Sitting on the corner of Provost Albert Carnesale's desk in Mass. Hall are three wooden boxes labeled "IN," "OUT," and "TOO HARD." For Harvard's high level administrators, this is representative of Carnesale's good natured humor.

"He has the extraordinary ability to make the heavy, light," says Elizabeth C. "Beppie" Huidekoper, vice president for finance.

The "TOO HARD" basket is usually empty.

Those outside Mass. Hall who come into contact with the University's No. 2 officer's "direct, decision-centered approach" might point to another accessory on Carnesale's bookshelf: a coffee cup that reads "No more Mr. Nice Guy."

Carnesale has a history of wearing many hats. In 1994 he was acting-President, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Provost--simultaneously.

But while in the past year Carnesale has only carried the provostship, he has tackled issues as diverse--and difficult--as faculty and staff benefits, fund raising and information technology.

The viability of the provostship in a vastly decentralized bureaucracy was hotly debated among the Deans when Rudenstine resurrected the position in 1991. The debate increased after Rudenstine's first provost, University Professor Jerry R. Green, resigned in frustration three years later.

After another three years, Rudenstine credits Carnesale with ending the debate by carving a role for a Harvard president's right-hand.

"One can write a job description now," Rudenstine says.

On July 1, Carnesale will leave the University for the chancellorship of the University of California Los Angeles, and with him will go his nonsense approach. That same day, Harvey V. Fineberg '67, dean of the School of Public Health, will become Rudenstine's third provost in as many years, and, again, the necessity of a No. 2 academic administrator at Harvard is contested.

Carving the Role

Deans of the various Harvard faculties might be compared to lords of the manor in English fiefdom.

They have their own land, their own money and their own labor--and they are jealous of an encroachment on any one of the three.

So when Rudenstine revived the provost, it isn't surprising that the Deans grumbled at the prospect of losing their autonomy. And Green gave them good reason, issuing two reports rich with University-wide proposals that would have dramatically revamped centralized policies on retirement benefits and research funding--issues on which the lords of the nine castles expected to be consulted but were not.

When Green resigned unexpectedly and Carnesale stepped into his shoes, the position took on a new shape.

Previously the provost was a second step in the ladder of central administration hierarchy, another layer of bureaucracy. Now the provost and the president share the same box on the official Mass. Hall organizational chart.

"That was not just a mechanical and visual solution," says Associate Provost Dennis F. Thompson. "It actually represents the idea that people would come to either the president or the provost for decisions on most questions."

This architecture means that the division of labor between Harvard's top two administrators must be subtle and bridged by clear lines of communication.

Carnesale's exclusive duties include: planning the central budget; managing University Health Services and University Information Systems; directing Harvard's five inter-faculty initiatives; and developing Harvard's benefits, labor and retirement policies.

His tasks exceed those of provosts at most universities, where the position is mainly academic, and after Rudenstine returned from his leave of absence in the fall of 1994, Carnesale picked up a number of other duties, particularly fundraising.

In contrast, Rudenstine typically handles ad hoc tenure committees, fundraising and the task of being the University's chief ambassador to the outside world.

But there is far from a territorial allotment of jobs: Carnesale and Rudenstine consult often. If Harvard weren't the wealthiest University in the world and wasn't able to afford frequent replacements, the carpet between Carnesale and Rudenstine's offices would be worn thin. Rudenstine says that the two visit each other three or four times a day and often talk on the phone.

"The presidency is a very big job for [Rudenstine], and to have help offloading things, it spreads a very big job out," says Jerome T. Murphy, dean of Graduate School of Education.

Synergy

The close working relationship would have fallen apart, say some, without a jigsaw fit between the two chief administrators' philosophies of leadership.

Rudenstine is an academic, a professor of poetry, and he tackles issues abstractly, with a vision of the greater picture. Carnesale is a nuclear engineer, known best for his ability to devour problems as they land on his plate, one after another.

"[Rudenstine] tends to be reflective and conceptual, he wants to take in all the nuances of the problem. [Carnesale] wants to look at the bottom line, what the operational procedure should be," Thompson says, adding that there is some overlap between the two.

The combination is complementary, resulting in a more well-rounded executive authority.

"It's a real partnership," says Rudenstine, who was provost at Princeton earlier in his career.

In choosing his next provost, Rudenstine made his decision quickly. Typical Rudenstine searches for deans or University vice-presidents have stretched for months, some for over a year, but Fineburg was appointed a mere 28 days after Carnesale stepped down. Rudenstine also left nothing to chance, considering only three high-ranking officials in the University and considering no one who did not already possess a tremendous working knowledge of the University.

Many say the reason the search was so short was that with Carnesale, Rudenstine grew dependent on an assertive second-in-charge, and the possibility of spending months without a provost after Carnesale's departure would have been disastrous.

"To put it mildly, Al Carnesale was not a 'yes man,'" Murphy says.

As well, the lesson of the Green provostship was that Rudenstine demands a full partner in this administrative marriage. Rudenstine and Carnesale have been friends for two decades.

Carnesale's decision to accept the chancellorship at UCLA took Mass. Hall observers by surprise, and many Mass. Hall administrators--including Rudenstine--spent the weekend prior to the announcement trying to convince him to change his mind, sources say.

Because Carnesale's good friend and known-quantity status proved such important factors in the success of the Carnesale-Rudenstine relationship, the choice of Fineburg was appropriate. Rudenstine and Fineberg are good friends, and despite the remoteness the Public Health dean's Longwood campus office, Fineberg has kept strongly in touch with University-wide issues.

"He's a superb person, a superb human being, all the right values, all the right concerns about the institution and the people," Rudenstine said of Fineberg when he appointed him provost.

The Ox

If you come to meet Carnesale, bring a firm handshake and a healthy store of determination. A towering bear of a man, he greets you with a shock of anarchic white hair and a ruddy face with a stiffly mischievous grin. Unlike Rudenstine's office, which is a picture right out of a designer's catalogue, Carnesale's has a certain stoic feel to it, with no personal effects or complications in decor--bearing a striking resemblance to how he handles issues.

His persona can alternate from the professorial to the cagey. Pressing Carnesale on a controversial issue is a lot like wrestling an alligator: it's hard to get a grip, and just when you think you have one, he slips away.

"[I]t was never quite evident to me where he was coming from," says Donene Williams, president of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW).

Despite constant collaboration, some activities fall more exclusively in Carnesale's court than in Rudenstine's, particularly when it comes to trouble areas.

Sources say Rudenstine handles employment problems, feuds and tensions at the highest levels of the University with deans, vice presidents and tenure prospects. In fact, Rudenstine is said to protect Carnesale from these disputes.

Carnesale handles larger employment problems that require the skills of a master negotiator rather than the delicacy of someone who works well one-on-one. It's the art of conflict versus that of compromise.

Earlier in his career, Carnesale helped negotiate nuclear arms treaties for the U.S. government. Today he brings those skills to bear on his work with Harvard's unions and in handling other quicksands of the University.

For instance, earlier this year, responsibility for the Office of Information Technology (OIT) was transferred from the vice president of finance to the provost. The move was in part a reflection of information technology's increased importance in the University.

But Carnesale, as part of the transfer, was put in charge of a complete restructuring of the OIT--including the termination of 93 employees--because of his negotiation abilities and his talent in handling rough issues such as this one, a source said. Then-vice president of finance Alan J. Proctor was unable to stomach the administrative drudgery necessary to construct compromise in Harvard's terminally decentralized environment.

Carnesale also handled complications earlier this year with HUCTW. His stern negotiations sparked a multi-month picket with HUCTW employees greeting Carnesale each morning, sometimes with cutouts of his head on sticks.

Wild Thicket

Though Carnesale spends a great deal of time cleaning up the President's administrative headaches, some have pointed out that the work of coordinating Harvard's nine faculties--the other half of his job--has gone undone.

Though he is credited with the institution and coordination of the five inter-faculty initiatives, some critics say he has done nothing more to coordinate Harvard's disperse faculties. This is due in part to Harvard's climate of decentralization, but some argue that it what Rudenstine wants in a provost.

"That's not the job I took," Green says. "It's very limited, a miscellaneous set of activities."

But some have asked if Rudenstine has realized what he needs from a provost. It was Carnesale the man, the decision-maker, who made the provostship what it is, and with the dynamic of Carnesale-Rudenstine hinging so much on their respective leadership styles, it is unclear if Fineberg, while having mastered the fiefdom, can be co-majesty of the kingdom.

Fineberg's office is more a comfortable living room, with a desk recessed in a corner, out of sight. His large glasses and unrestrained smile give him an academic, owl-like look, which matches well his four Harvard degrees.

Like Carnesale, he, too, watches his words and wit, but he does so with a softer, more personable touch, without the ox-like force of a man who can clear administrative hassles like so many acres of tangled prairie. How he will negotiate the vast and wild thicket remains to be seen.

Rudenstine reflected on the lessons he learned from his two provosts when he chose Fineberg.

"It's job description that is reasonably coherent, and the tasks are known," Rudenstine says.

"The number of people who have the required kinds of experience, temperment, knowledge of the institution and talent is a very small pool," he adds. "It's not a postion in which you want to place an untested person."