If Knowles waits too long, it may be difficult to find someone in time to fill the deanship for the 1995-96 school year.

Columbia College is currently looking to fill the same position. An advertisement in Sunday's New York Times listed the application deadline for the Dean of Columbia College and Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Education as February 15. The dean would have to start by July 1, the ad said.

Harvard's new dean would have to move into University Hall by a similar time. Traditionally, newly hired Harvard administrators have begun their jobs on July 1.

Budget Letter

Finding a dean of the College--and deciding what he or she will do--is not the only overdue item on Knowles' agenda.

The dean's budget letter, which outlines the state of Faculty of Arts and Science finances and is traditionally sent in the first days of December, was not ready for the mid-December faculty meeting.

At that meeting, Knowles apologized for not having written the letter and said he planned to write it over winter break.

But Monday, he said he had written "one pathetic paragraph" of the letter and was not sure when he would complete it.

If Knowles, a known workaholic, tries to find enough time to catch up with all his overdue work as well as complete his new, Rudenstine may not be the only administrator feeling fatigued