Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faculty Meeting Considers Issue of Graduate Education Funding

By Alvin Powell

Contributing Writer

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) expressed support for changes in the financing of graduate student education at its monthly faculty meeting Tuesday afternoon, and began discussing ways to make the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) more attractive to top quality graduate students.

In other business, President Neil L. Rudenstine announced three new department chairs, effective July 1, for three-year terms. Rudenstine named Professor of Biology Daniel Hartl, an associate of population genetics in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, as chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Roderick MacFarquhar, the Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science, as chair of the Department of Government; and Professor of Sociology Christopher Winship, as chair of the Sociology Department.

FAS Dean Jeremy R. Knowles named the first five Harvard College Professors, new chairs created to recognize outstanding undergraduate teachers. The five are Lawrence Buell, the John P. Marquand Professor of English; Jorge Dom'nguez, the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs and director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; Peter Ellison, professor of anthropology and the Peabody MuseumÕs curator of human biology; Eric Jacobsen, professor of chemistry; and Judith Ryan, the Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of German and Comparative Literature.

The five-year chairs come with either a semester's paid leave, commensurate summer pay, or an equivalent fund to support their scholarly work. Four or five of the chairs will be named each year. A total of 24 chairs will be occupied concurrently.

The discussion on graduate student education was kicked off by a faculty committee report that concluded that Harvard's academic programs do attract top students, but that financial aid packages the GSAS offers are often not as attractive as those offered by peer institutions.

The report, introduced by Ellison, who chaired the faculty committee, suggested crafting at least four-year, rather than two-year, aid packages, which would lessen the financial uncertainty of a graduate student entering Harvard. The report also recommended including as part of the package the teaching jobs already given most graduate students. Including the teaching jobs would boost the financial guarantee the GSAS would be able to make without requiring substantial new dollars.

Several faculty members objected to including teaching positions as part of the financial aid package, arguing that it would obligate the GSAS to provide teaching jobs even if the student proved not to be a good teacher. In addition, some concern was expressed that such a policy could take selection of teaching fellows out of the hands of the course instructor.

Others countered, however, saying that teaching itself is not an inborn skill, but can be taught. A potential benefit of the policy would be that the GSAS would step up its preparation of graduate students as teachers, they said. Still others noted that many departments already successfully practice the inclusion of teaching fellowships into multi-year offers.

Rudenstine and Knowles acknowledged that action must be taken and described some of the challenges facing advocates of increased graduate education funding, such as competing priorities and the lack of a strong alumni base from which to raise money.

The report, described as a discussion document, will be followed by a more specific proposal at an upcoming meeting, possibly May 19, in the hope that changes could be made for the graduate class that would arrive in the 1999-2000 academic year.