Former Dean for Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82 said that though never realized, the plan survived in spirit.

“In any functioning but flexible bureaucracy run by intelligent people there will be some reflective discussion of how the administration is organized and whether it could be organized differently or better,” she said. “I don’t know how much consideration of various models there was [last year].”

But Pedersen said that the model of having a separate dean for undergraduate education prevailed, with one of its strengths being that the appointment was only three years long and allowed the dean to continue teaching and research.

“Most faculty members interested in taking responsibility for curricular questions would want to do a job like this only for a limited amount of time—it is because they like to teach that they find the job interesting,” she said.

While Gross attempts to reconcile his loyalty to the curricular review with a host of new responsibilities, Kirby promised further overhaul in the administrative structure of the College and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

“This is only one part of the broader reorganization of FAS, in particular the investigation of the appointment of divisional deans with the search for the Dean for Life Sciences already underway,” he said.

Kirby was referring to his plans to appoint new academic administrators to oversee each of the three academic areas—the Humanities, the Social Sciences and the Life Sciences—before the curricular review gets well underway next year. The Engineering Sciences are already grouped together under the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

But while he delegates responsibilities to new administrators to deal with academic matters, Kirby said that he will not shortchange the non-academic services offered by the College.

“If need be we won’t hesitate to bring in others to expand the capacities of the office to serve the needs of students,” he said. “It is not on my mind to reign in [their] creative talents.”

Pending the governing board’s official approval of Gross’ appointment more details of the restructuring of the College administration will likely be revealed today.

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.