In his convocation address, Summers urged HDS to create links with other schools at Harvard.

“The Divinity School cannot be isolated from the larger University,” Summers said.

While it is the oldest graduate school, HDS has long been a pariah at the University—both academically and geographically—with an isolated campus at the northeast corner of campus on Francis Ave. and a historic lack of University-wide support. Former president James B. Conant ’14 disliked the school so much he tried, unsuccessfully, to liquidate it.

Fifty years after Conant finished his presidency, HDS still “lives with a sense of being on the margins of the University,” according to Hall.

But with Graham’s ascension to the Divinity School’s top job, many hope he will lead HDS away from the periphery. And his first year, they say, may be an indication that the school is nearing the Promised Land.

“He has a great deal of support. For a new dean’s first year, it’s been outstandingly successful,” Keen says. “There’s a great deal of enthusiasm that this is a school that’s turned the corner and is putting it into high gear.”

But as his first year winds down, Graham’s grace period is likely over.

His true test will come as he moves into his sophomore year, with the need to develop clear answers and curriculum changes rather than merely formulating questions and forming committees.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.