We've just closed out a fantastic yearlong celebration highlighting the School’s 150-year history of inquiry, innovation, and impact. The occasion gave us the opportunity not only to ref lect on our past, but also to imagine the future of Harvard Griffin GSAS. Along those lines, the GSAS Admissions and Graduate Education working group, which I mentioned in the last issue of Colloquy, has released its final report and is currently in the last stages of review with faculty and students. Our recommendations on advising aim to promote more structure and clearer expectations on all sides creating a more effective relationship in which students can do their best work. Additional recommendations on employment outcomes encourage graduate programs to foster supportive and broad-ranging conversations about career options, urging them to provide students with access to advice on careers both inside and outside of academia. Sections on the scale and strength of the academic program and on equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging are also included.
The implementation of the report’s recommendations will, we hope, enhance our students’ academic experience and help them succeed in whatever their chosen profession may be. You can help us with these efforts by becoming a mentor in the Firsthand Advisers platform or through our Virtual Coffee Program. (Visit gsas.harvard.edu/alumni/volunteer to learn how.)
The alumni you will read about in this issue are emblematic of this forward thinking on education and on our next 150 years. They are pushing the boundaries of their fields and encouraging us to think more deeply about our belief systems. Above all, they are dedicated to human flourishing, whether they are asking us to think more positively, encouraging us to embrace our humanity, or upending scientific assumptions. These are just a sample of the many achievements on which we will look back in the years ahead. I’ll be watching with pride and excitement as this future— shaped by Harvard Griffin GSAS’s remarkable alumni in every f ield and discipline—unfolds.
—Emma Dench, Dean of Harvard Griffin GSAS
