A&H Strategic Planning Process

Photo of harvard Faculty Meeting notes, Nov 1891, discussing creation of academic Divisions

The A&H Strategic Planning Process is a multi-tiered, multi-year initiative to assess the structure of the Division of Arts & Humanities and make sure our departmental organization is best equipped to support the intellectual interests and administrative needs of our community. The Process will be led by the A&H Strategic Planning Committee (SPC).

Strategic Planning Committee

 

  • ChairRobin Kelsey, Dean of Arts & Humanities and Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography
  • Glenda Carpio, Professor of English and of African and African American Studies and Chair of the Department of English
  • Suzannah Clark, Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music and Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center (until Fall 2023)
  • Phil Deloria, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History and Chair of the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature (until Fall 2023)
  • Kristie La, G6 in the Department of History of Art & Architecture
  • William Lohier '23, joint concentrator in African and African American Studies and English (until Fall 2023)
  • Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture; Harvard College Professor (until Fall 2023)
  • Denise Oberdan, Director of Administration for the Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies
  • Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy and Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies
  • Matt Saunders, Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies
  • Jeffrey Schnapp, Carl A. Pescosolido Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literature, Chair of Comparative Literature, Faculty Director of metaLAB
  • Raquel Vega-Duran, Senior Lecturer in Peninsular and Transatlantic Film and Literature and Chair of the Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights (until Fall 2023)
  • Emily Warshaw, Director of Administration for the Committee on Theater, Dance & Media 
  • Stephanie Sandler, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures (from Fall 2023)
  • Lauren Kaminsky, Director of Studies and Associate Senior Lecturer in the Committee on Degrees in History & Literature; Faculty Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University (from Fall 2023)
  • Bruno Carvalho, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies; Interim Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center (from Fall 2023)
  • Carolyn Abbate, Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor (from Fall 2023)

Charge of the A&H Strategic Planning Committee:

To explore possibilities and develop an academic vision for the dynamic future state of the Arts & Humanities at Harvard University, one that honors the rich history of our departments, centers, and programs, while embracing the emerging aspirations of our faculty, students, and staff. This vision will seek to leverage resources to their full extent, fostering notable opportunities for strategic reinvestment in our mission. At the core of the vision will be a structure enabling us to flourish in the coming decades as we continue to pursue and promote the wonders and values of aesthetic and humanistic learning.

 

The Strategic Planning Committee will advise the Dean of the Arts & Humanities as he charts a path forward for the Division, considering feedback and data gathered from within our community, as well as information drawn from other academic institutions or from the historical records of Harvard University. The Committee will help the Dean weigh the trade-offs between competing possibilities, with an eye toward empowering future generations of students to find in Harvard the liberal arts education they will need to thrive.

 

 

A&H Focus Groups

 

The Division of Arts & Humanities hosted six focus groups for faculty and staff in March 2022, speaking with over 70 members of our A&H community in conversations moderated by nine former departmental Chairs. These small group discussions focused on a series of five questions:

  1. What recent development or emerging interest in the arts and humanities excites you the most? Are there new measures or directions yielding promising results?
  2. As noted in the January Town Hall, our departmental structure was established between 1890 and 1968. In what ways, if any, would you like to see the Arts & Humanities Division respond structurally to the historical changes of recent decades?
  3. What about the present structure would you most like to preserve or reinforce?
  4. If you could work more closely with colleagues in another department, program, or Division, what would that entity be?
  5. In an ideal world, if you could make adjustments to the way you spend your time and energy, what would those adjustments be? What restraints at Harvard frustrate you the most?

While random selection was used to invite faculty and staff to these focus groups, all are welcome to reflect on these questions and send their thoughts, concerns, and questions to the Divisional office at arts-hum@fas.harvard.edu.

Graduate and undergraduate students were invited to take part in focus group sessions in April and May 2022. They addressed the following questions:

Graduate Students:

  1. What do you want to study or experience in the curriculum that is not currently available or well supported? What subjects should Harvard add to its curricular offerings?
  2. What were the deciding factors in your decision to enroll in a graduate program at Harvard?
  3. Do you feel there is a good place for you in the study of the arts and humanities at Harvard? Why or why not? Do you feel most at home in your program/department, or do you find a better community elsewhere? If elsewhere, is this better alternative a social or an academic community?
  4. What changes, if any, would you make to the graduate degree programs to encourage interdisciplinary study?
  5. If you could rename or refashion your program to better fit your interests, what would it be called? How would it be different from your current program?
  6. Is there anything else you think the Division of Arts & Humanities needs to be thinking about as it revises its structure?

Undergraduate Students:

  1. What would you like to learn from the arts and humanities while at Harvard?
  2. What were the deciding factors in your decision to concentrate (or not) in the arts and humanities?
  3. Do you feel there is a place for you in the study of the arts and humanities at Harvard? Why or why not? Do you feel most at home in your concentration/department, or do you find community elsewhere? Is it a social or an academic community?
  4. What do you want to study or experience in the curriculum that is not currently available or well supported? What subjects should Harvard offer that they do not?
  5. Would you like to see more interdisciplinary opportunities in the concentration system? What interdisciplinary areas interest you?
  6. Is there anything else you think the Division of Arts & Humanities needs to be thinking about as they revise their structure?

 

Study Groups  

 

The SPC met several times last semester to discuss how best to shape our planning process in light of this community feedback, ultimately identifying five areas worthy of more focused attention. Accordingly, this fall we are convening Study Groups to focus on these areas and offer guidance to the SPC. Those Study Groups will be focused on five main topics, with the group charges described below:

1. Administrative Support

Charge: To review the mechanisms for administrative support within the Arts & Humanities, identify opportunities and challenges regarding the management of tasks, roles, and responsibilities across the Division, and suggest to the Strategic Planning Committee alternative ways to better support the A&H community. To determine at what level different forms of administrative support should be provided and to shape the suggested schemes accordingly.  

Members

  • Chair: Sean Kelly, Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy; Harvard College Professor; Faculty Dean, Dunster House
  • Kathleen Coleman, James Loeb Professor of the Classics
  • Derek Miller, Professor of English
  • Kathy Richman, Lecturer on Romance Languages and Literatures
  • Mary Violette, Director of Administration, Celtic Languages and Literatures
  • Elise Ciregna, Director of Administration, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Committee on the Study of Religion
  • Stephanie Nasson, Senior Director of Administrative Operations

 

2. Graduate Programs 

Charge: To review A&H graduate programs with a view toward making structural changes that would (1) broaden or strengthen community support for graduate students, (2) provide opportunities for graduate students to obtain skills better preparing them for academic and non-academic careers, or (3) bring the scholarly emphasis of our graduate programs into greater alignment with the needs and opportunities of the middle decades of the twenty-first century. 

Members:  

  • Chair: Tomiko Yoda, Takashima Professor of Japanese Humanities; Director of Graduate Studies 
  • Vidyan Ravinthiran, Associate Professor of English 
  • Emily Amendola, Graduate Coordinator, Art, Film, and Visual Studies
  • Susanna Siegel, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy; Placement Director
  • Joseph Nagy, Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Irish Studies
  • Aden Solway, PhD Candidate in Art, Film and Visual Studies
  • Zachary Lim, President of GSAS Student Council, PhD Candidate, HGSE

 

3. Making

Charge: To review art making within the Arts & Humanities and to assess its organization across and within departments, looking for ways to strengthen support for art as a mode of cognitive inquiry and discovery. The study group should pay particular attention to the integration of art making with other critical, historical, and theoretical modes of study. It should also look for opportunities to refine our structure in ways that would better leverage our efforts and resources and better coordinate our programs and activities. 

Members:  

  • ChairDavid Joselit, Professor and Chair of Art, Film, and Visual Studies
  • Vijay Iyer, Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts, Department of Music
  • David Levine, Professor of the Practice, Department of English
  • LROD (Laura Rodriguez), Interim Head of Dance and Lecturer in Theater, Dance & Media
  • Nancy Shafman, Director of Administration, Department of Music
  • Katarina Burin, Associate Senior Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies
  • Joana Pimenta, Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies; Director of the Film Study Center; Director of Graduate Study for Critical Media Practice

 

4. Regions, Languages, and Cultural Histories

Charge: To review and assess the study of regions, of languages, and of cultural histories within the Arts & Humanities, paying particular attention to the integration of language acquisition with other curricular goals, with the aim of suggesting to the Strategic Planning Committee more effective structures for research, teaching, and learning about these subjects.  

Members

  • Chair: Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture; Harvard College Professor
  • Parimal Patil, Professor of Religion and Indian Philosophy; Chair of the Department of South Asian Studies
  • Raquel Vega-Duran, Senior Lecturer in Peninsular and Transatlantic Film and Literature; Faculty Chair of Ethnicity, Migration, Rights
  • Maria Luisa Parra-Velasco, Senior Preceptor in Spanish
  • Yuko Kageyama-Hunt, Senior Preceptor in Japanese
  • Carrie Mountain, Department Administrator, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
  • Naomi Weiss, Professor of the Classics; Director of Undergraduate Studies

 

5. Undergraduate Concentrations and Secondary Fields

Charge: To review the concentrations and secondary fields within A&H, looking for ways to improve opportunities for undergraduate engagement and learning. To discover better ways to provide apt and inviting educational experiences for undergraduates who will not pursue an advanced degree in the arts & humanities, while sustaining excellent scholarly preparation for those who will. To explore better ways of leveraging the teaching capacities of the faculty. To review the roles of our ladder faculty, non-ladder faculty, and staff in the curriculum with an eye toward identifying structural changes that will enhance the educational experience of our undergraduates and the professional development of the faculty. To consider opportunities to integrate A&H learning with Social Science, Science, and SEAS learning in the undergraduate curriculum. 

Members

  • Chair: Glenda Carpio, Professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Chair of the Department of English
  • Bruno Carvalho, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies
  • Jie Li, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
  • Samantha Matherne, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
  • Eleanor Craig, Administrative and Program Director for the Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights (EMR) and Lecturer in EMR and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
  • Nicolas Prevelakis, Assistant Director of Curricular Development, Center for Hellenic Studies; Associate Senior Lecturer on Social Studies
  • Naia Poyer, Undergraduate Program Coordinator, East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Strategic Planning Conversations - Spring 2023

 

Strategic Planning Conversations Handout Spring 2023.pdf102 KB