Word: departmentment
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Thomas C. Schelling was on an Economics Department senior search committee in 1976, he wanted Harvard to hire a Stanford economist named A. Michael Spence.
The problem: Many members of the department were reluctant to tenure Spence because they were not familiar with the young scholar's work, Schelling says.
"I delivered 20-some copies of Mike's book to members of the department and said, `read it over the weekend,' and they did," Schelling recounts. "By the meeting on Tuesday they were, I would say, wildly enthusiastic--because they had read the book."
Schelling's story paints a revealing picture of the young Mike Spence--the 40-year-old wunderkind who became dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences after a rapid rise in Harvard'sEconomics Department.
"He has a very broad view of Harvard and of theFAS, and he takes the long view on what isimportant," says Kennedy School Dean Robert D.Putnam, who worked closely with Spence as theformer chair of the Government Department.