CORRECTION APPENDED

Provost Steven E. Hyman has agreed to stay on when Drew G. Faust takes over as University president on July 1, according to a letter sent to vice presidents, deans, and other senior administrators yesterday.

“I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Steve on a variety of matters over the last five years, and I very much look forward to working even more closely with him in Massachusetts Hall,” Faust wrote in the letter obtained by The Crimson. “I am confident that we can continue to build momentum on a variety of initiatives of crucial importance to the University.”

Faust wrote that she was “very pleased” that Hyman agreed to serve as her deputy, praising his “extraordinary dedication and effectiveness on a broad range of university matters.”

Before Faust was tapped to serve as Harvard’s 28th president earlier this month, Hyman was considered a finalist for the job.

Hyman did not return requests for comment last night, but last week he called Faust a “great choice.”

“It has been a great pleasure to work with her for my 5 years as provost and I look forward to working closely with her in the future to keep moving Harvard forward,” Hyman wrote in an e-mail.

Under Hyman, the provost’s office has more than doubled in size. When he was appointed in 2001, Hyman oversaw five administrators; the office now includes a senior vice provost, three vice provosts, two senior associate provosts, three associate provosts, an assistant provost, and a deputy provost.

Some members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences have been critical of the expansion, questioning the value of the newly created posts. But Hyman and his staff have said this growth is due in large part to new responsibilities—such as the Allston expansion and University-wide diversity and science initiatives—that have fallen under the provost’s purview.

Robert D. Putnam, a former Kennedy School of Government dean, said that central administrators will need to assume a “strong facilitative role”—not “top-down bureaucratic control”—in order to move the University forward and encourage schools to work together.

“President Faust was renowned at Radcliffe for using a ‘light-touch’ networking approach, and I’m hopeful she’ll bring that innovative strategy to Mass. Hall,” Putnam, the Malkin professor of public policy, wrote in an e-mail.

Over the past year, Hyman has shared some presidential duties with Interim President Derek C. Bok. Hyman has served on roughly half of the University’s committees reviewing candidates for tenure this year, and he has been more actively involved in fundraising than he was under former president Lawrence H. Summers.

Hyman has also had a hand in advising search committees that are exploring possible candidates for the deanships of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Design, and Harvard Medical School, and for the post of University librarian—all positions that Faust is expected to fill in the coming months.

The relatively high rate of administrative turnover this spring means that Hyman, who was appointed in 2001, will be one of the longest-tenured top administrators at Harvard come July. Only Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser, appointed in 1988, and School of Public Health Dean Barry R. Bloom, named to his post in 1998, will have served longer if they remain in their positions.

Deputy Provost for Administration Eric Buehrens ’75 said yesterday that the July 1 transition will be a “team effort,” with Hyman playing a large role. “Clearly he’s going to be an important player, as well as some of the vice presidents,” Buehrens said.

The position of provost was created under former University President Nathan M. Pusey ’28. When Pusey assumed the presidency in 1953, Provost Paul Buck, who was serving concurrently as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, stepped down, and the position went vacant for almost forty years. Former University President Neil L. Rudenstine reinstated the post when he took over in 1991. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Hyman will be the first Harvard provost in the short history of the position to serve under multiple presidents.

—Javier C. Hernandez contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Laurence H. M. Holland can be reached at lholland@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION
Due to an editing error, the Feb. 22 news article "Hyman Will Remain Provost" incorrectly stated that the position of provost was created under former Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey '28. In fact, it was President James B. Conant '14 who appointed Harvard's first provost, Paul Buck.