Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences to Begin Laying Off Some Staff

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences to Begin Laying Off Some Staff

What about Harvard’s huge financial endowment? Why do they need to lay anyone off?

The Harvard Crimson reports:

Harvard FAS To Begin Layoff Notifications Next Week

Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences will begin notifying some staff of layoffs next week, according to a person familiar with the matter — part of a broader process that could also include direct placements into new positions or opportunities to move into different roles.

The notifications mark the beginning of a long-anticipated staff overhaul that has been in the works since last spring. It is unclear how many employees will be affected, though the FAS could lay off up to one quarter of its staff.

Days before the expected notifications, FAS announced Thursday that it had appointed three senior administrators who will help carry out the school’s new administrative model.

FAS spokesperson James M. Chisholm did not deny the expected timeline in a statement, writing that the school “will continue to communicate transparently about the workforce planning process,” including by proactively alerting staff and providing detailed information about any job action.

The three new “managing directors of department and center administration” — one for each of the FAS’s academic divisions — will oversee department and center administrators and coordinate with human resources and finance leaders under the new structure, according to a Thursday email from FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petofsky.

Rebecca “Becky” Chetham, executive director and chief administrative and financial officer for the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology department, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Harvard University Herbaria, will serve as the managing director for the Division of Science.

Economics Department executive director Damari Rosado will manage the Division of Social Science, and Emily Warshaw, director of administration in Theater, Dance, and Media, will fill the position for the Division of Arts and Humanities.

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