAS), J. Bryan Hehir (HDS), Barbara Joyce McNeil (HMS), and Henry J. Steiner (HLS).

Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP)

Native American education is forever woven into the history of Harvard University, beginning with the charter of 1650, which called for "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country." In 1970, the American Indian Program was established to prepare Native Americans to fulfill positions of leadership in education. In 1990, the Program was reorganized as the Harvard University Native American Program and its focus was expanded to include teaching and learning across an array of disciplines.

Today, the Program, while based at the Graduate School of Education, is overseen by a Faculty Advisory Board representing all nine Faculties of the University. Its mission is to "bring together Native American students and interested individuals from the Harvard community for the purpose of advancing the well-being of indigenous peoples through self-determination, academic achievement, and community service."

The Program has three main components: teaching and research, community-based work with Native American nations, and recruitment/leadership development of Native American students at Harvard. On the educational side, the Program works with various schools on Native American related courses. Recent course offerings include: Native Americans in the 21st Century: Nation Building I & II (FAS, HGSE, HLS, HMS, and KSG), Issues in Contemporary Native American Education (HGSE), and American Indian Law (HLS).

The Nation Building courses are an excellent example of what lies at the core of the Program's mission. According to Lorie Graham, director of the Program, "In Nation Building I, students from across the University learn how American Indian societies are approaching issues of political sovereignty, social self-determination, and economic viability for the 21st century." The course is team-taught by professors from Arts and Sciences, Law, Education, and Government. According to Law School Professor Joseph Singer, "The cross-disciplinary nature of the course benefits both students and faculty by giving each of us the benefit of a wider range of experience and exposure to different bodies of knowledge about the institutional context within which tribal leaders must operate."

Research conducted by Professors Joseph Kalt of the Kennedy School and Manley Begay of the Graduate School of Education has shown that the successes and setbacks of American Indian polities carry important, interdisciplinary lessons for present and future leaders in all societies.

Nation Building II combines theory with practice, pairing Harvard students with Native American nations in need of the students' expertise. Students research the issues identified by the community -- such as constitutional reform, economic development, and language retention -- and then conduct field visits to develop effective strategies for addressing those issues. David Potter, Robert Winthrop Professor of Neurobiology and co-chair of the Program's Faculty Advisory Board, views Nation Building II as "an opportunity not only for Indian students but for non-Indian students who want to discuss the most basic social and political issues -- and who want to contribute personally to improving life in Indian country."

Other cross-faculty initiatives at the Program include its national conference series on a range of topics. This year's major initiatives include a forum with Gregory Cajete on Nov. 12 at the Graduate School of Education to discuss his latest book on the ecology of indigenous education, and an Asset Management Conference scheduled for March 6-7, 1998, at the Business School. Past events include a Tribal Courts symposium cosponsored with the Law School and a U.N. Indigenous Rights conference cosponsored with the Kennedy School and the U.S. Department of State.

The Program is also involved in bringing Native American students to Harvard and helping provide resources for them once they are here. This furthers HUNAP's goal of "preparing Native American leaders for the 21st century," according to Eileen Egan, coordinator of recruitment for the Program. "Recruiting and training Native Americans in all professions is essential for developing viable solutions to the economic, health, political, legal, and social issues facing Native Americans today." As part of this effort, the Program administers a yearly University-wide recruitment initiative, in collaboration with admissions offices at the College and graduate and professional schools, which includes visits by Program staff and students to Native American communities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and to national conferences on Indian affairs to discuss academic and research opportunities at Harvard.

In all these activities, interdisciplinary collaboration is key. "Since improvement of conditions for Native American nations and communities depends upon a set of intricate and interrelated factors, it is important that faculty and students develop interdisciplinary research models to address those conditions," said James Austin, John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration and co-chair of the Program's Faculty Advisory Board. "The Program's courses, fieldwork with Native American communities, cultural programs, research initiatives, and recruitment are significantly enriching the Harvard community and placing the University in a national leadership position."

Activity Expected To Grow

"In all these cases, faculty are working on areas of common concern in ways that are nontraditional for Harvard," said Provost Fineberg. "These are models for the kind of interdisciplinary, cross-faculty exploration which is critical to Harvard's ability to retain its leadership and vitality. I hope, and fully expect, to see the level of interfaculty activity grow in ways which strengthen both those directly involved and all of Harvard."