While many of the details of the deal have yet to be decided, Radcliffe officials said they've been assured that jobs will not be lost because of Radcliffe's restructuring.

"The deal was 'you take all of us,'" said Vice-President of College Relations Bonnie Clendenning said. "Linda got a standing 'O' at the staff meeting this morning. [The staff] was fine. They're not going anywhere, and they love Mary [Dunn]. She's one of us."

But some administrative structures will change after full merger.

Clenndenning, for instance, said she will no longer be a vice president, but instead will be a "dean of some kind." And March expects her official connections with undergraduates will cease and her role will be greatly restructured.

"I'm going to miss interacting with undergraduates," March said. "I love students."

It is also unclear how several of Radcliffe's current programs, like its landscaping courses and ceramics programs, might fit into a new cutting-edge Institute for Advanced Study.

"I do think there are some people who are nervous," said Dunn. "What I know is the library, and the library is not nervous at all."