Summer 2017 marks the end of my first five-year term as dean of GSAS, a role that I continue to find intellectually engaging and energizing. The more I meet with our students and alumni, the more I see the importance of GSAS’s efforts in enhancing the benefits and programs that draw master’s and PhD students to Harvard.
One latest addition to GSAS’s academic offerings is a new SM degree in data science that combines the study of statistics, which dates back at least to the mid-18th century, with the relatively newer field of computer science. This joint program between computer science and statistics faculty is one of many of Harvard’s responses to the evolving needs and interests of our graduate students. You can read more about the program on page 4.
As a statistician, I am excited by data science and how it will benefit our students and alumni, as well as by its impact on society and scholarship across the board. Time is of the essence for this rapidly evolving discipline, and hence I am grateful to have the opportunity to take a sabbatical for the 2017–2018 academic year to expand my research on statistical foundational issues for data science, and to assist two statistical societies as they embark on strategic planning for the roles and contributions of statisticians to data science.
In my absence, Emma Dench, McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics, has agreed to serve as interim dean. A scholar of Roman Republican and early Imperial history, Professor Dench is an outstanding teacher and mentor of undergraduate and graduate students, and a University citizen with an exceptional record of service. As director of graduate studies for many years in the Department of the Classics, she has a deep and nuanced understanding of graduate curricula, the needs of graduate students, and departmental operations and concerns. I am extremely grateful that she has agreed to take on the interim role.
The past five years have truly been a privilege and learning experience. I am very honored that I will serve a second term as dean after my research sabbatical.
—Xiao-Li Meng, Dean of Harvard Griffin GSAS
