Faculty say that Kirby has been repeatedly expressed his commitment to supporting junior faculty.
“Whenever you have any conversation with him about junior promotions, it is clear it is an extremely high priority,” said Loeb Professor of Social Sciences David M. Cutler.
Kirby said in an interview this month that such a progression requires a commitment on the part of the Faculty and that some departments could do better.
“The departments which do it best treat their junior Faculty as full citizens of the department,” he said. “If you don’t treat them as part of your department, they won’t stay part of your department.”
Summers said that the trend of granting tenure to more faculty from within is partly responsible for this year’s impressive yield. With roots in the University and the Boston area, such professors are often more likely to accept Harvard’s offer.
“It’s almost certainly the case that assistant professors who are promoted are more likely to stay than people we recruit from the outside,” he said.Cutler said that granting tenure from within is not only a responsibility to junior faculty but a pragmatic way to increase the size of the Faculty.
“Since the plan is to expand, there is only so much hiring you can or want to do,” he said. “[You need] the best junior faculty you can get.”
Cutler said that this year’s tally reflects an enormous amount of work on the part of Kirby and the three academic deans.
Cutler, Fisher Professor of Natural History Andrew Knoll and Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures Maria Tatar currently hold these academic deanships. The deans, who each serve three-year terms, organize the ad hoc committees that advise Summers on all tenure cases. Cutler said that there are typically 30 to 35 ad hoc meetings per year.
Weary Professor of German and Comparative Literature Judith L. Ryan, who has served as an academic dean in the past, said that the number of ad hocs has significantly increased over the past few years.
“This suggests hard work on the part of the University,” she said.
Cutler cites the hard work involved in organizing and deciding each tenure case as a reason to celebrate this year’s success.
“It is very pleasing,” he said. “It is a grueling process.”
—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.