The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is committed to hiring outstanding faculty members and researchers who create new knowledge, educate the next generation of scholars and citizens, and contribute to the broader academic community. The excellence of the FAS faculty springs from robust candidate pools, diligence at every stage of a search or promotion review, and efforts to foster an environment in which faculty and researchers can build productive careers.
Appointment & Promotion
Below are key handbooks and guides related to the appointment and promotion of faculty and researchers in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
If you have questions about policies and procedures, please contact the assistant dean for faculty affairs in your academic division (the Arts and Humanities, the Social Sciences, Science), the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, or for selected College appointments.
Chapter 15 ("Sample Forms, Letters, and Ads") in the FAS Appointment and Promotion Handbook contains templates related to searching, appointing, and promoting FAS faculty members and researchers. Other frequently used forms are listed below.
Acknowledgment of Risk and Release Form
Affirmative Action Form for Research Appointments
Faculty Activity Report
FAS Appointment and Promotion Handbook, Ch. 15 - "Sample Forms, Letters, and Ads"
I-9 Submission Process and Forms
Outside Activities and Interests Reporting (OAIR)
Participation Agreement
Visitor Participation Agreements
Below are some useful offices related to the appointment and promotion of FAS faculty and researchers. Also below is a description of the FAS Committee on Appointments and Promotions (CAP).
Offices
- Harvard International Office: HIO is an excellent resource for questions about visas and other issues related to international appointees.
Committee on Appointments and Promotions
The Committee on Appointments and Promotions (CAP) plays a key role in the appointment and promotion of FAS faculty members. CAP is led by the Edgerley Family Dean of the FAS, and includes such leaders as the Divisional Deans for the Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, and the John A. Paulson Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); the Danoff Dean of Harvard College; the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; the Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning; the Dean of Undergraduate Education; the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development; and a tenured professor from each division and SEAS.
Once departments or SEAS areas have approved a case for further consideration, CAP members rigorously review the dossiers in tenure cases, promotions of assistant professors to associate professor, appointments and reappointments of senior non-ladder faculty, and appointments of associate senior lecturers and advise on whether the case should proceed.
A session with Dean Gay and members of CAP discussing this process was recorded and is available to FAS faculty and administrators who are participating in searches and reviews. To request a link to the video, entitled “Demystifying CAP,” please email the FAS Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA-Office@fas.harvard.edu).
The members of CAP for AY 2023-2024, led by Hopi Hoekstra, Edgerley Family Dean of the FAS as of August 1, 2023, are listed below.
Lawrence Bobo
Dean of Social Science
W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences
Yiling Chen
Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science
Amanda Claybaugh
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Samuel Zemurray, Jr. and Doris Zemurray Stone Radcliffe Professor of English
Emma Dench
Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics
Laura Fisher
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development
Hopi Hoekstra
Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
John A. Paulson Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Maya Jasanoff
X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor of Arts and Sciences
Coolidge Professor of History
Robin Kelsey
Dean of Arts and Humanities
Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography
Rakesh Khurana
Danoff Dean of Harvard College
Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development and of Sociology
Stephanie Pierce
Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Alexander Rehding
Fanny Peabody Professor of Music
Christopher Stubbs
Dean of Science
Samuel C. Moncher Professor of Physics and of Astronomy
Nina Zipser
Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning
For some key dates in AY 2023-2024, please see Chapter 2, Section H (“important Deadlines”) in the FAS Appointment and Promotion Handbook.