But many major decisions, from the focus of the Institute's programming to Radcliffe's plans for the Agassiz Theatre, have been left for the first dean.

At times, the first permanent dean--called the "founding dean" by some--seemed to be the all-purpose answer to any tough question about Radcliffe's future.

"[The first permanent dean] will shape a lot of the intellectual agenda. She has to figure out how to make all the pieces of Radcliffe work," President Neil L. Rudenstine said in early February.

And though Dunn has been crisscrossing the nation this year to talk to alumnae groups about Radcliffe's merger with Harvard, she has often deferred questions about the future, saying that alums could expect "the first dean...to concentrate on talking about the present and future."

The buck has been passed to Faust on a host of contentious issues, like what to do with Radcliffe's assortment of real estate.

Faced with a room of disgruntled graduate students this spring, John O. Horst, the Institute's director of facilities, passed the prickly issue of the future of Cronkhite Graduate Center off on the permanent dean before she was even appointed.

When the dean's search started in earnest last September, certain concrete criteria were clear from the very beginning.