Apparently, 650 just isn't enough. Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles announced last week that he hopes to increase the overall size of the Faculty over the next five years.

New Faculty hires could result in more course offerings for students, not to mention a lower student-faculty ratio. At 8:1, Harvard's ratio currently ranks behind both Princeton's and Yale's.

"This is, I think, the lever that will allow us to improve the quality of the educational experience for both our undergraduates and our graduate students," Knowles said shortly before the announcement.

Knowles says a larger Faculty would have tangible benefits for the student body.

"In the long term, I should like to hope (for example) that every freshman might enjoy a seminar course, and that our graduate students might enjoy more 'research apprenticeship' experiences (particularly in the humanities and social sciences)," he writes in an e-mail message.

And according to Knowles, increased Faculty size will help over-worked Faculty members as well.

"Our faculty are more stretched than colleagues in many other universities, and I want both to improve the quality of the educational experience for our students and the quality of life of the faculty," he writes in an e-mail message.

Knowles' announcement came at the first full Faculty meeting of the academic year, and only two weeks after administrators announced that they have raised over $2.325 billion in the University's five year Capital Campaign.