Great Teachers
July 18th, 2008Some time ago, I read The University, an Owner’s Manual (published in 1990), by Henry Rosovsky former Dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Rosovsky’s book focuses on his experiences as the undergraduate Dean and a faculty member at Harvard and provides commentary on managing academics at universities. There is a dialogue in Rosovsky’s book that I think of often. As Dean, he entertained a group of prospective students who had been admitted to Harvard through its Early Decision process. One of the students asked for a special meeting and told Rosovsky that he was being pressured to select Harvard by his father (a Harvard alum) but that he had also been accepted into Haverford and Brown and was considering Haverford. Rosovsky provides an explanation of the differences between liberal arts colleges (Haverford) and university colleges (Harvard). He provides a definition of teaching versus research (approximately 50/50) and teaching undergrads versus graduates (approximately 50/50) at Harvard and other universities. He contrasts that with the liberal arts colleges where most of the focus is on classroom teaching.
