In the next few years Spence's decision-makingpowers will come even more under scrutiny as hemust attempt to balance the immense timeconstraints which a major new fundraising campaignwill place on him with the never-ending daily workof the deanship.
To help ease the burden. Spence says he mayconsider adding associate deans to administerdifferent groups of disciplines while heincreasingly concentrates on the money-raisingaspects of his job.
"It is fair to say that I made a consciouschoice early on in a number of areas on theadministrative side to build up," says Spence,"and I guess `professionalize' is a fair word, forthe exclusive purpose of serving the needs of thefaculty as I saw them better."
But the burgeoning bureaucracy at UniversityHall is not without its critics within a facultycommitted to departmental autonomy.
"I would say the one complaint about hisadminstration is that the number of people in thedean's office seems to have multiplied more thanis really necessary," says Lee Professor ofEconomics Hendrik S. Houthakker. "I think he haspersonally overseen an undue expansion of thebureaucracy, and that becomes contrary to theHarvard tradition where there has not been alarge, central bureaucracy."
Going Places Slowly?
Spence has always been painted by hiscolleagues as a young man going places--quickly.His name has already been touted as a possiblecollege president at the University of Michiganand Princeton.
But the challenges of Harvard's deanship havealready taken their toll on that image of Spence.
Says Ozment, "You can't really be successful asan administrator if you're in a hurry. Peopledon't want you to do anything too fast...Theability to dawdle is an important one for a dean."
Matthew M. Hoffman contributed to thereporting of this article.