According to W.E.B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., Kirby worked diligently to realize the merger—and keep him from leaving Harvard for Princeton earlier this year.

“Another dean who wasn’t interested in foreign cultures and foreign language might have been reluctant to support this in perilous economic times,” he says. “But [Kirby] understood the importance of the initiative right away.”

The Lightning Rod

When describing Kirby, few fail to mention that he is, above all, an academic.

“Kirby is a scholar—his career is as a historian,” Gross says.

But this year the Chinese professor has proven himself a decisive administrator as well, reorganizing the FAS bureaucracy with neither broad faculty consultation nor faculty coalitions to back him up.

And while the consultative, deliberate style of the scholar at times rubs against the quick, decisive nature of the administrator, some see them as one in the same.

Maier says that Kirby, though an intellectual, was drawn to administration because he loves the hands-on approach.

“Kirby enjoys the interactive side of professional life,” Maier says. “Some other colleagues like to write or spend every bit of time with students. Bill has a certain sense of institutional activism.”

In his first year, Kirby has shown he has the ability to listen and to act decisively.

But the dean has yet to rally broad faculty support to see any of his initiatives through.

And some say Kirby has already come under attack for his leadership style.

“Kirby has the toughest job in the University, and is getting lots of pressure and criticism from above and below, and not enough support from either,” says one administrator. “Unlike Knowles, he wants to be an activist dean, take bold steps and accept responsibility himself rather than blaming the president, the Faculty or forces beyond his control. This is bound to make him a lightning rod.”

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