Many participants in the Harvard community might place it squarely in the dark ages, but the ancient and venerable custom of awarding feudal estates and lordly priveleges to the deserving few no longer parallels the choosing of House masterships.

Whether it ever did so is an open question, but now a Harvard House mastership is less than a universally coveted prize, judging by the headaches and delays faced by several Houses last year in finding new masters. Four Houses have new masters this year, while two acting co-master couples have just assumed permanent posts. Two other pairs are returning from leaves, and one is serving for a master now on leave.

The turnover rate for masters has jumped to a new and glaring high, when compared to the past when masters stayed with their Houses so long that one could envision the ivy practically creeping over them.

The longest-reigning head of a House, Charles Dunn of Quincy, is entering his tenth year as master. Alan E. Heimert '49, at Eliot, has the second longest tenure, and even the Vorenbergs, who have been at Dunster just three years, say they feel like veterans under the wave of new masters this year.

The 13 masters are briefly profiled here, as they respond to questions about the changing role of their positions.

Adams House

Richard and Joanne Kronauer

While Robert J. Kiely, professor of English and master of Adams House is taking a year off in Cambridge, England to write, Richard E. Kronauer, Gordon McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering and his wife take over the mastership and will live in Apthorp House, the traditional residence of Adams House masters.

Kronauer will be dividing his time between his paper-strewn desk in Pierce Hall beyond the Science Center and Adams House. He is interested in biomedical physics, including breathing patterns and vision and will teach a large lecture course, Applied Mathematics 105a, "Techniques in Applied Mathematics."

The gray-haired scientist, who has spent his last 29 years at Harvard will be in a peculiar position, but its peculiarity makes it ideal for him. Masters are seldom involved in science or research as Kronauer is, primarily because researchers can't afford the time that is required of masters.

Kronauer can't really afford it either but he says he is willing to sacrifice some of his research for this academic year to experience house mastership. He will be seeing his students in a social and community context as well as an academic and intellectual context. Kronauer feels that it's worth sacrificing some of his research, at least for one year, to have better contact with students.

There won't be many changes under Kronauer's command. He is acutely aware that his position is temporary. "Master Kiely is coming back in a year," Kronauer said. "It's not my role to make any major changes."

Although Kronauer has never held a large administrative position in the University, he does have a solid idea of the master's function, which he sees as primarily social. "The master tries to make the social aspects of education as rich and rewarding as possible. The House is a special place for students to get to know each other and faculty on a friendly, informal basis," he added.

The 51-year-old Kronauer was graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey in 1947 with a degree in mechanical engineering and then came to Harvard, where he was awarded a Masters of Science degree in 1948 and a Ph.D in 1951.

In the past, Kronauer devoted much of his non-teaching time to research but this year much of that time will be spent on Adams House-related functions and activities. "It's clear that the time this position demands gives you less time for the professional pursuits that Harvard values highly," Kronauer said. "I recognized this when I accepted," he added.