Feb. 13, 2001

The writer is a member of Harvard Right to Life.

Teaching Skill Matters

To the editors:

I was distressed to read the headline given to an article on CUE ratings (News, "High CUE Ratings May Hurt Tenure Chances," Feb. 21) and thought I should set the record straight. Good teaching matters a great deal to us, and we look for a commitment to teaching when hiring faculty at any level. Departments present teaching data when justifying internal pre-tenure promotions, and the Council of Academic Deans insists that teaching data be part of the dossier for every appointment to tenure. It goes without saying that evidence of good teaching helps rather than hurts any candidacy.

Teaching and research are also often mutually reinforcing. Professors who are deeply caught up in research transmit their enthusiasm for their subject to their students; new insights often arise out of discussions in the classroom. Indeed, professors often begin working on a new area by teaching in that area; many important books began as Harvard lectures.

Of course, teaching does take time and can cut into the hours faculty members can spend in labs, libraries or archives. The University recognizes that; indeed, it was precisely for that reason that Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles established the Harvard College Professorships, which recognize extraordinary contributions to undergraduate teaching through the provision of additional research support or leave time.