Word: dean
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Ozment says this ability to "harmonize a group"is the most important quality for a dean at aschool as tradition-bound as Harvard. "The lastthing you want to do is stand out as anindividual. Mike Spence has that special gift,that skill," says Ozment, who worked closely withSpence as a former associate dean forundergraduate education...
...first five years the institution isinvesting in the dean, and the payoff is notimmediate because there are a lot of things tolearn," says Associate Dean for Academic PlanningPhyllis Keller, one of Spence's chief assistants."And he has set out to learn them all, trying toeducate himself about what the needs of theCollege are, really to the end of the century...
...always the scholar, Spence also analyzedthe demographic and economic trends which willaffect faculty hiring in the coming decades. Hisconclusion--that the only way for Harvard toremain competitive was for FAS to tenure more ofits own junior faculty--led to what he hopes willhis most substantial contribution as dean...
Spence's only previous administrativeexperience had been as chair of the EconomicsDepartment from 1983 till he became dean, and hehad not made a name for himself in that capacity,professors...
Says Ozment, "You can't really be successful asan administrator if you're in a hurry. Peopledon't want you to do anything too fast...Theability to dawdle is an important one for a dean...