On Jan. 1, 2001, Drew Gilpin Faust, a world renowned historian, made history herself.

Faust became the first permanent dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study on Monday and will be the only woman to sit on the University's dean's council, made up of the heads of each of Harvard's 10 schools.

Faust, formerly Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, was named last spring as Radcliffe's next leader and replaces Acting Dean Mary Maples Dunn.

Though still teaching at Penn last spring and into this fall, Faust has been slowly assuming the helm of Radcliffe, involved in the discussions and decisions that will shape the newly formed institute.

Soon after her appointment was announced, Faust said she saw her--and Radcliffe's--role at Harvard as an "agitator" for women's interests at the University.

But yesterday, Faust said, "I see my responsibilities at the dean's council will be to learn, look and to ask questions that might cause [the other deans] to see things in a different light."

In her oval shaped office yesterday, the new dean painted a picture of Radcliffe as an academic community devoted to intellectual pursuits across a great many disciplines, with a special focus on the study of women, gender, and society, a field that Faust feels "has not been the strongest" at Harvard.

While the nature of the institute will largely be hers to shape, Faust must also decide how involved Radcliffe wants to be with undergraduates.