“He seems born to give a lecture course, which you don’t have much opportunity to do at CUNY,” said Dolan.
Menand will have ample opportunity to scratch that academic itch at Harvard: in addition to a graduate seminar on “Art and Thought of the Cold War,” Menand is to teach an undergraduate lecture course on the James siblings next spring—and Buell said he had expressed a desire to teach “something in the Core as quickly as possible.”
According to Buell, the process for approving new courses in the Core Curriculum means Menand will probably have to wait until the 2004-2005 academic year to teach there.
He will also find a warm welcome in the English department. Over and over again, Menand’s colleagues-to-be said they were looking forward to working with him.
“We are happy to welcome him to our metaphysical (and physical) club,” New said.
—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.