"I think they've run a good ship," he said. "Many new donors will be interested in this kind of institution."

But Mary Maples Dunn, incoming interim head of Radcliffe, said specifics for short-term development are still up in the air.

"For fundraising, we now have a process," said the former president of Smith College. "But we don't have definite agreements. We don't have a detailed agreement as to who goes after which classes and so on"--no small matter, since Harvard is currently barred from soliciting funds from Radcliffe's pre-1977 graduates.

Radcliffe will now be able to draw on the fundraising prowess of Harvard's development office and Rudenstine himself, who said that "the University will begin aggressively raising funds for the Institute right away."

At Tuesday's press conference, Rudenstine jokingly invited the assembled reporters and photographers to make donations immediately following the event.

And Radcliffe officials said, so far, the announcement seems to be encouraging enthusiastic alumnae to take out their checkbooks.

"We've had a lot of gifts and a lot pledges come in the last few days," said Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini.

Armini noted that one seven-figure gift that had been "in the pipeline" several weeks ago has been finalized since the announcement.