President-designate Neil L. Rudenstine is hitting the ground running.
Since he was named Harvard's 26th president late last March, Rudenstine has been leading a strange and busy double life.
He spends Monday through Wednesday in New York, tying up loose ends at his old job as executive vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For the rest of the week, Rudenstine is in Cambridge preparing to take over at Massachusetts Hall.
He stays at the Charles Hotel, but he doesn't spend much time there. Working on an extremely tight schedule, Rudenstine enters his first meeting of the day as early as 7 a.m. and leaves his last one often well past 9 p.m.
In addition, colleagues say that Rudenstine uses a substantial amount of his time in New York for Harvard-related matters.
Alhough Rudenstine will not officially take over for outgoing President Derek C. Bok until July 1, he has already thrown himself into the job.
During the past few months, Rudenstine has been running around the University in an effort to meet and talk with as many people as possible. The president-designate has met with deans, professors, overseers, Corporation members, house masters, alumni groups and even undergraduates.
Rudenstine says that, although there is a certain "get acquainted side" to such meetings, they are usually more than just superficial introductions.
"The discussions are usually very substantive, so you find out what's on people's minds and what sorts of problems or issues and thoughts and suggestions there are out there and so on," he says. "So getting acquainted with the people leads to getting acquainted with the place."
Rudenstine has also begun to familiarize himself with the administrative structure of the institution and learn more about the big issues facing the school.
The five vice presidents have submitted brief transition reports to Rudenstine already and have introduced the president-designate to key officials in their respective departments.
In addition, Rudenstine has been attending almost all the weekly meetings of the vice-presidents, meetings that the president does not usually attend.
Administration officials are beginning to get a sense of how Rudenstine works--and they say they like what they see.
"The first signs, I think, are extremely positive," says Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54. "He listens very carefully. He hears and observes what is being said...and he comes to closure with issues."
"He likes to hear a lot of sides of a question. He seems to like to chew issues over with a group, such as during the vice president meetings," says Vice President for Administration Sally Zeckhauser.
