While it’s too early to say which leadership technique will ultimately prove more effective, Gross does have a high-placed ally in matters dealing with the rest of the University.

Summers and Gross play tennis together every other week.

“I met President Summers when he came here,” says Gross, who plays tennis three to four times a week. “I had heard that he plays tennis. I took one look at him and said, ‘Hmmm. Maybe doubles.’”

But Summers has proven himself a worthy opponent—and, perhaps more importantly, Gross seems to have proven himself worthy to Summers. The two regularly share meals.

This regular access to the president may make Gross a more effective advocate for the interests of students and the College.

On the Highway

In an effort to further acquaint himself with the nuts and bolts of College administration, Gross will this summer undergo the same training process that new House masters and senior tutors must go through to learn how to handle the lives of the students they oversee.

But Gross may soon understand more intimately the intricacies of modern-day undergraduate life.

His son Isaac, 18, will matriculate at Brown University next fall.

Gross, when not attending tennis matches, meetings and dinners at the president’s house, can zip down to Providence in his energy-efficient car—a mid-life crisis purchase, he admits.

Gross doesn’t have much time for his cronies in the math department these days—and they don’t let him forget it.

“It’s always ‘Can you come back? I’m too busy right now,’” McMullen quips.

“They’re always giving me grief for being a dean,” Gross rejoins.

Gross isn’t complaining—yet.

But he did just buy a palm pilot.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. O’Brien can be reached at robrien@fas.harvard.edu.