This article has been modified from its original form. Correction appended.

With the official search for a women’s center director underway, the College is making progress toward establishing a centralized space for undergraduate women’s groups and resources.

The job proposal, which was drafted by a search committee chaired by Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd, was announced over the online Harvard job database before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The appointed director will be “responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive outreach and support structure for undergraduate women individually and for their student organizations,” according to the women’s center’s central website.

In addition to acting as a formal liaison between women-centered organizations and the central administration, the director is also charged with creating a leadership curriculum geared toward promoting the development of female student leaders.

The position has been publicized within the Harvard network for two weeks and will also be advertised through journals of higher education, relevant online employment databases, and the National Women’s Studies Association, said Kidd.

The search committee—composed of 14 select faculty members, administrators, and representatives of undergraduate student organizations—has already met twice to draft the job proposal and to discuss selection criteria.

The committee is not scheduled to convene again until a significant number of appropriate resumes have been submitted for consideration, Kidd said.

Once a candidate has been chosen, the committee will make its recommendation to Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 for approval.

“The general feel on campus is that [the women’s center] will be a centralizing resource for groups on campus,” said Alka R. Tandon ’07, representative for the Women’s Leadership Project on the search committee. “The role of the director will be to facilitate the centralization.”

College administrators publicly endorsed plans for the first time to establish the center this year at an open forum hosted by the Radcliffe Union of Students.

Both Kidd and Assistant Dean and Director of the Ann Radcliffe Trust Julia G. Fox were present to discuss the realistic implications of establishing a women’s center, including matters regarding space and budget.

Kidd also said, at the forum, that Harvard is the only Ivy League school currently without a women’s center.

Members of the Undergraduate Council (UC) are also drafting a position paper with the purpose of identifying what undergraduates want in a women’s center. The paper will be submitted to the new director, once the position is filled.

The purpose of the paper is not to show need for a women’s center but rather to provide suggestions of how to make it an effective resource if created, according to Chair of the Student Affairs Committee Tara Gadgil ’07, who is also involved with the Search Committee as a representative of the UC.

“Right now we are talking to members of the Council about their opinions and additionally to groups involved in the creation of the women’s center,” she said.

—Staff writer Ying Wang can be reached at yingwang@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION: The print and original online version of the Dec. 2, 2005 news article "Committee To Search for Women's Center Leader" incorrectly referred to the committee chaired by Tara Gadgil '07 as the Student Advisory Committee. In fact, it is the Student Affairs Committee.