Sean T. Buffington. Photo by Jon Chase.

Sean T. Buffington will become the new assistant provost for Interfaculty Programs, Provost Harvey V. Fineberg announced this week.

A Harvard College graduate with a strong interest in interdisciplinary learning, Buffington has worked for the past two years as a member of the University Development Office. His principal responsibilities have included strategic planning and fundraising for several of the cross-faculty programs that Harvard has launched in recent years.

"Sean Buffington is an excellent fit for this newly created position of assistant provost for Interfaculty Programs," Fineberg said. "As an undergraduate and graduate student he was drawn to the intellectual challenges of interdisciplinary scholarship, and as an administrator he has already played a significant role in developing and supporting a variety of interfaculty programs. I am delighted that Sean will join the Provost's Office at a time when we need to focus even more intently on facilitating interfaculty work across the University."

"The opportunities inherent in this job are truly exciting to me," said Buffington. "I know what crossing disciplinary boundaries can accomplish intellectually; I also know how difficult it can be to facilitate such movement institutionally -- especially in a decentralized environment like Harvard. I remain dedicated to the idea of bringing multidisciplinary approaches to bear on complex problems and am fully prepared to do whatever it takes -- planning, problem solving, identifying new resources -- to enable interdisciplinary programs to flourish."

Buffington graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude in 1991, having concentrated in English and American literature and Afro-American studies. He went on to receive an M.A. in American culture in 1994 from the University of Michigan, where he was a Regents Fellow. As an instructor at Michigan, he helped design interdisciplinary undergraduate courses in history and ethnic studies.

Before joining the University Development Office, Buffington served from 1994 to 1997 as assistant director in the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), where he designed a comprehensive online communications strategy for the HAA and helped manage the activities of various committees of the Association's board of directors.

"Sean has been an outstanding member of the Development Office, and although I am sorry to lose him, I am also delighted that he will have a new and enlarged opportunity to advance interfaculty programs at Harvard," said Thomas Reardon, vice president for Alumni Affairs and Development.

Buffington, who lives in Cambridge, will assume his new position on May 17.