An ad hoc committee of academic experts will gather at the Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study next week to make suggestions about how the Institute can advance its commitment to academic research and the study of women, gender and society.

Acting Dean of Radcliffe Mary Maples Dunn said the group has been in close communication all fall in preparation for their Dec. 8 and 9 meetings. She said she expects the committee's full report early in February.

The committee--chaired by Caroline W. Bynum '62, University professor of history at Columbia University--is focusing its evaluation on Radcliffe's fellowship program, Institute buildings and Radcliffe's academic commitments.

The review, undertaken at Radcliffe's request, comes at a crucial time for the fledging Institute.

Radcliffe's permanent dean, Drew Gilpin Faust, is scheduled to take over Jan. 1, and both Faust and Dunn have spoken publicly about the role they envision for the Radcliffe of the future--at Harvard and in the world.

"In five years, I see Radcliffe at the center of the study of women, gender and society at Harvard," Dunn said. "We'll be drawing attention, internally and externally."

Faust said last spring that she will be an "agitator" for women's issues, citing tenure appointments as an area where she could wield influence in the University.

Dunn said that Radcliffe will use the committee's report to improve upon their weaknesses.

"The report will give a lot of guidance," she said.

Dunn said Radcliffe will pay particular attention to the committee's advice about how to handle the Institute's expanded fellowship program.

"We've been teleconferencing up a storm--I have three just this week," Dunn said.

The Institute received roughly double the number of applications to its fellowship program this year that it received last year--about 600, up from last year's 300 applicants, Dunn said.

The committee includes Wendy Doniger '62, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Ellen C. Lagemann, president of the Spencer Foundation, a private organization that studies educational processes.

Dunn said committee members are not paid for their services.

"It's done as a professional courtesy," she said. "We treat then nicely, put them up at the Inn at Harvard and tool them around in little buses."

--Staff writer Joyce K. McIntyre can be reached at jmcintyr@fas.harvard.edu.