In addition to representing new policies towards promotion and different strains of thought, Striker said, Heck has also made a more concrete contribution to the department's rise from what Leiter deems its comparative ashes.
Heck coordinated the department's comprehensive new website, including a summary of the department's interests aimed squarely at combating the Gourmet Report, described on the Website as a "snapshot...of the Department's intellectual soul."
"The report's influence was counterbalanced by our elaborate Web site," Striker said. "It's still not so easy to get up-to-date information about departments, and college students will sometimes have very outdated ideas."
-Staff writer Daniel K. Rosenheck can be reached at rosenhec@fas.harvard.edu.