Bruce Jenkins, the film scholar who served as the curator of the Harvard Film Archive (HFA) until it became part of the Harvard College Library system in February, will join the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) as its dean of undergraduate studies in the fall.

In 1999, Jenkins became the first Cavell curator of the archive, which suffered from a history of financial difficulties since its founding in 1979, under the auspices of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts and the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies (VES). Members of the film community at Harvard and beyond criticized the shift of the archive to the library’s control—announced by Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby in a January 26 letter—as potentially disastrous for its vast collection of original prints.

In his new position at the world-class art school, Jenkins will oversee 23 departments, about 2,500 students and more than 600 faculty, about 150 of whom are full-time, according to Carol Becker, the SAIC’s dean of faculty and senior executive vice president for academic affairs. In addition to its degree-granting programs, the SAIC runs the Gene Siskel Film Center and a “databank” of independent video.

Jenkins will be one of two deans, the other overseeing graduate studies, who reports directly to Becker. Though he will be a tenured member of the SAIC’s faculty, he said time constraints would prevent him from teaching any courses in the coming term. In his five years at Harvard, Jenkins served as a senior lecturer and taught in VES.

Beginning in September, Jenkins said he will be charged with overseeing the art school’s constantly evolving curriculum.

“I’m very excited because it brings together a whole range of activities and pursuits that I’ve been involved in for many years,” Jenkins said. “It’s virtually the entire gamut of contemporary art pursuits...For me what’s rather remarkable is I will be involved 24/7 with working with faculty and students who are committed to a full-bodied pursuit of art in all its configurations.”

Colleagues said Jenkins would face a different set of challenges than he did at the HFA, but most thought his skills were well suited to the SAIC’s undergraduate deanship.

“He’s landed on his feet and is in many ways better off,” said Middlebury College professor Ted S. Perry, who serves on the HFA’s advisory committee. “I think there’s more support there [than there was at Harvard], more opportunity for him to make the kind of contribution that he’s capable of making.

“It’s a great move for him,” Perry added. “A great move for the Art Institute and a great loss for Harvard.”

Perry e-mailed Kirby in February to complain about the transfer in the archive’s administration, calling it “a travesty.”

James Cuno, who served as the director of the Harvard University Art Museums until December 2002 and who will assume responsibilities as director and president of the Art Institute of Chicago starting in September, said the art school has a fundamentally different mission than Harvard.

“[The SAIC is] deeply committed to the practice and education of artists,” Cuno said when reached at his London home. “It’s not questioned...whereas in a big university, the visual arts always have to compete with other modes of inquiry.”

The SAIC and the Art Institute of Chicago are “in a corporate relationship” but have separate administrations, according to Becker. As such, Cuno was not directly involved in Jenkins’ hiring, but said he was consulted and recommended his former and future colleague.

“It was a very different job of course, so I couldn’t comment on how he might be as a dean, but I had very high regard for him as a curator of film,” Cuno said.

Kirkland House Master Tom C. Conley, a professor of Romance languages and literatures who teaches courses on film, said Jenkins’ time at the HFA’s helm would equip him well for the tasks awaiting in Chicago.