“I know the issues, and I know who some of the best researchers in the country are on this,” Hochschild said. “I hope to be able to help.”

Missing Students

During the search for the University president last year, students often protested that they had no official say in the decision-making process, which rested solely in the hands of the University’s governing bodies.

With the GSE dean appointment resting solely with Summers, students say they are again frustrated.

Maria Brenes, the president of GSE’s Student Government Association (SGA), says the dean search has been one of SGA’s main topics of conversation this year.

“Many students definitely feel that the process of selection should be structured so that students are involved in the decision,” Brenes says. “The dean selection is something that has even more importance than faculty selection to us.”

Brenes says she and other students also feel the lack of influence is ironic. “We are taught to empower our students to make decisions,” she says. “It’s an irony that while our input has been solicited, we have no direct influence over the decision.”

Brenes says SGA is looking into writing letters to Summers to voice their concern, and is also considering inviting Summers to a town-hall meeting to discuss the search. She says that while students share many of the faculty’s concerns, particularly on financial aid, they have other issues they would like the dean search to take into account.

Sean Buffington, an assistant provost staffing the advisory committee for the central administration, wrote in an e-mail that Summers is interested in getting a wide range of perspectives from those at GSE, including faculty, staff and students.

“[Summers] has invited these groups to send him letters and e-mail messages about the challenges the school faces, the characteristics of the next dean and particular candidates,” Buffington says, adding that Summers has met with senior faculty and plans to meet with students and junior faculty as well.

Pick and Choose

Committee members and administrators remain mum on the search, but observers say the position is likely to attract many candidates.

Stipek says that since GSE is large and high-profile, it is at an advantage in drawing the most qualified potential leaders. On the other hand, she says that the type of well-known, experienced and established candidates GSE will seek out will be hard to lure away from their current posts.

Committee members say candidates could come from a variety of backgrounds. Knowledge of both the professional, practical end of GSE’s mission should be combined with scholarly research and academics, they say.

Hochschild says someone with a background in the actual practice of teaching might bring an important perspective, but stressed that this was only one of many models.

Committee members gave no indication of when they thought Summers hoped to have a dean in place. Buffington says no timetable exists, but adds the search remains a high priority for the president.

—Daniel P. Mosteller contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.