“Certainly the first couple of years I expect it to be somewhat consuming,” Tatar said.

Gray Areas Ahead

Both Tatar and Narayanamurti stressed that their roles as divisional deans are still very much up in the air.

“We are in the process of defining the job, so we’re looking at different models,” Tatar said. “Right now we’re not even sure where it would make sense to have our offices.”

Tatar said planning would continue through the weeks until her September installation as dean.

“We’re not making it up as we go along, but no one has any fixed ideas,” she said.

Though she did not expect all the questions surrounding the divisional deanships to be answered by Sept. 1, Tatar said this was not necessarily regrettable.

“I wouldn’t want them to be resolved before talking to chairs and colleagues and getting a better sense,” she said.

Narayanamurti—who is co-chair of the search committee for the life sciences dean—said that a lengthy search process beyond Harvard’s walls as well as within them means that the last divisional dean’s seat will remain unfilled beyond the coming semester.

“We are still in an exploratory phase,” he said of the 11-member search committee. “Hopefully in the fall term we will have a small list,” he said.

University President Lawrence H. Summers has identified strengthening life sciences as a top priority, making this final appointment a closely-watched one.

While the search continues, Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences Douglas A. Melton will chair an executive committee that will advise on the life sciences.

—Staff writer Simon W. Vozick-Levinson can be reached at vozick@fas.harvard.edu.