A committee advising University President Lawrence H. Summers on the search for a new dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE) met for the second time on Tuesday, as the school’s faculty and students began to weigh in on issues facing the top-ranked institution.

Members of the committee, who come from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the business, medical and law schools, say the Dean Search Advisory Group will advise Summers both on specific candidates and general issues pertaining to GSE.

The divinity school is also searching for a new dean, and together the searches represent Summers’ first opportunity to make his mark on Harvard’s individual schools, as the responsibility for choosing new deans lies solely with the president.

Faculty at GSE and on the advisory committee say that while no dominant issues have emerged in the search thus far, the question of whom Summers picks is an important one that will likely determine the course of the best-endowed and number one-ranked school of education in the country.

Money, Cash Flows

GSE has had enormous financial success over the past decade, leaving the course open for a new dean.

Under the leadership of former Dean Jerome T. Murphy—who stepped down at the end of June to return to research and teaching—GSE raised $111 million as part of the recent University-wide Capital Campaign, causing GSE’s perpetually stretched endowment to surge.

As a result, says Anrig Professor of Education and Advisory Committee member Richard F. Elmore, the school was able to add a large number of senior faculty, create new programs and expand existing ones.

“The big issue is now, ‘What do we want for the next stage?’” Elmore says. “This is clearly not a turn-around operation.”

But fiscal concerns will remain a part of the next dean’s daily worries, says GSE professor and committee member Susan Moore Johnson.

“We went from feeling very poor to still feeling very stretched. Our needs are many,” she says.

New programs take money, and professors say that in order to remain preeminent GSE needs to continue to grow.

Other fiscal priorities are University-wide. In his inaugural speech two weeks ago, Summers signaled that graduate student financial aid would be one of his top priorities, and faculty and students alike identify the need as particularly acute at GSE.

Because the school’s alumni typically go into lower-paying work, the need for loan forgiveness or direct aid is often considerable.

Even with sufficient funds, practical difficulties—including severe space constraints—check GSE’s growth and will need to be dealt with by the new dean, faculty say.