John Harvard's Journal

HarvardX and HILT—bringing the Univer- advantage of technology to make Harvard incorporate HarvardX-like modules and sity’s principal vehicles for pedagogical in- teaching accessible worldwide for the first digital content—helping along the merg- novation together with its central research time—a potential that has excited many ing of lessons from online approaches with group for designing experiments in teach- faculty members. The largest benefit from residential classroom practice. ing and learning. HarvardX so far may be that the courses Lest this appear threatening to other As Carswell professor of East Asian are “not just back-of-the-class lecture cap- modes of learning, Bol hastened to add languages and literatures, Bol has taught ture” on video. Instead, participating fac- that the evidence on the effectiveness of seminars and large lectures, adopted digi- ulty members have been explicit about their active learning (in-class problem sets, for tized and online content in his classes, and educational objectives, and about exploring instance) does not, by formula, mean that co-developed the multi-module ChinaX the best way to achieve them. Such practices the lecture will expire. He stressed the im- offering online. (He is also a director of apply equally to the classroom, broadening portance of determining what any course Inc.) Recalling his own professors’ awareness of what they must do aims to teach, and where lecturing or ac- student days (when images of China were to encourage and enable students to learn. tive learning or machine-guided adap- projected from glass slides) and the evolu- On the very near horizon is broad adop- tive learning may be most effective. Large tion of his own teaching, he said that edu- tion of the Canvas learning-management General Education lectures (and their de- cation innovation has been continuous at system, the classroom course platform partmental equivalents) have a distinct, Harvard. Rather than worry that the early now being rolled out across Harvard. Un- enduring value. Acquiring information and investment in MOOCs has not yet trans- like earlier course websites, which pro- mastering certain bodies of knowledge, he formed classrooms across the campus, he vided requirements and a syllabus, and said, may not be the point of a literature or pointed to active and experiential learning sometimes links to readings or other mate- philosophy course. in many disciplines; new kinds of hands- rials, Canvas can be used to create a dash- “We need to discriminate among learn- on labs; the spread of case teaching across board enabling students to see frequent ing goals, teaching modes, and the ap- schools; and wide instructor interest and assessments of their work, and teachers to propriate standards for each,” Bol said. In involvement in HILT through conferences, see in real time whether students are pro- the current era, with more teaching and grants, biweekly teaching-practice news- gressing. Such speedy feedback, if proven assessment tools, richer technology, and letters, and more. effective, could be “an area where we’re large-scale and seminar-size courses being “How can we improve teaching and prepared to make a significant invest- taught side by side, the menu of options is learning for everyone?” he asked, and take ment,” Bol said. Over time, the system can longer than ever. vjohn s. rosenberg

clude financial aid and clinical education, the assembly of alumni, faculty, and stu- Harvard Law Weighs In both deemed critical to the school’s mis- dents broke up to attend presentations on As legal education and the profession sion of advancing justice, increasingly international human rights, corporate gov- face substantial change—with law gradu- among the underserved. Since her appoint- ernance, the making of a civil-rights law- ates’ careers developing in increasingly var- ment in 2009, Dean Martha Minow said in yer, and the school’s veterans legal clinic ied, often global, contexts—Harvard Law an earlier interview, the school has nearly (founded in 2012 with twin goals of peda- School (HLS) kicked off its “Campaign for tripled spending on financial aid and loan gogy and service). TED-type faculty talks, the Third Century” on October 23, becom- forgiveness. Meanwhile, clinical education, 10 minutes or less each, followed. In the ing the last school to unveil its fundraising which gives students hands-on experience, evening, President Drew Faust touched on ambitions within the University’s $6.5-bil- often through work with low-income cli- HLS’s history (its bicentennial is in 2017) lion capital campaign. At the celebratory ents, has become more important in the and future, noting its impact in producing dinner following afternoon speeches and curriculum, despite the added expense of presidents, senators, Supreme Court jus- panel discussions that its low student-to-fac- tices, and CEOs. “We need the Law School hinted at transforma- ulty ratios. and the extraordinary leaders it creates,” tions in practice and Increasingly, gradu- she said. “We need the clarity that it brings pedagogy, campaign co- ates enter fields out- to confusing and divisive times. We need chair James A. Attwood side the legal profes- its capacity to civilize, and we need law- Jr., J.D.-M.B.A. ’84, an- sion. As if to illustrate, yers wise in their calling.” nounced a $305-million U.S. senator Mark Noting the school’s growing number campaign goal—and re- School aw Warner, J.D. ’80, of Vir- of international students, Dean Minow vealed that the develop- ginia, a businessman touted the global reach of its skills-based ment staff had not been L arvard (he was an early inves- curriculum. “The value of high-quality y of H of y idle during the protract- s tor in Nextel) and later legal education, the need for legal order,

ed “silent phase” of fun- ourte a politician, kicked off have never been more apparent. The hun- draising: $241 million (79 C the launch-day lun- ger for justice around the world has never percent) had already cheon by saying, “I’ve been greater….We do and we must include been given or pledged. Martha Minow never practiced a day the imperative of advancing justice in our

HLS priorities in- Martha Stewart/ of law.” After lunch, core mission, in our reform efforts, and our

26 January - February 2016 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 preparation of students” so that they can sciences complex in Allston (see page 28) $160 million sought for “education,” as the “solve hard problems and imagine better —some part of which might well be fund- school implements its new M.D. course of worlds.” ed with debt; financial aid and other criti- study (see “Rethinking the Medical Cur- For more on the campaign launch, and cal support for schools with alumni largely riculum,” September-October 2015, page the challenges facing law schools, see har- clustered in lower-paying professions; 17). The campaign’s conclusion, it was dis- vardmag.com/hls-16. cross-school scholarly and pedagogical closed in November, will rest with a new collaborations; and projects such as the dean (see page 33). The Campaign, Comprehensively conversion of part of Holyoke Center into With HLS’s goal now public, the nomi- . Klarman, Cabot, and nal allocation of objectives under The Har- Since the last progress report (“$6 Bil- Library Largesse vard Campaign’s umbrella lines up this lion-Plus,” November-December 2015, Meanwhile, the fruits of donor support way: Faculty of Arts and Sciences (includ- page 20), two other schools have detailed continue to appear. The business school— ing nonbuilding priorities for engineering their results. The Kennedy School said it with open and Chao Center con- and applied sciences), $2.5 billion; Busi- had secured gifts totaling $460 million as struction well along (both are focused on ness School, $1.0 billion; Medical School, of last September 30; its extensive cam- executive education)—has filed the plans $750 million; Kennedy School, $500 million; pus expansion, previously reported as for Klarman Hall and the associated “G2 School of Public Health, $450 million; HLS, budgeted at about $125 million (for which Pavilion.” The two-part project will yield a $305 million; Graduate School of Education, fundraising was to have been completed new 1,000-seat auditorium, with contem- $250 million; Graduate School of Design, $110 before breaking ground), now is shown porary communications and media gear million; Radcliffe Institute, $70 million; Di- as having realized $90 million in support (81,100 square feet of new construction). vinity School, $50 million, Dental School, $8 toward a goal of $155 million. The medical Once that is built, 18,000 to 24,000 square million—a total of nearly $6 billion. school reported fundraising of $475 million feet of meeting and classroom space will be That would make the central adminis- as of September 30—63 percent of the goal. erected separately, in part on the site of Bur- tration parts of the campaign, and goals Gifts and pledges to support research and den Hall, the 1971 auditorium designed by not otherwise associated with a school, discovery, the largest campaign aim at $500 architect Philip Johnson ’27, B.Arch. ’43. The a half-billion dollars. These include pri- million, have reached $318 million; some naming gift, from Seth Klarman, M.B.A. ’82, orities such as the engineering and applied $37 million has been realized toward the and Beth Klarman, was announced in June

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Harvard Magazine 27 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 's Journal

Back to brick: a rendering of the fore the financial crisis, has been even demoralizing transition to a shared Business School’s Klarman Hall shorn of meeting and conference administrative system, new financial mod- facilities, so Klarman Hall repre- el, and unitary collecting and services be- sents another possible synergy gun in 2012. According to figures provided between the business and engi- by the library system, its fiscal year 2009

chool neering schools. and 2015 expenditures and full-time equiv-

ss s In Cambridge, the faculty alent staffing were $123 million and $111 mil- ine s

u group responsible for reenvi- lion, and 1,094 people and 741, respectively. sioning the undergraduates’ Those changes reflect both the transfer of

arvard b Cabot Science Library has un- functions (human resources, technology, veiled a “design brief” for redo- and so on) to other parts of the Univer- y of H s ing the first floor of the Science sity, and consolidations, retirements, and

courte Center, integrating the library, downsizing. Expenditures on materials Cabot Science Library and environs, Greenhouse Café, and court- were $46.5 million in the earlier year, and reimagined for today’s student researchers yards “to create a dynamic, 24- $45.9 million last year—a rising share of the hour student commons and a budget. Now, the library system is pursu- s technology-integrated library,” ing a $150-million campaign aimed at col-

rchitect complete with “mobile discov- lections, spaces, staff, digitization, and

m A ery bar.” Construction is to be- preservation; $52 million has been secured, la gin after Commencement; the Thomas reported. She is proceeding on work is funded by Penny Pritz- projects ranging from the Cabot makeover ker ’81, who was slated for a and information services for the new engi-

k Scogin Merrill E leadership role in the campaign neering complex to a prospective purchase

Mac before her appointment as U.S. of space in a depository facility in Prince- 2014. The work will also yield an enlarged Secretary of Commerce. ton shared with that university, Columbia, central campus green. Construction is ten- The library system more generally is also and the New York Public Library; given its tatively planned from early this year until in campaign mode. Sarah Thomas, vice continuing acquisitions, Harvard’s library August 2018—preceding the engineering president for the and Uni- system contemplates exhausting the stor- and science center across Western Avenue. versity Librarian, reported to the Faculty of age space in its own Massachusetts deposi- The latter complex, simpler and smaller than Arts and Sciences in early November that tory within the next several years. the four-building design being pursued be- the system had weathered the difficult and vjonathan shaw and john s. rosenberg

Harvard Medical School, par- Engineering a ticularly in the quantitative- School’s Future leaning systems biology and biomedical informatics de- One hundred days into his new posi- partments. tion as dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson He sees enormous oppor- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences tunity for more cross-school (SEAS), and after consultation with faculty collaboration. SEAS offers a members in the school and across the Uni- collaborative degree with the versity, Francis “Frank” J. Doyle III shared Graduate School of Design, insights into SEAS’s future during an au- but Doyle says Harvard has tumn conversation. “arguably the world’s lead- Computer science, in which he will ing business school,…medical make 10 senior appointments, will grow in school, and…law school”—all Allston, when much of the school occupies with professors eager to ex- new quarters at the end of the decade (see plore potential partnerships below). The department, strong already with engineers. As one ex- in the theoretical realm, looks to add ex- ample, he points to the many pertise in applied directions like machine faculty members through- Francis J. Doyle III learning and optimization (developing ef- out the University who are ficient solutions for problems: a simple ex- working in some way on climate change. sues, legal issues, computing, data-privacy ample is how to get from point A to point Like climate change, “The nature of issues.” Personalized medicine, for ex- B in the shortest time). Bioengineering, a these big challenges in [engineering] re- ample, is bound to affect the healthcare relatively small presence now, is poised search going forward,” Doyle asserts, “is discussion, get into legal issues of privacy, for growth, perhaps with collaborators at that they are going to touch on policy is- and have an entrepreneurial dimension,

28 January - February 2016 Photograph by Eliza Grinnell/Courtesy of Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746