When Knowles took over in July 1991, the protests of 1969 were a distant memory. More immediate was FAS’ operating deficit of $12 million—the result of planned deficit spending by Spence that spiraled out of control. Confronting the deficits, Knowles had little time to ask the Faculty where and how cuts should be made.

His first step as Dean was to write a letter to the Faculty warning them of FAS’ dire financial straits and to brace them for the “brutal” measures he would impose—including a three-year freeze on departmental budget growth. Knowles has continued to write the budget letter every year, keeping the faculty apprised of his initiatives and goals.

By many accounts, Knowles has simultaneously increased faculty consultation from the Spence era and streamlined FAS bureaucracy. In addition to adding two effective committees, the Educational Policy Committee (EPC) and the Resources Committee, according to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Vincent J. Tompkins, Knowles always tests big ideas against the faculty.

David A. Zewinski `76, FAS associate dean for physical resources and planning, cites Knowles’ preliminary steps to developing the North Yard Precinct: initial interviews with department chairs, a subsequent letter to all department chairs elaborating the goals that emerged from those interviews, a second set of interviews with the chairs (and other faculty) to amend those goals, and a third interview to clarify individual departments’ square footage needs.

“He is not a man of bold gestures but of well-reasoned decisions,” Wolff said, “[which] slows down many a process but, more often than not, with better results.”

Knowles’ chosen administrators within University Hall say that he is, in Tompkins’ words, “highly consultative.”

“From the very beginning, he seemed to have had great confidence in me and always gave me broad authority to handle matters creatively,” said Wolff, who was dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) from 1992 to 2000. “Virtually no decisions came from the top down; most everything was developed in consultation processes.”

Knowles says he aims to be ``carefully consultative, while trying to avoid overloading the faculty and diverting them more to administration and away from their teaching and scholarly work.”

This “careful” consultation typically enables Knowles to present consensus decisions to the larger Faculty and avoid the “controversial tone” that Jorgenson says characterized the Rosovsky era.

“This style is not appropriate for the current circumstances,” Jorgenson says. “The debate is very orderly now… [Knowles] doesn’t feel that he has to be blunt. Everything is cordial.”

And even within his consultative meetings, University Hall administrators say, Knowles manages to keep his administrators on the same page.

“The style of exchange between Jeremy and this office is the same as can be found throughout FAS administration,” said Associate Dean for Administrative Resources Geoffrey Peters. “There is very limited explicit conflict. It is natural for us to leave a decision-making session in agreement and for no one to feel as though anyone has ‘gotten the last word.’ However, if you had watched the discussion, you would have little difficulty in seeing who is the Dean.”

“Knowles tends to look for a more structured discussion,” echoed Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn. “He gets a little tense when it becomes unscripted.”

These structured discussions allow Knowles to get things done fast.