Knowles says that when he declined Bok's offer of the deanship, he was sure the offer to occupy the Dean's University Hall office would not be repeated. However, he says he was "too young" and still had much to contribute to science before giving up his research.

Bok recalls that Knowles cited his research as the primary reason for turning down the dean's job.

"When he was asked to be dean, he replied, 'This is really not the best time for me to leave the lab,' which is a really nice reaction to get," Bok says.

But the offer was extended again in 1991. Bok was leaving the presidency, and Rosovsky, who had served as acting Dean of FAS after A. Michael Spence left, was also stepping down.

The administration needed a new dean who could work well with the incoming president, Neil L. Rudenstine. The successful candidate also faced the rising FAS budget deficit, which totaled $12 million at the time.

Knowles had met Rudenstine when he served on a visiting committee at Princeton University, where Rudenstine was the provost. The two men did not know each other well, but a good deal of mutual respect existed between them, Knowles remembers.

"At the age of 56, suddenly, you're given something new," he says, explaining his decision to leave his lab and accept the Dean's job.

Named Dean of FAS on Class Day, 1991, Knowles's first task was to eliminate the Faculty's deficit. He accomplished this through attrition, staff cuts and austerity.

Now kept in the bottom drawer of his desk, "Jeremy's Yellow Bars," a bar graph showing the shrinking deficit, was a well-known visual aid to Knowles' struggle to curb the debt.

Knowles says the key to reducing the deficit rapidly was "saying no" to new Faculty appointments and other expensive projects.

He also notes proudly that he cut the FAS staff by nearly 10 percent in six years.

The Faculty's deficit is now gone. Other administrators attribute the current financial health of FAS to Knowles's firm hand.

"There was an unwillingness to spend," remembers Secretary of the Faculty John B. Fox Jr. '59, who served as dean of the College from 1976 to 1983. "He's still extremely cautious in spending."

According to Fox, Knowles's financial management is his greatest achievement as dean.

"He's done a terrific job having gotten financial control over the FAS budget," says Jeffrey Wolcowitz, the assistant dean for undergraduate education. "Now we're seeing this turning point when suddenly there is money to be spent and choices to be made."