Harvard Looks to 2057 and a Multibillion Dollar Expansion of Facilities but no Increase in Student Numbers. (January 16, 2007)

Harvard University circa 1850

   The Harvard Crimson reported last week, "University officials yesterday unveiled their most detailed plans yet for the development of a new campus in Allston [across the Charles River from the Cambridge campus] over the next half century, and said they hope to gain the City of Boston’s approval and begin construction across the Charles River before the end of the year."

The Institutional Master Plan was released on January 11 and outlines in detail the university's proposals for four new undergraduate houses in Allston, along with a science complex, art museums, and graduate student housing.

Surprisingly just how the two campuses are to be connected is not indicated in the master plan and the overall projected cost has not been specified other than to say it will be in the  "multibillion" range.

The university says that there are four overall "themes" which it will be following -- a commitment to Harvard’s teaching and research mission, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary study; the creation of "new places for the Harvard and public communities to meet"; an emphasis on sustainable development; and the goal of generating local and regional economic benefits.

Harvard's Provost Steven E. Hyman emphasized increased academic collaboration across departments and schools as being a driving motivation in the Allston planning. "It’s going to bring together different parts of the University...[and]...help foster interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship."

With regard to the expected announcement of who will become Harvard's next president The Guardian has this to say:

Harvard's expansion announcement comes as the university continues its deliberations over who to appoint its next president. Derek Bok has been interim president since the resignation of the university's controversial leader Lawrence H Summers in June last year. Prof Summers made headlines around the world after suggesting at a conference that one of the reasons why there were more men than women in science and engineering was because of men's "intrinsic aptitudes" in those fields of study.

Three Harvard insiders are apparently being considered as Prof Summers' permanent replacement. According to the Boston Globe, the provost, Steven E Hyman, the dean of the law school, Elena Kagan, and Drew Gilpin Faust, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advance studies, are on the shortlist.

There has been speculation that the vice-chancellor of Cambridge, Alison Richard, was in contention for the job, but she has denied the reports. Harvard has never had a female president.

The decision should be known sometime next month.