Throwing Himself Into The Job

President-designate Neil L. Rudenstine is hitting the ground running.

Since he was named Harvard's 26th president late last March, Rudenstine has been leading a strange and busy double life.

He spends Monday through Wednesday in New York, tying up loose ends at his old job as executive vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For the rest of the week, Rudenstine is in Cambridge preparing to take over at Massachusetts Hall.

He stays at the Charles Hotel, but he doesn't spend much time there. Working on an extremely tight schedule, Rudenstine enters his first meeting of the day as early as 7 a.m. and leaves his last one often well past 9 p.m.

In addition, colleagues say that Rudenstine uses a substantial amount of his time in New York for Harvard-related matters.

Alhough Rudenstine will not officially take over for outgoing President Derek C. Bok until July 1, he has already thrown himself into the job.

During the past few months, Rudenstine has been running around the University in an effort to meet and talk with as many people as possible. The president-designate has met with deans, professors, overseers, Corporation members, house masters, alumni groups and even undergraduates.

Rudenstine says that, although there is a certain "get acquainted side" to such meetings, they are usually more than just superficial introductions.

"The discussions are usually very substantive, so you find out what's on people's minds and what sorts of problems or issues and thoughts and suggestions there are out there and so on," he says. "So getting acquainted with the people leads to getting acquainted with the place."

Rudenstine has also begun to familiarize himself with the administrative structure of the institution and learn more about the big issues facing the school.

The five vice presidents have submitted brief transition reports to Rudenstine already and have introduced the president-designate to key officials in their respective departments.

In addition, Rudenstine has been attending almost all the weekly meetings of the vice-presidents, meetings that the president does not usually attend.

Administration officials are beginning to get a sense of how Rudenstine works--and they say they like what they see.

"The first signs, I think, are extremely positive," says Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54. "He listens very carefully. He hears and observes what is being said...and he comes to closure with issues."

"He likes to hear a lot of sides of a question. He seems to like to chew issues over with a group, such as during the vice president meetings," says Vice President for Administration Sally Zeckhauser.

People in Massachusetts Hall are working at a hectic pace, and the vice presidents say they are extremely busy, trying to help Bok finish up old business--mostly bureacratic details--and easing the transition by turning their attention to the Rudenstine agenda.

In addition to getting acquainted with Harvard, Rudenstine has been working hard to fill a number of soon-to-be-vacated, high-level University posts.

Although Rudenstine recently completed the search for a dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, there are still dean searches to conduct at the Graduate School of Education, the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Design. In addition, Rudenstine will probably have to pick a provost, find a new general counsel and lead a search for a new member of the Corporation.

With the FAS dean search complete, Rudenstine has more time to work on other tasks that are less action-oriented than running searches and more systematic than going around meeting the community.

"They're more deliberate efforts to try to get a bead on certain issues and think about how to proceed on a whole set of things," he says.

For example, Rudenstine is seriously discussing whether to create a provostship and has already drafted a memo making his case for such a new office.

In addition, Rudenstine has already initiated preliminary discussions on other topics--including the upcoming capital campaign, undergraduate education and house life. He says he plans to begin formulating specific proposals for action on such topics after he finally takes office on July 1.

Administrators say the transition process has gone smoothly so far and that they expect life to become a little easier once Rudenstine is in Massachusetts Hall full-time.

In October, Rudenstine will be officially installed as president in an elaborate and tradition-laden University ceremony. The immediate transition, Bok says, is more straightforward.

"I just don't show up one morning and he's here," Bok says.