Dear Colleagues and Friends,
As you know, Kathy McCartney will be concluding her service as dean of the Graduate School of Education at the end of the spring term, having been named to become president of Smith College next July. Kathy has led the Ed School with extraordinary energy and effectiveness since 2005. It will be one of my highest priorities in the time ahead to identify an outstanding successor to Kathy and to help sustain the School’s momentum and progress through this time of transition. Many thanks in advance to all of you whose efforts I know will be essential toward that end.
Consistent with Harvard’s usual practice in dean searches, I have invited a cross-section of the Ed School’s senior faculty to work with me as an advisory group for the search. I am grateful to the following HGSE faculty members for agreeing to serve: Monica Higgins, Nancy Hill, Thomas Kane, Robert Kegan, Nonie Lesaux, Bridget Terry Long, Richard Murnane, Jack Shonkoff, and Hiro Yoshikawa. The group will also include several other Harvard faculty members with complementary perspectives on the work of the Ed School: Christopher Avery (Kennedy School), Amy Edmondson (Business School), Jennifer Hochschild (FAS – Government), Lawrence Katz (FAS – Economics), and Dutch Leonard (Business School/Kennedy School). We will meet regularly in the coming months both to consider the opportunities and challenges facing the School and to discuss prospective candidates for dean.
The advisory group’s work will be part of a wider outreach process to which I hope many of you will contribute. Provost Garber and I will be pursuing opportunities to solicit advice from the broader faculty, students, staff, alumni, and knowledgeable others. I know from past searches how much the process will benefit from such informed, candid counsel. With that in mind, I encourage you to send me your thoughts about HGSE and its future, about the key qualities to seek in a new dean, and about individuals at Harvard or elsewhere whom you believe should be considered as possible candidates for dean.
You may send your observations and nominations, in confidence, by e-mail to gsesearch@harvard.edu or by letter addressed to me at Massachusetts Hall. I will read all your thoughts with interest and care. You should also feel free to be in touch with Marc Goodheart or Stephanie Gumble, who will be assisting me with the search.
Warm wishes for the new year—and thanks for your advice during this time of transition and opportunity for the HGSE.
Sincerely,
Drew Faust
Cambridge, Mass.