The Committee and Its Process

Background. On October 1, 1999, Radcliffe College and Harvard University were officially merged, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study came into being as an integral part of the University. The Governing Boards of Harvard and Radcliffe established the following mission for the Institute:

"The purpose of the Radcliffe Institute will be to create an academic community where individuals can pursue advanced work in the academic disciplines, professions, or creative arts. Within this broad purpose, and in recognition of Radcliffe's historic contributions to the education of women and to the study of issues related to women, the Radcliffe Institute will sustain a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society."

Formation and Charge. The Governing Boards deliberately left open the task of defining this mission in concrete and programmatic terms. Thus, in June 2000 President Rudenstine, in close consultation with Dean-elect Faust and Acting Dean Mary Maples Dunn, invited a group of distinguished scholars and academic leaders from outside Radcliffe and Harvard to form a special ad hoc committee to assist Dean Faust and the Institute in outlining more precisely directions for the years ahead. The Committee, chaired by Caroline Bynum, University Professor (History) at Columbia, consists of eleven members, including the directors of the three institutes for advanced study located in the United States. The President's charge asked the Committee to reflect on how best to structure the organization and intellectual agendas of the Institute to fulfill its stated mission at the very highest level of quality.

Process. The full Ad Hoc Committee met in Cambridge on two separate occasions, in September and December 2000, for a day and a half each. During these sessions it met with various individuals at Radcliffe and Harvard, considered a broad array of briefing documents and other written materials, and engaged in extensive discussions. During the summer of 2000 and between meetings, Committee members consulted frequently through conference calls and e-mail correspondence. The Committee carried out its work both as a committee of the whole and through two subcommittees devoted to the consideration of fellowships, faculty appointments, and other activities of the Institute.

Aspirations and Commitments Guiding Committee's Work

In carrying out its charge, the Committee has aspired to develop recommendations for a future that:

• Embodies fidelity to Radcliffe's history and original purposes and rigor with respect to its new mission;
• Is firmly committed to women, gender, and society as intellectual, methodological, and policy foci amidst broader undertakings;
• Achieves the highest standards of quality in all work supported by the Institute;
• Creates intellectual community through careful attention to the scale of the fellowship program, the mix of fellows and faculty, and the configuring of physical space;
• Integrates the Radcliffe Institute into the larger University, with, however, a distinct identity extending beyond Harvard;
• Insures international scope and reach in the programs of the Institute;
• Encourages outreach and active engagement with diverse publics in various forms;
• Creates governance structures that will assist the Dean in building intellectual and tangible support for the Institute's programs;
• Emphasizes a commitment, in keeping with Radcliffe's historic mission, to furthering opportunities for women at Harvard and in the academy generally.

Key Recommendations

The mission of an institute for advanced study—to support the creation of new knowledge—is difficult. The mission of this particular institute for advanced study—to support the creation of new knowledge across the disciplines, the professions, and creative arts, while simultaneously sustaining a commitment to the study of women, gender, and society—is even more so. Radcliffe's success in fulfilling this mission will depend on its ability to attract and support fellows and faculty of the highest possible quality who will constitute a truly generative intellectual community.

The body of the report contains an in-depth discussion of the factors the Committee considered in addressing the basic organizational and definitional questions Radcliffe will face in the critical early stages of its existence as an institute for advanced study. It also contains a series of recommendations regarding the structure of the institute, ways to set intellectual agendas, the role of faculty and fellows, the administration of the fellowship program, the conduct of research, and approaches to outreach of various forms. Following are the core recommendations that reflect the Committee's thinking on central issues:

Integration. The Institute should move toward integration as a single entity, in intellectual, programmatic, and organizational terms. It should function as a unified organization with the faculty and fellows at its core, under the intellectual and administrative leadership of the Dean. Other activities should be preserved or initiated only if they serve the central purposes of the Institute at the standard of quality required for an institute for advanced study.

Intellectual Agendas and Women, Gender, and Society. At the outset, the Institute should select certain fields from among the broad array encompassed in the stated mission as areas of focus, with the expectation that they will change over time. Studies of women and gender should not be isolated from other fields of inquiry. Rather, scholars who specialize in gender studies should be in constant interaction with others across the range of disciplines. Furthermore, the Institute should actively explore opportunities for cross- and multidisciplinary approaches to major research problems.

Faculty Leadership. Intellectual agendas should be set in direct relationship to the core undertakings of the Institute, and sustained research should be directed and carried out by fellows and faculty of the Institute. Such faculty should be either tenured at Harvard and serving jointly in an administrative role at the Institute or appointed to one of the academic positions permitted under the terms of the merger.

Archives and Outreach. The Radcliffe Institute should maintain an active engagement with various publics through: its rich library and archival resources, continuously enlarged, enhanced, and made available for scholarly and general use; public policy activities based on social analysis directed at issues of significance and public concern; and educational outreach designed to share the work and insights developed at the Institute with scholars, teachers, and the interested public. The activities undertaken by the Institute beyond the fellowship program should grow out of, and be directed by, fellows and faculty. These activities should be appropriate to an institute for advanced study and carried out at the highest standard of quality.

Physical Space. To succeed as a residential scholarly community encompassing individuals from a wide range of fields, the Institute should bring faculty and fellows together in a central location to work, to eat, and perhaps to live. The Committee recommends that the Institute undertake comprehensive space planning, coordinated with the wider University, directed at optimizing both in the short and long-term the configuration and uses of Radcliffe's exceptional physical spaces.

Governance. To reinforce the Institute's function as an integrated organization with the fellows and faculty at its core, the Dean should appoint a single Advisory Board to offer advice on intellectual and administrative matters. The Board should have among its members leaders from the business, professional, alumni/ae and arts communities along with academicians. Reflecting the Institute's national and international reach, it should include some Harvard faculty, but they should not predominate.

Administrative Review. At the outset of her tenure the Dean should request a comprehensive administrative study to insure that the organization, staffing, and administrative functions of the Institute are designed to serve the new mission in an efficient and integrated way, and that the programs of the Institute are financially sustainable.

Consultation and Implementation

The recommendations contained in this report are advisory to Dean Faust. We recognize that she will wish to reflect on these issues and consult broadly, within Radcliffe and Harvard and beyond, as she maps out a productive course of action in the critical early years of the Institute. She will also wish to give careful consideration to whether, how, and at what pace she approaches implementation of specific suggestions.

Here it may be useful to think in evolutionary terms so that changes, to the extent that they are deemed appropriate, may be made with care and sensitivity, and so that the Institute can experiment with various models as it charts its course over the early years. At the same time, it is important to recognize that the moment of the establishment of a new institution provides an opportunity for institutional re-thinking that will not come again; that organizational changes become more difficult over time; and that it is important to be clear from the outset about important guiding principles. It is our hope that the directions we have outlined and the practical suggestions we have made will be useful to Dean Faust and the Radcliffe community as it embarks on this exciting new venture.

Statement of Drew Gilpin Faust
Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Harvard University

February 15, 2001

I received this week the report of the Radcliffe Institute Ad Hoc Committee. President Rudenstine appointed this committee of distinguished scholars and academic leaders from outside Harvard in July, 2000 to assist me in mapping out a course for Radcliffe in its critical, early years as an institute for advanced study. The Committee was chaired by Caroline Bynum, University Professor at Columbia, and included among its members the directors of the three other institutes for advanced study in this country.

The report contains a detailed analysis of the role of institutes for advanced study in the creation of new knowledge and a consideration of the particular challenges facing the Radcliffe Institute. Unique among major institutes for advanced study, Radcliffe is an integral part of a research university. It has a dual mission—to support advanced work across all the academic disciplines, the professions, and the creative arts, while simultaneously sustaining a commitment to the study of women, gender, and society. And the new Institute grows out of the rich history of Radcliffe College, which has over the last century forged a place for women at Radcliffe and Harvard and in the highest levels of academic, personal, and professional attainment.

The Committee's recommendations are advisory to me. I plan to reflect carefully on the issues raised and to consult broadly within Radcliffe and Harvard and beyond as I consider both general principles and specific suggestions. I want to emphasize, however, that I find the report to be exceptionally thoughtful in its analysis of the issues we face and sound in its recommendations.

The Committee makes clear that Radcliffe cannot hope to succeed in its ambitious new role unless it begins to function as an integrated entity, with faculty and fellows at the center. Radcliffe needs to be creative in managing the breadth of its mission and in integrating the study of women and gender into its core undertakings. The faculty we appoint and the fellows we select must be of the highest possible quality, and they should direct the intellectual program and research agendas of the Institute. Radcliffe should maintain its active engagement with various publics through its rich array of library and archival resources made available for scholarly and general use; through public policy activities and social analysis directed at issues of public concern; and through educational outreach designed to share the work of the Institute with scholars, teachers, and the interested public. The Committee advises further that we complete a comprehensive administrative review to insure that our organization, staffing, and service functions are designed to serve this new mission in an integrated and efficient way.

Obviously, we cannot and would not wish to undertake all the proposed recommendations at once. At the same time, the Committee emphasizes "It is important to recognize that the moment of the establishment of a new institution provides an opportunity for institutional re-thinking that will not come again; that organizational changes become more difficult over time; and that it is important to be clear from the outset about important guiding principles."

The vision outlined by the Committee is inspiring, and Radcliffe will benefit enormously from its clarity and substance. I consider it an opportunity and a privilege to lead Radcliffe at this important moment in its history and to begin to build an institute that will contribute in fundamental ways to what we know and how we think about the world.

Ad Hoc Committee Members

Caroline Bynum, Chair
University Professor (History), Columbia University

W. Robert Connor
President and Director, National Center for the Humanities (North Carolina)

John D'Arms
President, American Council of Learned Societies

Wendy Doniger
Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, The Divinity School, University of Chicago; Radcliffe Class of '62

Phillip Griffiths
Director, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, New Jersey)

Ellen Lagemann
President, Spencer Foundation; Professor of History and Education, School of Education, New York University

Carolyn Makinson
Program Officer, Mellon Foundation

Frank Rhodes
President Emeritus, Cornell University

Neil Smelser
Director, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, California)

Shirley Tilghman
Professor of Molecular Biology, Prior Professor in Life Sciences, Princeton University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Winifred White Neisser
Sr. Vice-President of Movies for Television and Mini-Series, Columbia TriStar Television; former Overseer, Harvard; Harvard/Radcliffe Class of '74