“As one gets older you become increasingly aware that your resources and your energy don’t quite reach up to the standards you’ve set for yourself,” Hanson says.

Multiples of Five

While Lewis says three masters departing in the same year is only part of the normal ebb and flow of House administration, old masters and current ones say the House system has changed over the past decade to make long master tenures obsolete.

Before Lewis became dean of the College, the House mastership was viewed as an almost lifetime appointment, with many masters staying in their positions for nearly a quarter of a century.

Bossert’s tenure in Lowell began when Gerald Ford was President and ended in 1998 with Bill Clinton in the White House.

In that same year, John E. Dowling ’57 and Judy Dowling also stepped down after serving as Leverett House masters for 17 years.

Since he took office, Lewis has sought to reinvigorate the House system with younger masters—and has appointed 9 of 12 House masters.

It will be 11 out of 12 masters after this year.

“Our understanding is that they were looking for younger scholars still active in their fields,” Loader says. “The idea that you would have a very active master—that’s the kind of master they’re looking for right now.”

Lewis has also enforced a policy instituted by former University President Derek C. Bok to appoint masters on five year contracts.

During the fourth year after the appointment, the performance of Houses and House masters are reviewed and masters can decide at that point whether to stay on or retire.

“The job has just become so stressful and complex that it makes sense every five years to review the situation to see how the masters feel about continuing and whether it makes sense to have someone else come in,” former Quincy Master Michael Shinagel says.

“It’s perfectly understandable that masters are not staying in the mastership as long as they were 25 years ago.”

Bossert says the mastership was similar in prestige to a junior deanship before he retired.

“You were just made House master and then at some time in the future one side said it’s time to leave,” Bossert says.