"We're different in that our [department] head is the dean," Hutchinson said. " He's been tremendously effective, he's been working very hard."

A Crowded Social Group

Psychology is one of the few concentrations at the College that can match the phenomenal growth rate of CS.

The concentration has grown from 282 concentrators during the 1995-1996 year to 427 concentrators this year, according to Undergraduate Program Administrator Shawn C. Harriman.

And, just like in the CS program, the sheer increase in numbers has hit the department across the board.

"Our numbers have increased to such a large extent in the last several years," Harriman says, "But our faculty, our number of courses, our building and lab space, and our grad student population--not one has increased [to match the new demand]. We're feeling a stress across the board."

Advising for seniors has experienced the greatest distress over the last several years. The number of thesis writers has grown from 28 to 58 in the last five years.

But the number of faculty--junior and senior members--has declined slightly. This year, the number of active faculty is 20, compared to 24 in 1995.

"We have felt the growth most strongly in our increased number of senior theses," department chair Professor Daniel L. Schacter writes in an e-mail message. "We're glad to see more undergraduates in research, but it does stretch our faculty resources."

The advising system been revamped to ensure that all concentrators have at least an in-House graduate student adviser, who also usually serves as a sophomore tutor and who signs study cards, answers questions.

The department has also looked beyond departmental faculty in the concentration to help with the influx of senior thesis writers.

"We're bringing grad students who are often great researchers in their own right into the thesis process along with faculty," Harriman says.

The department has also instituted a Board of Honors Tutors, which consists primarily of faculty and researchers at the Harvard Medical School, to serve as single or co-advisers for senior theses.

Harriman says students can benefit from a seasoned researcher as an advisor, as well as from having access to better facilities at the Medical Office.

"It's often the case with [Mind, Brain and Behavior]-track students that the Medical school laboratories are the ideal places for students to do neuroscience theses," Harriman says.

Harriman says the department hopes to expand the program to include researchers at the Harvard Business School to help students who are interested in social or organizational psychology.