HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

In its December 2006 report on Enhancing Science and Engineering at Harvard, the University Planning Committee on Science and Engineering (UPCSE) recommends the establishment of a new, University-wide body to be called the Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC). In January 2007, the Harvard Corporation chartered such a body, which will bring together administrators and faculty leaders from all parts of the University where research and teaching in the sciences flourish - from the Medical School, the School of Public Health, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (with its departments in the physical sciences, life sciences, and math and statistics), and the Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Although HUSEC will not administer programs or directly hire and promote particular faculty members, it will foster collaborations among Schools and the hospitals, and help the University plan and coordinate major new investments for interdisciplinary projects in the sciences and engineering, including initiatives to be located in the emerging Allston campus.

This document describes HUSEC's charge and scope of authority, and outlines how the President, the Provost, and the relevant Deans envisage the composition, leadership, and initial steps of the new planning committee.

Scope of authority

The Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee will formulate policies and vet plans for major new investments in the sciences and engineering at Harvard, especially investments in emerging interdisciplinary areas and investments that span the boundaries of Schools or link academic departments to research and practice in the Harvard-affiliated hospitals. In the deliberations of HUSEC, administrators and leading scientists and engineers will bring their broad perspectives and experience to bear on strategic decisions and the allocation of resources. HUSEC will not ordinarily make final decisions. Rather, the committee's recommendations will be advisory to the President and the Harvard Corporation.

HUSEC will advise on the creation and funding of new cross-School departments and committees; on large-scale investments in infrastructure to support the sciences across the University; on the outlines of new governance procedures applicable to various cross-School ventures; and on strategic allocations, such as the award of grants for innovative interdisciplinary projects undertaken by groups of scientists and engineers at various locations in the University. Because HUSEC will bring together leaders from the hospitals and the Deans of the science-oriented schools, it will also serve as a forum for the discussion of major new investments envisaged within particular parts of Harvard, so as to ensure planning and coordination in the long-term interest of the University.

HUSEC's recommendations will direct the flow of major new resources into the sciences and engineering at Harvard. Faculty slots, resources for students and education, physical space and equipment, and ongoing expenses all may be included in HUSEC's advice to the Deans, Provost, President, and Corporation. Resources to support choices recommended by HUSEC will come in part from the Center, including from incremental development funds, and in part from the Schools and hospitals. In addition to resources assigned through HUSEC, various combinations of resources may come from different places and in different mixes depending upon the project at hand and its location in the multiple sites that make up the University. Shaping the broad terms of joint investments and ensuring the active support of the Provost and President and appropriate sets of Deans and hospital leaders will be part of HUSEC's ongoing mission.

The membership and formation of HUSEC

HUSEC is to be a mixed decanal and faculty committee. Administrative members will serve ex officio, and faculty members will be appointed to fixed, rotating terms. The overall size of the committee is expected to be 15 to 18 members, depending upon the disciplinary backgrounds of University officials who may serve ex officio, and depending upon the experiences and connections of the particular faculty leaders who fill appointed positions at any given time.

Normally, HUSEC will be chaired by the Provost of Harvard University and there will also be ex officio administrative seats for the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of the Harvard Medical School, the Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, the Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and two Chief Executive Officers chosen by the major affiliated hospitals. In the event that any one of these Deans is not a scientist or engineer, he or she may choose to designate a qualified representative to serve on HUSEC, but it is expected that by virtue of that representation, the Dean will be considered to have been informed of the deliberations.

Faculty members serving on HUSEC will come from (but not narrowly "represent") various institutional and intellectual backgrounds. The aim in creating this body is to find and encourage faculty men and women with multiple ties or curiosities, persons who will see themselves as speaking for connected realms of science, engineering, and translational medicine across the University as a whole. To achieve this kind of presence on the committee, the President will invite faculty to fill 10 to 12 seats on HUSEC, after a process in which nominations are widely solicited from faculty at Harvard, and after the qualifications of possible candidates are discussed with various advisers.

The process of initially composing HUSEC will work as follows: Along with the announcement of HUSEC's scope and purposes, a public call for faculty nominations is going out to all Harvard faculty and research administrators. The call for nominations solicits the names of faculty who are respected scientists and engineers; proven leaders in building cross-boundary programs or projects; knowledgeable about how basic and applied science are practiced in more than one setting; and likely to be good at hearing and working with others beyond their specialties. HUSEC is to be assembled in such a way as to include people from FAS physical sciences (including math and statistics), FAS life sciences, SEAS, HSPH, HMS, and the affiliated hospitals. But there will be no quotas or designated seats, nor are members expected or encouraged to represent any particular constituency or institution within the University.

Nomination letters and any accompanying documentation about the qualifications of candidates will come to the President, who will, in turn, ask the Provost, Deans, and leaders in the hospitals for their observations about nominees. The President will look for faculty members with multiple ties and awarenesses, persons of broad intellectual range who are respected across institutional sectors. The President will also pay attention to the experience of nominees in cooperating with colleagues across specialties, avoiding anyone who is likely to be (or seems to be) a self-interested or narrow-minded player.

Faculty members on HUSEC will serve three-year terms in the steady state, with members eligible for renomination after a term off. Establishing a clear principle of rotation is important if the committee is to be defined as a place where members exercise judgment on behalf of the University as a whole. This approach will also lead to more and more Harvard scientists and engineers meeting one another and learning about science, engineering, and translational medicine across the University. To stagger terms, some of the initial class of faculty members serving on HUSEC will be assigned three-year terms, some to four-year terms, and some to five-year terms.

Although there will be no faculty slots on HUSEC pre-assigned by institutional or disciplinary categories, the President will aim to assemble a diverse set of faculty members who, taken together, have experience with and ties to the various intellectual and institutional locales in which scientific research flourishes at Harvard. The final UPCSE report also calls for HUSEC to include one faculty member who is not a natural scientist.

Leadership and links to administrative bodies

As a body dealing with policy questions, HUSEC will be chaired by the Provost, an official with a University-wide purview. The Provost closely advises and works with the President and can link policy formulation with overall concern for its execution by the Deans as well as the central administration.

HUSEC will be linked to relevant processes of budgeting, fundraising, and administration through the council of Science Deans. The President, the Provost, and the Deans of schools involved in the sciences serve on the council of Science Deans - which may be augmented by inclusion of leaders from Harvard-affiliated hospitals. As science at Harvard grows and changes, the Science Deans will be responsible for formulating principles to govern various types of interdisciplinary departments and committees that span School and institutional boundaries. Subsets of Deans and leaders from this body are also likely to make up oversight committees to which the chairs of the specific cross-School departments and committees will report.

First steps for HUSEC

As HUSEC is formed and begins to function, the President, Provost, and Corporation are aware that a new University-wide committee with great authority to influence the allocation of resources needs to have clear and transparent procedures if it is to build trust and legitimacy across the Schools and institutions that make up the larger Harvard community.

Early actions must include the establishment and publication of transparent procedures for decision-making in the committee. These must include rules for recusal when HUSEC considers proposals closely affecting the career interests of faculty serving on the standing committee. Eminent, active scientists and engineers will serve on HUSEC and, from time to time, proposals from (or directly affecting) programs in which they are principals will come before the committee. Before that happens, HUSEC will decide - and let everyone know - how affected members will recuse themselves from such deliberations. In other actions as well, HUSEC will need to bear in mind the importance of its early decisions in establishing its legitimacy and developing trust throughout the University.