“[Graham’s] challenge is to make it a healthy intellectually debating faculty,” Hall said. “People would vary in their assessments of whether that is the case now.”

The other issues Graham raises, Hall and others said, are also not likely to be easily addressed. Hall said that during the search Summers struggled with the question of how the Divinity School should fit within the University. “It was clear that he couldn’t quite get a handle on it,” Hall said.

Another challenge will be on diversity. With the departure of former Fletcher University Professor Cornel West, there will only be two African-Americans on the Divinity School faculty—and only one senior faculty member.

“That’s me,” Gomes said, “And I’m not going to be around forever.”

Gomes said that it was frustrating that the level of faculty diversity remains much the same as when he first arrived in the 1960s.

David Carrasco, Rudenstine Professor of Latin American studies and a member of the advisory committee, wrote in an e-mail that he was confident Graham would act quickly to address the problem.

“Diversity is a pressing issue at the Divinity School and I believe Dean Graham will work quickly and thoughtfully to bring about creative change,” Carrasco wrote.

With the availability of eight full time faculty slots—two in African American religious history—Graham could make a difference, but given the difficulty the faculty has had filling slots in the past, the going won’t be easy.

“We are a difficult place to attract black scholars, and the departure of Professor West certainly didn’t help that,” Gomes said.

Graham said that he would prioritize international, ethnic and gender diversity.

The Search

With Graham’s appointment Monday, Summers finally closed the book on the list of pressing tasks he had said would consume much of his first year as President.

In addition to reacquainting himself with Harvard and most of the schools’ programs, Summers was faced with searches to fill a number of top University positions.

Of the deans of Harvard’s 11 schools, three are now Summers appointees, seven date from his predecessor Neil L. Rudenstine’s tenure, and one was appointed by Derek C. Bok.

Of the three dean searches, the Divinity appointment by far took the longest.