As the new dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) sees it, he's in the same boat with the students beginning their graduate careers.

Mason Professor of Music Christoph Wolff said he is just getting comfortable after two weeks in his new office.

"I'm just trying to deal with the reduced activity as a scholar and teacher," Wolff says. "But the administrative chores are interesting and fascinating. They show a different perspective of academic life."

While Wolff officially replaced former Dean Brendan A. Maher last July, he only assumed his role two weeks ago upon returning from his native Germany.

He has inherited a school that faces financial and academic challenges, but is undergoing a renaissance in student body cohesiveness and activism.

Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles says he selected Wolff for the deanship last spring because of the music professor's ability to handle the position's broad scope of responsibilities.

"I was looking for someone who is experienced, thoughtful and eclectic," Knowles says. "The eclectic is important because he has to cover everything from anthropology to zoology."

Wolff, who first came to Harvard in 1976 as a professor of music history, has accumulated extensive administrative experience while in Cambridge. He has served as chair of the music department for eight years, and last year filled in as acting director of University libraries.

While concerned with the school's financial matters, Wolff has also pledged to make the deanship a position from which he can better relate to department chairs and assess the progress of the individual graduate programs.

"In previous years there has been less of an opportunity for the chairs to interact with the deans, as the office was regarded as primarily financial," Wolff says. "But I would like to deal with individual academic progress, which is what graduate school is all about."

Although Wolff says that he is looking forward to increasing his administrative activity, he admits his first love will always be his academic endeavors. In addition to his administrative duties, Wolff will teach a graduate seminar in music history and advise several dissertations.

Wolff says he will stress his desire to interact with students when he addresses the graduate school this Friday. He says he will announce open office hours and an improved advising system.

In addition, he says he wants to foster a greater unity among graduate students by revamping the student government and extending Dudley House's function as the center for graduate life on campus.

"Graduate life can be lonely, and the isolation in which [students] work is not very productive," he said. "I would like to create more of a community."

One of his advisees, Kathryn J. Welter, a fourth year graduate student and the president of the Graduate Student Council, says Wolff will be able to continue the commitment to the students shown by Maher, the previous dean.