"Our alumni are very generous according to their abilities," Ellison says. "But Ph.D. students don't necessarily end up being as wealthy as other students. No one goes into academia to get rich."

Ellison adds that graduate students typically have strong loyalties to their department rather than to the GSAS as a whole, unlike undergraduates who feel connected to the College rather than their concentration.

Ellison says graduate student housing is another of his major priorities.

GSAS now guarantees first-year housing, but most students must find housing on their own in the competitive open market after their first year.

"The cost is skyrocketing and availability is plummeting," Ellison says. "We've taken for granted that our graduate students are here 24 hours a day."

The solution? A residential campus for graduate students, possibly located on Harvard's Allston site. Though Ellison says GSAS could be building in five years, he says current efforts will focus on making housing more affordable on this side of the river.

"Major goals like this one are not achieved quickly," he writes in an e-mail message. "Explicit plans are not yet in place."

These are Ellison's dreams. But he has short-term goals he plans to pursue for GSAS soon.