MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XVIII No. 5 · Charles Stewart III 12 Some Thoughts on the Arts Alan...

this issue features commentary on the new MIT Energy Initiative (page 6);an update from the Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational Commons(page 9); “Some Thoughts on the Arts” by Alan Brody (page 12); two views onthe “Visualizing Cultures” incident (beginning page 18); and a “Modest Proposal”for a student dental insurance plan (page 21).

MITFacultyNewsletter

Vol. XVIII No. 5May/June 2006

I N OU R LAST Faculty Newsletter (March/April 2006), our col-league and co-chair of MIT’s Faculty Diversity Council,Professor Nancy Hopkins, wrote an illuminating article entitled“Diversification of a University Faculty: Observations on HiringWomen Faculty in the Schools of Science and Engineering atMIT.” Subsequently, both Professor Hopkins and the managingeditor of the Newsletter, David Lewis, asked me whether I wouldbe willing to write a response or follow-up piece, and I am happyto do so.

Let me start by stating the obvious: Professor Hopkins did anoutstanding job of focusing our attention on the data and theimportant conclusion that, while there has been substantialprogress at MIT, it has not been uniform, it is not sustainablewithout constant vigilance, and it is simply not enough. We mustrecognize the situation, understand the causes, and chart astronger path. We are indebted to Professor Hopkins for her workon an issue that continues to deserve our unwavering attention.

We need a faculty drawn from the best talent. For a universitythat prides itself on being a meritocracy, this requires us to reachbeyond the traditional ways of identifying and recruiting faculty.When we do this successfully, we can achieve a more diverse

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http://web.mit.edu/fnl

MassachusettsInstitute ofTechnology

L. Rafael Reif

Meritocracy and a Diverse Faculty

continued on page 29

A Brief History and Workings of the MIT Corporation

Dana G. Mead

TH E M IT COR PORATION is the Institute’s governing body orboard of trustees. What does the MIT Corporation do? A formerPresident of MIT opined for me recently: “It has a single mission– to support the President, faculty, and staff in their work toassure MIT’s continued excellence in research and education.”Aptly put, and surely the most apparent of its purposes, but in acomplicated world, the Corporation and its ExecutiveCommittee also hold a public trust to assure that the Instituteadheres to the purposes of its charter and that its integrity andfinancial resources are preserved for future generations as well asfor current purposes. In carrying out its broader mission, theCorporation and its Executive Committee oversee the Institute’sstrategic direction, approve the annual budget, exercise long-term fiduciary responsibility and asset management (the endow-ment, pension funds, debt and capital plant), approve all degreesgranted by the Institute and, probably most importantly, elect thePresident and the other officers of the Corporation (the Chairman,Treasurer, and Secretary).

MIT is a dynamic and complex place and its governance is corre-spondingly complex. The purpose of this article is to describe themembership of the Corporation, the committees of the

Vol. XVIII No. 5 May/June 2006

2

The MIT FacultyNewsletterEditorial Board

Alice AmsdenUrban Studies and Planning

John BelcherPhysics

*Nazli ChoucriPolitical Science

Erik DemaineElectrical Engineering & Computer Science

Olivier de WeckAeronautics & Astronautics/Engineering Systems

*Ernst G. FrankelOcean Engineering

*Stephen C. GravesManagement Science and Engineering Systems

Jean E. JacksonAnthropology

*Gordon KaufmanManagement Science and Statistics

Daniel S. KempChemistry

Samuel J. KeyserLinguistics & Philosophy

Jonathan KingBiology

Stephen J. LippardChemistry

David H. MarksCivil and Environmental Engineering

*Fred MoavenzadehCivil & Environmental Engineering/Engineering Systems

*Ronald PrinnEarth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

David ThorburnLiterature

George VergheseElectrical Engineering and Computer Science

Rosalind H. WilliamsSTS and Writing

Kathryn A. WillmoreVice President and Secretary of the Corporation

David LewisManaging Editor

*Editorial Sub-Committee for this issue

AddressMIT Faculty NewsletterBldg. 11-268Cambridge, MA 02139

Websitehttp://web.mit.edu/fnl

Telephone 617-253-7303Fax 617-253-0458Email [email protected]

Subscriptions$15/year on campus$20/year off campus

01 Meritocracy and a Diverse FacultyL. Rafael Reif

01 A Brief History and Workings of the MIT CorporationDana G. Mead

From The 03 Committees of the Faculty: Faculty Chair An End-of-Year Recap

Lorna J. Gibson

04 Lippard and Sharp Awarded National Medal of Science

06 Energy Research Council and Forum:A Major New Institute Initiative

Efficient Use of Energy: Part of MIT’s New Energy InitiativeLeon R. Glicksman

Fueling Our Transportation FutureJohn Heywood

09 Lighting a Fire in MIT’s Undergraduate EducationCharles Stewart III

12 Some Thoughts on the ArtsAlan Brody

14 Reflections on the “Visualizing Cultures” IncidentPeter C. Perdue

18 On the “Visualizing Cultures” Controversyand its ImplicationsMIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association

20 Communication Requirement EvaluationProcess BeginsSuzanne Flynn

21 A Modest Proposal:A Dental Insurance Plan for All StudentsEdward B. Seldin

22 New Resource on Faculty Website:“Current Practices”Ike Colbert

MIT Poetry 23 NoctilucaAnthony Lioi

24 “Soft Skills” to Help Avoid the “Hard Knocks”Charles Leiserson, Catherine Avril

25 Computer Space Planning for MITTops IT-SPARCC’s Priority ListJerrold M. Grochow

27 Seniors Report Increased Satisfactionwith Faculty Interaction

28 Smart Buy Purchasing InitiativeRichard Schmalensee

M.I.T. Numbers 32 Primary Form of Support for Doctoral Students

contents

MIT Faculty NewsletterMay/June 2006

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Lorna J. GibsonCommittees of the Faculty:An End-of-Year Recap

I N TH I S LAST N EW SLETTE R for thesemester, I would like to summarize someof the main accomplishments of thestanding committees of the faculty for thepast year.

Committee on the Library System(Chair: Brian Evans)

The Committee on the Library System(CLS) has been working on the issues ofOpen Access (e.g., the NIH request forNIH PIs to post their articles on itsPubMedCentral Website). CLS has alsobeen working with Ann Wolpert, thedirector of the Libraries, and Alice Gast,Vice President for Research, to create anamendment to standard copyright transferagreements, to allow authors to retainmore of their IP rights on papersaccepted for publication in journals. Acopy of the amendment is available at:web.mit.edu/faculty/research.html; orlibraries.mit.edu/about/scholarly/amendment.doc.

I encourage you to use the amendmentwith the standard copyright transferagreement to preserve your IP rights.

Committee on UndergraduateAdmissions and Financial Aid (Chair: Nigel Wilson)

The Committee on UndergraduateAdmissions and Financial Aid, working inclose conjunction with the Office ofStudent Financial Services, was instru-mental in developing MIT’s new policy ofmatching Federal Pell Grants for all eligi-ble students, starting in September 2006.This policy directs additional financialassistance to our most needy students(federal Pell grants are limited to students

from families with incomes less than$40,000). Both the federal Pell Grant andthe MIT Pell Matching Grant do not haveto be repaid.

Committee on the UndergraduateProgram (Chair: Denny Freeman)

Following last year’s joint Committeeon the Undergraduate Program(CUP)/Committee on Student LifeReport to the Faculty on Advising andMentoring of Undergraduates, CUP hasbeen focused on undergraduate advisingthis year. The Committee has recom-mended that the Academic ResourceCenter work to increase the number offaculty participating in freshman advisingand explore possibilities for expanding theresident-based freshman advisingprogram. If you are interested in becominga freshman advisor, please contact DonnaFriedman in the Academic ResourcesCenter ([email protected]; 3-9762).

Committee on Student Life (Chair: Hazel Sive)

The Committee on Student Life islooking at next steps to implement therecommendations of the CUP/CSLReport to the Faculty on Advising andMentoring of Undergraduates, reportingto the faculty at the May 17, 2006 facultymeeting. A new Website, Interact at MIT,designed to promote student/facultyinteraction, will be launched over thesummer. CSL has also been focusing onharassment at the Institute. A brochureentitled “Is it really just a joke: A guide toreasonable behavior at MIT” will be dis-tributed in the fall to members of the MITcommunity.

Subcommittee on the CommunicationRequirement (Chair: Suzanne Flynn)

The Subcommittee on theCommunication Requirement haslaunched an 18-month evaluation of theCommunications Requirement. In thefirst phase of the evaluation, on-linesurveys of faculty and seniors will beconducted to collect the impressions,attitudes, and experiences with this GIR.(See “Lighting A Fire in MIT’sUndergraduate Education,” page 9 of thisNewsletter.)

Committee on Curricula (Chair: David Pesetsky)

The Committee on Curricula (COC)approved, and the faculty voted on, coursenumber 20 for Biological Engineering.COC also approved a new minor inJapanese and is currently reviewing theevening exam policy.

Committee on Academic Performance(Chair: Tom Greytak)

The Committee on AcademicPerformance (CAP) has been workingon policy guidelines to make decisionsmore uniform. CAP has also been dis-cussing “ghost” students who are notregistered but take classes and live in thedorms. These students are either onfinancial hold (because they did not payfor the previous semester) or havereceived notice of a required withdrawal.The CAP recently sent out a letter todepartment heads and academic officersasking for assistance in identifying suchstudents.

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MIT Faculty NewsletterVol. XVIII No. 5

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Committee on Discipline (Chair: Margery Resnick)

The Committee on Discipline (COD)operations have been running moresmoothly as a result of changes recom-mended by last year’s review of the disci-pline system. One of the current CODinitiatives is improving communicationwith advisors, housemasters, StudentSupport Services, and the Registrar.

Faculty Policy Committee (Chair: Lorna Gibson)

The main focus of the Faculty PolicyCommittee this year was the restructuringof the Committee on Graduate SchoolPrograms, to make it more effective indeveloping general policies across depart-ments related to graduate students andprograms, and in encouraging best prac-tices for graduate educational programs.The membership of the committee hasbeen reduced, from 38 to 12, includingseven faculty. The NominationsCommittee will be selecting members forthe committee to begin work thisSeptember. Possible agenda itemsinclude: approval of proposed graduate

degrees; collection and dissemination ofbest practices; policies related to interna-tional students; global competition forgraduate students. The Dean forGraduate Students will continue toconvene a separate committee ofGraduate Program Administrators.

Committee on Graduate SchoolPrograms (Chair: Ike Colbert)

The Committee on Graduate SchoolPrograms has compiled best practicesamong departmental graduate programsfor communication, advising, mentoring,and mediation into a handbook,“CurrentPractices in Graduate StudentAdministration.” The GraduateAdministrators, working with the Deanfor Graduate Students, plan to advertisethe handbook through various Websitesand to continually update it by encourag-ing departments to include their bestpractices in it. The restructuredCommittee on Graduate Programs willhave oversight of the handbook. (See thearticle on page 22 of this Newsletter formore information.)

The Committee on Faculty-Administration (Chair: Mary Fuller) andthe Committee on Outside ProfessionalActivities (Chair: Bruce Tidor) have both

been relatively inactive for several years.The current chairs of the committees areevaluating the role and charge of theirrespective committees and are consider-ing bringing motions to the faculty todisband these committees in the fall.

Reflections on the Past YearIn my role as Chair of the Faculty, I havehad the opportunity to meet faculty fromacross the Institute, to learn more abouttheir activities and to renew my apprecia-tion for just how remarkable are MITfaculty. Sitting on Academic Council andvarious committees, I have learned muchabout the cultures in different fields; thebiggest surprise for me has been seeingjust how different are these cultures. Ihave enjoyed the opportunity to workwith students and have valued their per-spectives on faculty committees. It hasbeen a pleasure to get to know more ofour students through social events suchas dorm dinners, the Burchard Scholardinners, and the Society of WomenEngineers “Meet the Professor” dinners; Iencourage you to attend student dinnersand events.

Committees of the FacultyGibson, from preceding page

Lorna J. Gibson is a Professor of MaterialScience and Engineering; Faculty Chair([email protected]).

Newsletter StaffLippard and Sharp Awarded National Medal of Science

FAC U LT Y N E W S L ET T E R editorialboard member Stephen J. Lippard has beenawarded the National Medal of Science, thenation’s highest science honor.

In a ceremony at the White House onFebruary 13, 2006, Lippard, the ArthurNoyes Professor of Chemistry, andInstitute Professor Phillip A. Sharp, wereamong eight recipients who were awardedthe medals by President George W. Bush.

Lippard was cited “for pioneeringresearch in bioinorganic chemistry,

including the interaction of metal com-pounds with DNA, preparation of syn-thetic models for metalloproteins, andstructural and mechanistic studies ofmethane monooxygenase.”

“I am very pleased to receive thishonor for it recognizes the work of themany wonderful graduate students andpost-doctoral associates who have con-tributed to the science that we were able toaccomplish,” Lippard said. “It was mostunexpected.”

Stephen J. Lippard and President Bush


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faculty, a faculty able to provide the besteducation for our students in our complex,global society. Although it is clear thatadvances have been made in the lastdecade, no one in the MIT administrationis satisfied with our progress so far, particu-larly in racial and gender diversity.We mustfurther analyze the data that ProfessorHopkins has shown us, look at the factsregarding race and ethnicity as well, andunderstand the reasons why greaterprogress has not been achieved across theInstitute. We need to understand thereasons so that we can focus on what needsto be done. For example, is it more difficultfor some units to identify promisingwomen and/or under-represented minor-ity candidates who might be a good matchfor MIT? Do some units have problemsrecruiting them to MIT? Do some unitshave problems retaining them? It is alsoimportant to recognize that, in some aca-demic units, it may take decades to reachour goals if we hire women and under-rep-resented minorities at the rate of theiravailability in the pipeline.

MIT is evolving. At present, our facultyin the upper administration (President,Provost, Chancellor), our faculty officers(Faculty Chair, Associate Chair, andSecretary) and the Academic Council are farmore diverse than they were 10 years ago.

Diversity is an important priority ofMIT’s central administration, as it is forour deans and the heads of our academicunits. My first months in office have beena reflection of this priority. Three diversitycommittees have been created since Ibecame Provost last summer: two arefocused on the recruitment and retentionof under-represented minority facultyand the third is charged with assessing ourMartin Luther King Visiting Professor andScholar Program. In addition, the searchcommittees for the Dean of the School ofHumanities, Arts and Social Sciences andfor the Director of Lincoln Laboratory areheaded by women faculty.

But the most important issue here ishow to translate the efforts of a commit-

ted administration, including deans andacademic unit heads, into concrete results.I am asking our deans and the heads of allof our units (Departments, Divisions,Programs, and Sections) to gather andanalyze the data in each of their units, andto develop a plan to remedy any signifi-cant imbalances they may find withregard to representation of women andunder-represented minorities relative totheir availability in their fields. Such plansshould include ascertaining and extend-ing the use of those practices that haveproven successful in identifying, recruit-ing, and retaining a broadly diversefaculty. This might include, for example,the inclusion of women and minorities onsearch committees, reviews of applica-tions by the dean to ensure that effectiveoutreach has occurred. I will be discussingthis with the deans and the heads of ouracademic units and intend to review theirplans and results annually.

Progress is being made. For example,in this academic year, of the 37 facultyhired since the most recent official countof October 2005, 15 (or just over 40%) arewomen and five (or 13%) are under-rep-resented minorities. Within that total, theSchool of Science has hired 10 newfaculty, including four women and twounder-represented minorities; the Schoolof Engineering has hired eight newfaculty, including two women and oneunder-represented minority; the Schoolof Humanities, Arts and Social Scienceshas hired nine new faculty, including sixwomen and two under-representedminorities; and Sloan has hired 10 newfaculty, including three women.

MIT has benefited immensely fromour commitment to meritocracy. That ishow we achieved the strength and intel-lectual brilliance we enjoy today. By iden-tifying, recruiting, and retaining the besttalent – including women and men, andpeople of different races and cultures – wewill continue our tradition of unsur-passed and unwavering commitment tothe highest standards of excellence in edu-cation and research.

Meritocracy and a Diverse FacultyReif, from page 1

Dear Nancy,

Your impact continues!

I just got back from a four-day review ofone of the best universities in mainlandEurope. It was a great internationalgroup including a former prime ministerof a European country and the immedi-ate past president of the Royal Societyof London. Rita Colwell was our chair.

As you know, some regions of Europeare even more behind the curve withwomen in academia – students andfaculty – than we are in the U.S. Thereare cultural issues of a very interestingsort and too long to discuss here.Bottom line is that at the very top there isa serious will to change, but at the ele-mentary school level the idea of womengoing into science is often so foreignthat it is like being from Mars.

Your recent Faculty Newsletter articlewas cited by the group several timesduring our discussions. It is really ahelpful document because it displays soclearly the absolute excellence andaccomplishment of so many women whohave joined the MIT faculty in recentyears. The mounting influence andsuccess of NSF’s ADVANCE programwas also held up as an exemplar.

– Chuck[Charles M. Vest Professor of Mechanical EngineeringPresident Emeritus, MIT]

L. Rafael Reif is Provost ([email protected]).

Dear Nancy,

Your Faculty Newsletter article is excellent! It will have major repercus-sions nationally.

All the best,

VVV[Virginia ValianDistinguished Professor, Psychologyand Linguistics, Hunter College andCUNY Graduate Center]


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I N LIG HT OF TH E R ECE NT Report of the Energy Research Council at MIT and the May 3rd MIT Energy Forum, both of whichexhibit the commitment to energy research made by the Institute, the Faculty Newsletter wishes to reflect on the importance of thisinitiative heralded by President Hockfield. Following are two examples of research currently underway at the Institute, presented byfaculty members who participated in the Energy Forum.

In addition, we wish to invite articles commenting on the energy initiative, its structure, goals, etc., for publication in ourSeptember/October issue. Please submit any contributions by e-mail to [email protected], or contact any member of the NewsletterEditorial Board. For more information about the Energy Research Council and to see the entire final report, visit their Website:web.mit.edu/erc

Efficient Use of Energy: An ImportantPart of MIT’s New Energy Initiative

Fueling Our Transportation Future

Leon R. Glicksman John Heywood

AS PART OF TH E new energy initiative outlined in the EnergyResearch Council report, there is the need through MIT’s futureresearch and the development of our built environment toassume the leadership in the field of energy efficiency. Manyinstitutions, such as policymakers in Washington, have concen-trated on the energy problem from the supply side. Indeed, inour recent Energy Forum, a majority of the speakers dealt withpresent and future energy supply technologies. Rather thanconcentrating on a supply-side solution, it makes more sense tohave a balanced approach that also emphasizes means to limitconsumption.

Residential and commercial buildings constitute the largestenergy consumption sector of the U.S. Buildings use almost 40percent of our total energy, and are larger than the transporta-tion sector by far. Buildings also consume two-thirds of our totalelectricity. Most of the energy used in buildings is used to meetbasic requirements for heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting.Buildings have a long lifetime, 50 to 100 years, so that errors wemake now will be with us for a long time; unfortunately, thereare some recent examples here on campus. For example, each

SOM E ON E-TH I R D OF OU R primary energy consumption isused to transport people and goods. So transportation is animportant research area in our developing MIT EnergyInitiative. The scale of our transportation systems is vast: some800 million vehicles in use in the world today and projectionssuggest there will be 2 billion vehicles by 2050. Almost 100 yearsof continuous development have fine-tuned the fuels, propul-sion systems, vehicle technologies, and use patterns to match oureconomic and social contexts. Petroleum-based fuels, and inter-nal combustion engines on land and water, and gas turbines inaircraft, dominate. In the developed world, at least, most of uslike the services our transportation systems provide. But it isbecoming ever clearer that the energy requirements and envi-ronmental impacts of our transportation systems will have to bedrastically reduced.

MIT, with its strong engineering core, is a place where realismbased on quantitative assessments really matters. The numbersthat define transportation impacts are truly daunting. How thencan we be optimistic about meeting these energy and environ-mental challenges? What should the breadth and scope of our

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Energy Research Council and Forum:A Major New Institute Initiative


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transportation energy research agenda be,if we are to make progress? What issues

should we analyze and then explain to thebroader community? Let’s be clear aboutthe challenge: is it feasible to achieve, say, afactor of four reduction in energy con-sumed per vehicle so that over the nextfew decades we can offset the anticipatedgrowth in number of vehicles?

Personal and public transportation,and freight, all pose major challenges.Here, I will focus on light-duty vehicles –cars, pick-ups, SUVs, and minivans – toillustrate what the agenda should include.We can reduce fuel consumption byimproving vehicle technology, by reduc-ing vehicle weight, by driving less as wellas less aggressively, by finding new sourcesof energy, by making both technology andbehavioral changes. To illustrate thepotential of working on a broad set ofimprovement factors, consider the cumu-lative impact that several of them couldhave if each achieves a 20% fuel consump-tion reduction. Each 20% reductionwould reduce fuel consumption to 0.8 ofwhat it was originally. Now 0.8 multipliedtogether six times yields 0.26, which isclose to one-quarter or a factor of fourreduction. Thus to offset the anticipatedgrowth in number of vehicles, we willneed to achieve substantive fuel consump-tion reductions through many differentsteps that include technology improve-ments, finding substitutes for petroleum,and changes in driver and user behavior.

The table lists twelve different areaswhere reductions in vehicle energy con-sumption and greenhouse gas emissionsare potentially feasible. They are divided

into two categories. In the first category,each action has the potential for affectingthe entire in-use vehicle fleet. Forexample, raising fuel taxes to replenishour Highway Trust Fund so that it can

adequately maintain our roads wouldreduce everyone’s mileage. If ethanol frombiomass steadily builds up in volume anddisplaces gasoline, then fleet petroleumconsumption will go down.

The second category lists opportuni-ties where fuel consumption and emis-sions could be reduced throughimprovements and changes in new vehicletechnology. Some of these areas offer sub-stantial reduction potential, but wouldevolve more slowly since the impact onlyoccurs as new vehicles with improved ordifferent technology are produced andenter the in-use fleet. The last two on thislist – hydrogen and fuel cells, and electric-

ity and advanced battery technology –would be radical changes. These are beingexplored and developed because of theirpotential to “fuel” major parts of ourtransportation system with low green-house gas emissions if the hydrogen orelectrical energy can be produced withoutreleasing CO2.

This list of opportunities (and othersno doubt could be added) identifies thebroad dimensions of a research agendafocused on reducing transportationenergy consumption. For many of us atMIT, carrying out research on parts of thisagenda will be our professional responsi-bility. However, all of us should view thisagenda as a set of opportunities where wecan contribute as individuals. Each of uscan drive less aggressively, choose vehiclesthat consume less fuel next time we buy or

rent one, and be more thoughtful abouthow much we drive. In the end it will bethe sum of all our individual contribu-tions – both professional and personal –that will make a difference. Somehow, wewill have to find effective ways to get offour current path of steadily rising trans-portation energy consumption.

Fueling Our Transportation FutureHeywood, from preceding page

Various Factors that Affect Fuel Consumption

Opportunities to Impact Total In-Use Vehicles:

1. Encourage/enforce less aggressive driving behavior2. Increase vehicle occupancy on substantial fraction of trips3. Reduce mileage driven per person per year4. Use biomass-based fuels to substitute for petroleum-based fuels5. More effective transportation system management6. Increase public transportation utilization

Opportunities for Impact Through Improving New Vehicles:

1. Shift the vehicle performance/fuel economy trade-off towards lower fuel consumption2. Improve vehicle maintenance, lubricants, tire pressure, reduce parasitic loads3. Buy and use lighter weight “less big” vehicles4. Implement more efficient engine, drive train, and vehicle technologies5. Develop and implement use of hydrogen with fuel cell powered vehicles6. Use electricity with advanced batteries to reduce petroleum consumption

We can reduce fuel consumption by improvingvehicle technology, by reducing vehicle weight,by driving less as well as less aggressively, byfinding new sources of energy, by making bothtechnology and behavioral changes.

John Heywood is a Professor MechanicalEngineering; Director of the Sloan AutomotiveLab ([email protected]).


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fume hood left open consumes as muchenergy for heating and electricity as asingle family home in Boston.

The issue of efficient buildings is par-ticularly acute in the developing worldwhere there is a massive constructioneffort underway. For example, China isbuilding more than 10 million new resi-dential units per year! Proper actions inthe urban and regional environment hereand abroad can yield substantial immedi-ate as well as long-term results. Over alonger time horizon, major new steps canbe taken to reduce energy consumption.Research underway at MIT will lead tocomfortable northern homes withoutheating systems, office buildings naturallyventilated in the summer as well asadvanced daylighting systems that savemore than half of the energy now used forlighting. It is not unrealistic to expectprojects in the built environment thatmake economic sense while delivering afactor-of-two increase in overall energyefficiency over present buildings.

A handful of demonstration buildingshave begun to appear, especially inEurope, which herald major improve-ments in energy efficiency. Generally theseutilize technologies that have a narrowfocus and have not been well thought outfrom a whole building or urban develop-ment sense. Many demonstrationsinclude a mix of several technologies,some seemingly because they “look green”even though not economically justifiable.There is a wide spread between the energyconsumption per unit floor area of best-

practice buildings and average new build-ings. Major advances in energy efficiencyin the built environment require a broadapproach to building research and devel-opment. No one “silver bullet” will makea major impact by itself. Rather, substan-

tial improvements in energy efficiencyrequire the development of advancedtechnologies and an integrated approachto planning, design, optimization, andoperation. These must be guided by mid-and long-range policy studies definingapproaches that have major beneficialsocioeconomic and environmentalimpacts, are economically viable, andmotivate people to follow.

In many instances it can be shown thatthe capital costs to improve the energyefficiency of a building are far less than thecosts required to provide added energysupplies for a less efficient building. This isparticularly true if the building efficiencyconcepts are included early in the designprocess for new construction. It is impor-tant for MIT to carry out a comprehensivestudy for our current and future campusdevelopment, including future energydemands as well as supply systems. Wehave the expertise in policy, environmen-tal, and technology issues to put a firmfoundation on our ability to “walk thetalk.” MIT can be at the forefront, carryingout a comprehensive integrated study thatidentifies realistic economic measures thatreduce specific energy consumption by atleast a factor of two for future buildings. Iwould propose we develop a demonstra-tion building, using such an integratedapproach from the outset, as one of thefirst actions in our proposed new energyinitiative.

There is the perception that a sustain-able building costs substantially morethan a standard building design. If thesustainable features are designed as anintegral part of the building system, thecapital-cost increase may be minimal, ifat all. For example, use of a double-skinfaçade system may allow the usualperimeter heating and cooling systems tobe eliminated. The figure below com-pares the cost for producing electricityfrom conventional and renewable meansto the costs of saving electricity from effi-cient new building technologies andintegrated designs. Bear in mind that theconventional system costs don’t includeadditional societal costs. It is clear that afocus on efficient energy utilizationshould be a key element in our futureenergy studies.

Efficient Use of EnergyGlicksman, from page 6

Technology Cents/kWe-hr

Nuclear 4-7

Gas/Combined Cycle 4-6

Coal 4

Renewable

Wind 3-8

Biomass (25MW) 4-9

Small Hydro 5-10

Solar Thermal Electric 12-18

Solar PV 30-80

Efficiency of Consumption

Advanced Buildings 0-6

Electric Power Costs

Sources: Deutch and Moniz, MIT study 2003;Langcake, Renewable Energy World, 2003; Kats, California study, 2003.

Leon R. Glicksman is Professor of BuildingTechnology and Mechanical Engineering([email protected]).

MIT can be at the forefront, carrying out acomprehensive integrated study that identifiesrealistic economic measures that reduce specificenergy consumption by at least a factor of two forfuture buildings. I would propose we develop ademonstration building, using such an integratedapproach from the outset, as one of the first actionsin our proposed new energy initiative.


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Charles Stewart IIILighting a Fire in MIT’sUndergraduate Education

Preliminary Comments on the Work of the TaskForce on the Undergraduate Educational Commons

I N T H E W I N T E R O F 2 0 0 3 , then-President Charles M. Vest charged a cross-section of the MIT faculty withundertaking a fundamental review of thecommon undergraduate educationalexperience at the Institute. In the half-century since the last such review, theapplications of science and technologyhave become even more central in deter-mining the wellbeing of human beingsaround the world. The demographicsand goals of the students who come toMIT to benefit from the type of educa-tion we offer have changed significantly.Modes of teaching and learning haveevolved; educational innovations mightbe better reflected in the undergraduateexperience.

In short, while the overall frameworkof MIT’s undergraduate education hasbeen successful and robust in the midst ofa changing world, the job of the TaskForce was to step back and ask how thecurriculum might be modified to takeaccount of changes in the world’s needs,student interests, and advances in teach-ing methods. Many of MIT’s currentpractices should be preserved, but MIT’scurriculum must be adapted so that wecan continue to equip our students withthe capacity to have a positive impact onthe world once they leave here.

An aphorism that has guided much ofthe Task Force’s work is attributed toWilliam Butler Yates: “Education is notfilling a bucket, but lighting a fire.”Applied to MIT, this saying reminds usthat our task is not to expose students toall the knowledge they will need in a life-time, but rather to equip our graduateswith a robust set of skills, knowledge, and

habits of mind that will set them upon apath of lifelong learning. We must stokethe fires of intellectual passion our stu-dents bring with them.

In order to equip our students with alifelong capacity for learning, we haveorganized our curriculum around two

major elements: the Science Requirementand the Humanities, Arts, and SocialSciences Requirement. The two combineto produce a distinctive curriculum in thecontext of American higher education.Each faces a different set of tensions as westrive to provide an undergraduate educa-tion that is both liberal in a classical senseand professional – and one that equipsstudents to continue learning after theygraduate.

Science, Mathematics, andEngineeringA solid grounding in the natural sciences,mathematics, and engineering is a hall-mark of MIT’s undergraduate education.What should such grounding consist of?A half-century ago, the answer to thisquestion was easy, and consisted of iden-tifying a very small set of physical scienceand math classes. In the ensuing decades,the set of science classes that embody fun-damental knowledge has grown consider-ably. Furthermore, engineering hasevolved beyond being simply applied

science. Finally, with some importantexceptions, our foundational science sub-jects have tended toward passive teachingand learning approaches, at a time whenour students are increasingly responsiveto modes that are more hands-on andintegrative.

The design challenge is this: how do wemaintain the excellence, relevance, andfocus that have been the strengths of ourlong-standing Science Requirement, whileat the same time accommodating a widerrange of foundational subjects, introduc-ing engineering principles, and fosteringmore project-based learning within therequirement?

In the report we will release to thefaculty in September, the Task Force willpropose a new eight-subject Science,Mathematics, and EngineeringRequirement that is directly responsive tothis design challenge. To address the needto accommodate a larger universe offoundational science and technical sub-jects, we should move from prescribingvirtually the entire requirement bynamed subjects to requiring students toselect among subjects that fall within sixdistribution categories – mathematics,physical sciences, chemical sciences, lifesciences, computation and engineering,and freshman project-based experiences.

In the report we will release to the faculty inSeptember, the Task Force will propose a neweight-subject Science, Mathematics, andEngineering Requirement . . . .



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We should continue to require that allstudents complete a year of calculus(18.01 and 18.02) and one semester ofmechanics (8.01). Beyond that, studentsshould be given the choice of subjectswithin the distribution categories,according to their own professional andpersonal goals.

The last of these categories, freshmanproject-based experiences, is unlike theothers in that it is defined more by educa-tional approach than by subject matter. Itis also conceivable that subjects in the sub-stantive categories might emerge that aredesigned in a more integrative, project-based mode. At this point in MIT’shistory, we believe it important to encour-age the development of these sorts ofclasses at MIT – classes that move fromthe characterization of a complexproblem to the design of a solution thatdraws on a mix of disciplines andapproaches. Specifying such a separatecategory would do just that.

A topic of much discussion has beenwhether students should be required totake subjects from all six distributioncategories, or be allowed to forego one(or more) of the categories. We willpropose that students be required to takesubjects from five of the six, whichmeans that a student might graduatewithout taking even one class in chem-istry, life sciences, or engineering, orwithout doing an integrative project. Weof course hope that students will takeclasses from all six of the categories, andwill even take more than one class fromeach. Still, there are trade-offs in all cur-riculums, and we believe the gains inflexibility outweigh losses that mayoccur because some students will missout on a particular subject.

The success of reforming the ScienceRequirement will rest on many things,including getting the administrativedetails right. An important detail is vigi-lant oversight to ensure that the numberof subjects in each distribution categorydoes not proliferate. The distribution cat-

egories should be populated with nomore than three subjects apiece, with theexception of the freshman project-basedsubjects, which will need to be morenumerous.

Humanities, Arts, and Social SciencesMIT is dedicated to preparing studentswho will act to make a difference in theworld. We back up this goal by providingour students with a rigorous education inculture and society. The current eight-subject Humanities, Arts, and SocialSciences (HASS) Requirement is a strongsignal to the world that students who wishto use a rigorous technical education as aspringboard to leadership in the publicand private sectors, and in society at large,should study at MIT.

We have encountered widespreadagreement that a rigorous grounding inhumanities, arts, and social sciences isnot only a necessary ingredient for a ful-filled life, but also a prerequisite for asuccessful professional career. For thepast half-century, the role of this educa-tion at MIT has evolved. We believe theneeds of our graduates demand that therole of the humanities, arts, and socialsciences be even more prominent thanthey already are. We also believe theHASS Requirement needs to be moretransparent and its goals more clearlyarticulated to our students and theiradvisors.

The design challenge is this: how do wemaintain the current excellence in class-room teaching in the humanities, arts, andsocial sciences and the highly-valuedstudent choice within the current HASSRequirement, while at the same time

raising the stature of the HASSRequirement and sharpening its focus?

To help meet this challenge, we shouldbe more explicit about identifying thoseclasses that provide grounding in core dis-

ciplinary knowledge and academic skills,and focus the attention of freshmen andsophomores on those classes. We alsobelieve that the centrality of the humani-ties, arts, and social sciences can be betterdemonstrated to students if their firstexperience with HASS subjects at MIT isone that responds to our students’ desiresto tackle the most compelling problemsand questions that face humankind.

We should think of the HASSRequirement as unfolding in two phases,foundational and advanced, which aredistinguished by the degree to which theyemphasize core knowledge, fundamentalacademic skills, and a breadth of subjectmaterial. Foundational subjects shouldintroduce students to disciplinaryapproaches to important social and cul-tural matters, and should be especiallyattentive to developing basic intellectualskills such as writing, reading originalsources, deciphering raw data, and usingresearch resources such as libraries. Thesesubjects should incorporate the CI-Hportion of the CommunicationRequirement, which will end one of themost serious sources of confusion thatnow confronts the HASS Requirement.And, the foundational phase should havea streamlined distributional component.Advanced phase HASS subjects wouldconstitute the Concentration, which weconceive of as being fundamentallyunchanged from the current requirement.

Lighting a FireStewart III, from preceding page

We have encountered widespread agreement that arigorous grounding in humanities, arts, and socialsciences is not only a necessary ingredient for afulfilled life, but also a prerequisite for a successfulprofessional career. . . .We believe the needs of ourgraduates demand that the role of the humanities,arts, and social sciences be even more prominentthan they already are.


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An important element of the funda-mental phase is a class of subjects wehave termed “freshman experience” sub-jects. These subjects, which will be rela-tively few in number (no more than 16),are intended to provide an exciting intel-lectual experience by exploring “bigideas” in the realms of culture andsociety. These big ideas might be topicssuch as globalization, democracy,poverty, or revolutions. The big ideaswould need to be broad enough tocapture the attention of a relatively largenumber of freshmen (80 to 100, say),and rich enough so that a number ofsmaller sections that addressed the ideacould provide the day-to-day intellectualfocus of the students. Compelling ideasand a relatively large number of studentswould create, we believe, a sufficientcritical mass of students and facultyaround a particular topic that the largerintellectual climate of the Institutewould be affected.

Globalizing education, classrooms,and advisingOver two and a half years of work, theTask Force has deliberated on a widevariety of subjects, not only the Scienceand HASS Requirements. Because ofspace limitations, we have focused here onthese two major elements of the curricu-lum. However, there are other matterswhich have commanded our attention,about which we will be making recom-mendations to the faculty and adminis-tration. Among these matters areglobalizing undergraduate education,improving advising, and providingresources for curricular innovation.

Globalizing undergraduate education.Our graduates are entering a world inwhich commercial relations are lessrespectful of national borders and eventson the other side of the globe have a greatimpact on their daily lives. A smallnumber of MIT undergraduates cur-rently have an experience abroad duringtheir college years; these numbers areinadequate and must grow. The nature ofengineering curricula makes this taskespecially challenging. However, we

already have developed models of inter-national study – such as MISTI, CME,and D-LAB – that work in the MIT envi-ronment and can be built upon to allowmore students to study and work abroad

during their four years at MIT. An appro-priate goal is to make it possible for allundergraduates who wish to studyabroad to do so.

Classrooms. The educational reformswe are proposing will require MIT to takea new look at its inventory of classroomsand other teaching space and then toundertake a major program of renewaland construction. Project-based andhands-on subjects require a different sortof classroom space than traditionallecture/recitation classes. In order toimplement our proposal for special fresh-man HASS subjects, we will need a largerstock of classrooms that will accommo-date 20 students for seminar discussions.The curriculum reforms we propose willnot succeed unless improving the qualityand distribution of classrooms is made atop priority.

Advising. A sore point among stu-dents, and cause for concern amongmany faculty members, is the unevenquality of undergraduate advising. Inrecent years, only a small number offaculty members have been involved infreshman advising; we believe thatnumber should increase. Even moreimportant, however, is the fact that theproposed curricular reforms will increasethe number of choices freshmen will needto make, and make those choices moreconsequential. MIT’s current orientationand freshman advising systems have

grown up around an assumption that thefreshman year curriculum was relativelyproscribed. That will no longer be thecase, which means that both orientationand freshman advising will require a fresh

look. In addition, the Task Force believesthat the advising and mentoring of ourstudents is an important faculty responsi-bility that should be an essential part ofthe teaching record.

ConclusionThese comments provide a brief overviewof the current thinking of the Task Forceon the Undergraduate EducationalCommons as we write up our final report.The report will be finished over thesummer, to be delivered to PresidentHockfield in the fall. With the delivery ofthe report to the president, we trust ourrecommendations will be commended tothe faculty, for debate, refinement, and(we hope) approval and implementation.As we have discovered, everyone at MITfeels passionately about our undergradu-ate curriculum. We eagerly anticipate thechanneling of those passions in the fall, aswe deliberate how to improve that cur-riculum together.

Ed Note: To view the Task Force Website,which contains the set of slides presentedat the mid-May town meeting as well asother information, go to: web.mit.edu/committees/edcommons.

An important element of the fundamental phase isa class of subjects we have termed “freshmanexperience” subjects. These subjects, which willbe relatively few in number (no more than 16),are intended to provide an exciting intellectualexperience by exploring “big ideas” in the realmsof culture and society. These big ideas might betopics such as globalization, democracy, poverty,or revolutions.

Charles Stewart III is a Professor and Headof Political Science; an Associate Chair of theTask Force on the Undergraduate EducationalCommons ([email protected]).


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Alan BrodySome Thoughts on the Arts

AT TH E E N D OF this academic year I’llbe stepping down as Associate Provost forthe Arts and returning to the bosom of mycolleagues on the faculty of Music andTheater Arts. I’m looking forward tobeing enveloped again in that capaciousand quirky bosom. Even more, I’mlooking forward to having daily contactwith the students who find themselves inmy studio – even if it’s only because it fitsinto their schedules. And while I’mlooking forward to all that, this isn’t a badtime to look back and take some measureof where the arts at MIT have come overthe last 10 years.

In 1995, when my extraordinary pred-ecessor, Ellen Harris, announced she wasstepping down, the Institute was justcoming out of a financial bind that hadled to a 2% budget cut across all Schools.Some people were questioning the needfor an Associate Provost for the Arts andsuggested eliminating the position. ChuckVest said, “No. When times are bad youdon’t cut the arts. If the arts weren’tserving our students I’d cut them whethertimes were good or bad, but you don’t letthem go because times are bad.” I thoughtthis was remarkable. It was the finest evi-dence that the administration understoodthe contribution the arts make to theintellectual and creative life of the MITcommunity.

The most rewarding aspect of my timein the administration was the opportunityto facilitate so much fine work on the partof students, faculty, and staff. MIT beingwhat it is, I suppose there will always bepeople who say, “I didn’t know MIT hadany arts.” The Institute will always beknown for its preeminence in science and

engineering. But every year those whojoin the campus community discover therichness, the exuberance, and the passionwith which the arts are pursued. Andthose newcomers find themselves wel-

comed by those who have discovered usbefore them.

In the curriculum, our students dis-cover new ways of being in the world.They develop a tolerance for ambiguityand learn to honor their dreams. Theycome to exercise those parts of theirbodies and minds they may never haveexperienced before. They understand theprofound difference between solving aproblem and illuminating a mystery. Formany, a course in the arts can be transfor-mative, bringing a whole new dimensionto their work in the classroom and the lab-oratory. Each member of the arts faculty,in his or her own way, introduces them tothe complexity and rigor of each disci-pline, exploding the general myth of thearts as “soft,” as an enterprise where any-thing goes. In doing that, the faculty servetheir art, as well as their students.

The arts faculty’s research is its cre-ative work. What makes that work dis-tinctively a part of the MIT culture is theamount of interdisciplinary collabora-tion that occurs, not only between artistsbut also among artists, scientists, and

engineers. In the Catalyst Collaborative,CAVS, individual artists like dancerTommy De Frantz, theater director JanetSonenberg, performance artist JoanJonas, novelist Alan Lightman, and com-

poser-performer Evan Ziporyn all cele-brate and exploit the unique cutting-edgescientific and engineering resources oftheir colleagues. They serve as models ofcross-fertilization and the continuedability of the arts to mirror and thrive intheir own times. A roster of the recentshows at the List Visual Arts Center rein-forces this sense of interdisciplinarity.The artists with whom they fill their gal-leries all, in one way or the other, incor-porate, challenge, subvert, and engage thefarthest reaches of science and technol-ogy in contemporary society.

The MIT staff, as well, exercises itstalent and passion. I don’t know of aprogram on any other campus quite likeArtists Behind the Desk. Every program ofmusic and poetry, every exhibit of visualarts from painting to photographydemonstrates what an astonishingly richand accomplished creative resource lies inthe people who have, in addition to theirart, learned to master SAP.

In his autobiography, Nobel physicistVictor Weiskopf wrote that there are twoversions of the start of the universe: the

The arts faculty’s research is its creative work.What makes that work distinctively a part of theMIT culture is the amount of interdisciplinarycollaboration that occurs, not only between artistsbut also among artists, scientists, and engineers.


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Big Bang and Haydn’s The Creation. Anyinformed human being, he said, mustknow both. Whenever anyone has com-plained that the arts are marginalized inthe MIT ethos, I have tried to explain thatalthough the arts are not central to themission of MIT, they are necessary.

This is what I have found so excitingand rewarding after having worked in somany pre-professional and conservatoryprograms. At MIT, we are serving a major-ity of students who will go on to be scien-tists or engineers. If we’ve done our workwell, they will not go on to have a life inthe arts, but they will always have art intheir lives. They will be open to thoseaspects of themselves and the life aroundthem that might not otherwise have beenavailable to them. They will have a moreprofound understanding of the humanand aesthetic dimension of every enter-prise they engage in. Their work with theMIT Symphony or a chamber musicgroup will have deepened their sense ofhow to work as an ensemble in a labora-tory, a study group, an industrial division.Most important, they will be curiousabout the most baffling aspects of thecontemporary arts, eager to be informed,and appreciative champions and lovers ofthe art of the past.

Over the past 10 years, the arts havebecome ever more visible on every part ofthe campus, from our superb collection ofoutdoor contemporary sculpture to thenewest work we have acquired throughthe Percent for the Arts policy, commis-sions by Sarah Sze, Mark DiSuvero,Matthew Ritchie, Dan Graham, JorgePardo, and Candida Hofer. Freshmen nowcome to know about the arts resources atMIT through the pre-orientation artsprogram and the Freshman Arts Seminarand Advising Program, so superblyadministered by Michèle Oshima and herassociates in the Office of the Arts. TheWeisner Art Gallery is being programmedregularly under the leadership of SusanCohen. The monthly Arts Colloquiafeature arts faculty and guest artistssharing their most recent work withfaculty, students and other members ofthe MIT community. And SHASS now

stands for the School of Humanities, Artsand Social Sciences.

There is, of course, much still to bedone. The performing arts still have nohome. We still depend on the kindness of

strangers. None of our teaching spaces isunder our control. We still have to sched-ule five years out to assure performanceand rehearsal spaces, and even then we aresubject to preemption. New facultymembers are often startled by this. We arein a situation now that is not unlike tellingour scientists and engineers that they willsimply have to break down their experi-ments every night when they leave theirlaboratories – and that they have to be outby 5:00 each night anyway to make wayfor a reception or a conference. We havethe initial designs for the new Laboratoryfor the Performing Arts that will provideus with the dedicated teaching andrehearsal space we need. We have the sitechosen and approved. It is a modest build-ing and we are on our way to raising thefunds for it. Within the new system forcapital funding, however, this is now theonly building project that must be 100%funded before we can proceed. That willnot deter us. We are still determined, asShakespeare said, “to give to airy nothing-ness/a local habitation and a name.”

As MIT has evolved from an Instituteof Technology to a university that is cen-tered on Science and Technology, someold habits of mind die hard. I think thereare still many here who see the arts as anafterthought or, even worse, a frill for theInstitute – and maybe for the society as awhole. This limitation reveals itself in ouradvising system. When I taught at otheruniversities and liberal arts colleges, mytheater students would balk at taking theirscience requirement. I would patiently

explain why it was important for any artistto be familiar with the scientific method,the particular discipline and specificity ofscientific inquiry. I would explain how aliberal arts education is designed to

expose them to many different ways ofbeing in the world, however demandingwas the focus of their own training.“You’llnever really understand Oedipus orIbsen,” I would say, “unless you develop arespect for the rigor of cause and effect.”At MIT, I have sat in on advisor orienta-tion sessions where new advisors weregiven explicit advice on how to help stu-dents get their HASS distribution courses“out of the way.” This is still a discourag-ing message. It tells me that we all stillhave work to do to help us honor eachother’s contributions to the rich intellec-tual and aesthetic resources at MIT, andhelp our students understand their value.

The arts have come a long way since Ijoined MIT in 1988. I’ve seen the cultureof the Institute slowly respond to the evermore visible presence of the arts. I’ve seenthe profile of our student body change aswe’ve heeded young applicants’ demandsfor ever broader learning opportunities.I’ve seen young people transformed by avariety of new exposures and facultymembers discover opportunities for col-laboration where they never would havedreamed of finding them.

But that, after all, is the mission of thearts – to help everyone dream and thenembody those dreams and celebrate them.It’s why we’re necessary to the coremission of MIT. I’m glad to have had theopportunity to help that happen moreand to keep it happening.

The performing arts still have no home. We stilldepend on the kindness of strangers. None of ourteaching spaces is under our control. We still haveto schedule five years out to assure performanceand rehearsal spaces, and even then we aresubject to preemption.

Alan Brody is Associate Provost for the Arts; aProfessor of Theater Arts ([email protected]).


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Peter C. PerdueReflections on the “Visualizing Cultures”Incident

WHO WOU LD HAVE I MAG I N E D thata 100-year-old Japanese woodblock printcould have caused so much trouble? It allbegan innocently enough, on April 23rd,when the MIT homepage, in its“Spotlight” section, posted a link to the“Visualizing Cultures” project, a multi-media educational Website on East Asiadirected by Professors John Dower of theHistory Faculty and Shigeru Miyagawa ofForeign Languages and Literatures. Thissimple act led to a cyber-onslaught on thesite from Chinese Internet users aroundthe world. It drew MIT faculty, graduatestudents, top administrators, alumni, his-torians, scholars, and students into pas-sionate engagement with crucial issues ofmodern East Asian history, in a very tenseatmosphere. The Website was taken downin response to a tidal wave of criticism, buton May 10th the site was restored. Theimmediate crisis had passed, but ominousechoes lingered.

Here I would like to describe briefly thecourse of the incident and reflect on someof its implications. Since I was a partici-pant in these events, this is by no means aneutral account. I hope, however, that itsimmediacy will compensate for its lack ofdetachment. Since the incident itselfopens a window on to fascinating con-temporary issues concerning MIT’s rolein international education, China’s placein a globalizing world, and the powerfulimpact of historical memories and emo-tions, I believe that it is worthy of somecomment.

The “Visualizing Cultures” project is aprize-winning compilation of visualimagery and textual explanation focusedon Japan’s relations with the world fromthe nineteenth century to the present. The

first unit, “Black Ships and Samurai,”examined the impact of CommodorePerry’s arrival in Japan in 1854 throughcontemporary graphics. It won a prizefrom the National Endowment for theHumanities as “one of the best onlineresources for education in the humani-ties.” Other units now on the site discussthe Sino-Japanese war of 1895 and the

Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Each unitcontains vivid color images done byJapanese artists for a popular audience,accompanied by detailed discussion oftheir historical background written byJohn Dower. Posted on theOpenCourseWare site, this educationalproject combines advanced Web technol-ogy with thoughtful humanistic commen-tary to educate a global audience aboutJapan’s encounter with the modern world.

The unit entitled “Throwing off Asia”looks at the consequences of the Sino-Japanese war for Japan’s view of China. Bydefeating the massive Qing empire in1895, Japan had demonstrated that it trulymet Western standards of global power. Atthe same time, Japanese came to despisethe Chinese as backward, weak peoplehopelessly incapable of building a rich

and powerful state in an imperialist world.“Throwing off Asia” meant that Japanshould reject the stagnant societies of Asiaand model itself on the advancingWestern powers, especially the imperialpower of Britain. Woodcuts celebratingthe Japanese victory delivered powerfulimpressions of Chinese weakness to aJapanese mass audience. Many of the

woodcuts were racist, shocking, and grue-some. Dower’s text describes one suchprint, entitled “Illustration of theDecapitation of Violent Chinese Soldiers,”which depicted Japanese soldiers execut-ing helpless Chinese prisoners of war, as“an unusually frightful scene.” (It isimportant to clarify that this picture ofatrocities did not appear on the MIThomepage; one had to click on many linksto find it.) [See next page for image withaccompanying statement from theWebsite.]

He continues, “Even today, over acentury later, this contempt remainsshocking. Simply as racial stereotypingalone, it was as disdainful of the Chineseas anything that can be found in anti-“Oriental” racism in the United States andEurope at the time – as if the process of

Photo from “Throwing off Asia” homepage


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“Westernization” had entailed, forJapanese, adopting the white man’simagery while excluding themselves fromit. This poisonous seed, already planted inviolence in 1894-95, would burst into fullatrocious flower four decades later, whenthe emperor’s soldiers and sailors onceagain launched war against China.”

Most viewers, I think, would read theexplanation of this image and passage asunequivocal condemnation of Japanesemilitarism. Several Chinese studentviewers, however, saw just the opposite:they believed that by posting the pictureof atrocities, Profs. Dower, Miyagawa, andMIT were celebrating Japanese racism,not condemning it. Ripping the image outof its surrounding context, they posted alink to this image alone on the Internetwith e-mail messages attacking theproject. Soon these messages circulatedaround the Internet.

A torrent of vituperative e-mail andphone messages poured in on Profs. Dowerand Miyagawa. Some were so threatening asto require police action. Clearly the imagehad inflamed very sore nerves, but why? Itwas very difficult to understand how an edu-cational project dedicated to overcoming thedestructive effects of war, racism, and vio-lence could be seen as doing just the oppo-site. And many feared that the verbalviolence could easily turn into physicalattacks. After meeting with several students

and discussing the issue with MIT adminis-trators, it was agreed to take down the sitetemporarily, and hold a meeting withmembers of the Chinese Students andScholars Association, a student group com-prised of graduate students from the People’sRepublic of China, to hear their concerns.

I attended that meeting on April 26th,along with other member of the HASSfaculty. From 50 to 80 students packed theroom. The atmosphere was tense, butChancellor Philip Clay ran the meetingwith consummate skill. He allowed every-one a chance to speak, but cut off long-winded speeches, and called forconstructive proposals. John Dower tookfull responsibility for selecting the imagesand writing the commentary, explainingthat to present propaganda images foreducational use was not to condone theirmessage; it only meant analyzing thepower of propaganda in order to under-stand its devastating effects. But the stu-dents could not grasp this point. Blindedby passion, they shouted that Dower andMiyagawa had been insensitive to thetremendous suffering of the Chinesepeople at the hands of Japanese mili-tarism. One student undertook to edifyProf. Dower on the finer points ofJapanese history by proudly presentinghim with a copy of a popular book on theNanjing massacre! Written demands cir-culated at the meeting included shutting

down the site permanently, demands thatMIT officially apologize to the offended“Chinese community,” and cancellation ofacademic workshops related to the site. Attheir best, the students’ patriotism evokedthe May 4th movement of 1919, but theirarrogance and intolerance also remindedme of the Red Guards of 1966.

At this point I had had enough. I stoodup and stated that, having taught Chinesehistory for 25 years at MIT, I could seenothing wrong with the presentation ofgraphic violence on the “VisualizingCultures”Website: all historians use imagesfor teaching, and as John Dower had said,to present an image is not to endorse it. Iproposed that the site be restored intact,with no apologies, but that an open onlinediscussion forum be attached to the site toallow anyone to post comments. When Istated that this was a clear case of academicfreedom, I was shouted down with achorus of “No!”. Then I left the room.

Statements issued by Chancellor Clayand Professors Dower and Miyagawaexpressed sincere regret at the offense causedby the single image and noted that theWebsite had been temporarily taken downin response to criticism. The statements alsocondemned hostile criticism from “outsidethe MIT community”and defended the aca-demic freedom of the authors.

These well-intentioned efforts torespond to the feelings of the students hadthe unfortunate effect of making it appearthat MIT had failed to defend its ownfaculty against attack. The Boston Globearticle of April 28 said that MIT had“apologized” to Chinese students for anoffensive Website. Many observers outsideMIT thought that, in the words of onecolleague, MIT had “crumbled” under anassault from irate Chinese students.

Seething, I sat down and wrote an openletter to the Chinese students, specificallytargeted at those who had initiated andsupported the hostile e-mail attacks. Theletter praised them for their intelligenceand dedication to the honor of the country,but told them that they had violated funda-mental academic norms of civil discourseand respect. As future leaders of China,


Illustration of the Decapitation of Violent Chinese SoldiersVisualizing Cultures presents images from the uncensored historical record as part ofscholarly research. Be advised that some images may be offensive and difficult to view;presentation of these images does not endorse their content.


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they had a responsibility to open theirminds, in order to make China strong, andnot to indulge in destructive narrow-minded self-righteous indignation.

The mood in the History faculty was oneof fury and despair. The prevailing tone ofapology signaled to the outside world thatthe administration would not defend one ofour most respected senior colleagues againstattacks that besmirched his reputation andendangered his career. With the approval ofDepartment Head Harriet Ritvo, I postedmy open letter on the History facultyWebsite as a personal expression of onescholar of China on the issue.

Not being an expert in media relations,I had no idea whether anyone would evennotice the letter, but such is the magic ofthe Internet that the letter had the desiredeffect. The hostile e-mail campaign shiftedits target from Shigeru Miyagawa to me,sparing him some further harassment. Themessages, all of them passionate, varied incoherence and length. Some preferredlengthy tirades, while another epitomizedhis opinion with the pithy phrase, “fuk yu(sic).” They claimed that the letter insultedall Chinese students, that it failed to recog-nize the tremendous suffering of theChinese people, that foreigners had noright to claim superior authority over theinterpretation of Chinese history, and thatMIT had no business exposing the painfulside of Asian history before the world.Others demanded disciplinary action orworse against Profs. Dower and Miyagawa.

I decided to respond to nearly all the e-mail messages (except the obsceneones). I wanted to engage these writersjust to understand how their mindsworked, even if there was little hope ofchanging their opinions. My responseswere forceful but, I hope, not intemperate.After reading many accusations of cold-heartedness toward the suffering ofChinese who had lost family members toJapanese militarism, however, I feltobliged to remind some writers that manyAmericans, too, had family members wholost their lives while defending the

Chinese people against Japanese aggres-sion in World War II. Chinese did nothave a monopoly on suffering. I alsopointed out that Chinese had inflicted aconsiderable amount of suffering on eachother, during the turmoil of the BoxerRebellion, Cultural Revolution, orTiananmen Square, 1989. The exchangeswere spirited; if we did not convince eachother, we at least clarified our positions.This was, after all, an ideal “teachingmoment.” Because of the efficiency of e-mail communication, it required only [?]a few hours a day in the midst of regularteaching and service duties. But not muchresearch got done!

Over the next few days, however, theresponses took an extraordinary new turn.The Chinese alumni of MIT began toweigh in. Led by their organization,CAMIT, they engaged in intensive discus-sion of the issues surrounding the site inmessages to each other, copied to me, Prof.Miyagawa, and President Hockfield,among others. Bear in mind that theycould not verify any assertions about thesite, since it had been shut down. All theyhad to go on were incomplete news reportsand the messages from the denunciationcampaign. Yet they conducted themselveswith remarkable intelligence and civility,setting a model for how to address difficultcontroversial issues with clarity andinsight. I would like to thank especially Ms.Greer Hsing Tan Swiston ’87, chair ofCAMIT, for moderating the discussionwith consummate skill, and Ms. Yee WahChin ’74, for responding so thoughtfullyand elegantly to a variety of views.

The alumni views were diverse, but allof them were insightful. Almost alldefended vigorously the rights of Profs.Dower and Miyagawa to teach and propa-gate their perspectives; many condemnedthe arrogant attitudes of the students.Some thought that MIT should notexpose such painful visual materials to theraw emotions of the global community,even though they were appropriate withinthe MIT classroom. Others argued thatsince we can never predict precisely howour views will be received, we cannot letexcess concerns for “sensitivity” inhibit

our teaching and research. As Yee WahChin put it, “as for taking things out ofcontext or even altering them, there isalways that risk, and if we were to refrainfrom posting anything from that fear, wemay as well not post anything at all.”

More important than the particularpositions was the tone of this debate, soradically different from that of CSSA andits supporters. This amazing outpouring ofmoderate civil discourse on a vital contem-porary subject was the most heartwarmingaspect of the whole affair. It showed thatthe Internet truly can be a global village inthe hands of rational, concerned citizens.As I wrote to President Hockfield, “We canbe very proud of our alumni (after all, theyused to be our students), …. I am sorry tobe bragging so much.”

If some future social scientist used thiscorrespondence as “data” for a researchproject, she might conclude: “A contentanalysis was done of the opinions con-tained in the complete database of e-mailcorrespondence, arranging them on thefollowing ordinal scale from 1 to 5:1. Dower and Miyagawa were completelyjustified in their project; the students’actions were ridiculous and embarrassing;2. The Website contained some uninten-tionally offensive portions, indicating theneed for some clarification, but it should berestored as soon as possible with warningsabout the need to view its content carefully;3. The site was unbalanced, because itleaned too much toward the Japanese per-spective; it needed to include Chinesematerials and be substantially revised;4. The Website indicated such bias againstthe Chinese people and in favor of Japanesemilitarism that the Website should be sup-pressed, MIT should apologize, and Profs.Dower and Miyagawa should be fired;5. Even more violent threats…

“A frequency distribution of theresponses would find them arrayed in anormal distribution with its median atabout 3.0, with the median response frommembers of CAMIT lying one or morestandard intervals to the left (<=2.5), andthe median response from members ofCSSA lying one or more standard inter-vals to the right (>=3.5). There is most

Reflections on “Visualizing Cultures”Perdue, from preceding page


17

likely a significant statistical differencebetween the two populations, but thissubject requires further research.”

On May 4th, a memorable date inChinese history, the anniversary of thegreat student movements of May 4th,1919, President Hockfield issued a state-ment in English and Chinese stronglysupporting the “Visualizing Cultures”project. She said, “the attacks on our col-leagues and their work are antithetical toall that we stand for as a university dedi-cated to open inquiry and the freeexchange of ideas.” Finally, I was ready to

cheer for the administration.In the end, the authors resolved the

crisis by adopting mainly position #2, withsome parts of position #3. The Website hasbeen restored intact, with the same imagesand text unchanged, but with warninglabels attached to the most shockingimages. A strong “gateway” statement inChinese, English, and Japanese recognizesthe power of images and the need to viewthem with extreme care. It insists, “Someof these images are harsh, for history itselfis harsh…graphics that depict dark aspectsof history – such as violence, intolerance,

racism, aggressive nationalism, war andatrocity, abuse of others and of the envi-ronment in general – have not been cen-sored… PLEASE VIEW & USE THESE“VISUALIZING CULTURES” UNITSCAREFULLY & IN THE SPIRIT INWHICH THEY HAVE BEEN PRE-PARED…To take images out of contextand use them irresponsibly and provoca-tively destroys the highest ideals of uncen-sored sharing and communication thattechnology now makes possible.” Existingunits will have Chinese translations, and Iintend to work with the authors to addnew Chinese units to the site.

What can we learn from this affair?Was it a tempest in a teapot or a straw inthe wind? We learned about the terrifyingpower of images to strip very well-edu-cated people of their capacities for reason,the large cultural gaps between differentpopulations on this as yet incompletelyglobalized planet, the vital need forresponsibility in presenting and respond-ing to painful media material, the centralrole of MIT in propagating deeply insight-ful perspectives on the modern worldthrough technological and humanisticresearch, and, most encouraging, the deepdedication of our faculty and especiallyour alumni to the critical academic normswhich we all share.

The incident could also inspire manyfascinating interdisciplinary researchprojects: How do historical memoriesembed themselves in student populations,through schools, media, and family stories(History)? Is there something specialabout the wiring of the brain that con-nects the visual cortex to emotionalcenters, bypassing the rational faculties(BCS)? Can modern computer technol-ogy both broadcast painful materialwidely but ensure that it cannot bemisused (EECS)? When do students spe-cializing in the sciences engage intensivelyin global political campaigns (PoliticalScience, STS)?

Just leave it to an academic to turn acrisis into a research project!

MIT Faculty Statement on the Visualizing Cultures WebsiteAs faculty members of MIT, we endorse in the strongest terms the scholarly value of the

Visualizing Cultures project directed by Professors John Dower and Shigeru Miyagawa. This prize-

winning Website was created by two of the world’s leading scholars. By going to

visualizingcultures.mit.edu, readers of this letter can see for themselves how, by bringing together

textual explanation with thousands of images, the Website explores in detail the development of

Japan’s relationship to Western powers and China since the mid-nineteenth century.

It also evokes broader questions about the cultures of war, imperialism, and nationalism. Many of

the subjects it analyzes are painful to recall, but since the authors are professional scholars of the

highest caliber, the site in its entirety enlightens everyone who examines it carefully about the deepest

questions of social and historical change. Because it brings advanced technology together with

humanistic research, it is a jewel of the MIT curriculum, and the OpenCourseWare project makes it

available to the entire world.

A small group of individuals took one image on this site out of context and broadcast it across the

Internet. By doing so, they fomented an e-mail campaign directed against MIT’s educational mission

that quickly exploded out of control into a global incident. The site was temporarily shut down in

response to these attacks. Some critics claim that the site endorses Japanese racism and militarism

and therefore urge that it be permanently shut down or substantively revised. In fact, the site

describes and strongly condemns the racist propaganda that supported Japanese militarism.

The challenge to this project threatens the core values of MIT’s educational and research mission.

We commend the eloquent statement from President Susan Hockfield in support of the project. We

call on all interested parties to join with us to ensure that the Visualizing Cultures Website will remain

in its entirety and be protected against any future attacks. We also express our strong sympathy to

Professors Dower and Miyagawa for the ordeal they have suffered, and reaffirm our commitment to

MIT’s basic values of academic freedom and scholarly integrity.Hal AbelsonAlice AmsdenJohn BelcherRafael Luis BrasDavid M. CiarloJoshua CohenIsabelle de CourtivronJesus Del AlamoPeter DonaldsonHerbert H. EinsteinHoward EissenstatMichael FischerDeborah FitzgeraldSuzanne FlynnDaniel FoxLorna Gibson

Loren GrahamStephen GravesHugh GustersonMorris HalleEllen HarrisJames HarrisWesley HarrisIrene HeimHarold F. HemondDiana HendersonJean E. JacksonMeg JacobsPatrick JailletKenneth KenistonMichael KenstowiczSamuel Jay Keyser

George KocurSteven LermanPauline R. MaierRoger G. MarkAnne M. McCantsDavid A. MindellFred MoavenzadehJoel MosesDava J. NewmanSteven E OstrowPeter C. PerdueRuth PerryDavid PesestskyJeffrey S. RavelNorvin RichardsHarriet Ritvo

Richard J. SamuelsBish SanyalMerritt Roe SmithBob StalnakerEdward S. SteinfeldPeter TeminEmma TengBruce TidorLily TsaiEdward TurkDaniele VenezianoJulian WheatleyAnn WolpertEvan Ziporyn

Peter C. Perdue is the T.T. and Wei FongChao Professor of Asian Civilizations; Professorof History ([email protected]).


18

MIT Chinese Studentand Scholar Association

On the “Visualizing Cultures” Controversyand its Implications

AFTER ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING IN

the resolution of the recent controversysurrounding the “Visualizing Cultures”Website, we at the Chinese Student andScholar Association (CSSA) are gratefulfor this opportunity to directly communi-cate with the great academic and researchcommunity at MIT. We want to introduceto you what CSSA does, report on the res-olution of the controversy, clarify ourposition on this issue, and share our viewson the greater implications of this issue oncultural sensitivity.

CSSA is one of the largest studentgroups at MIT, with over 600 officialmembers, most of them from mainlandChina. They include 400 graduate stu-dents, 150 post-docs and visiting scholars,and 50 MIT affiliates. The main missionof our organization is to serve the needs ofour members, promote Chinese culture,and facilitate communication within thelarge Chinese community both on and offMIT campus. Towards this goal, CSSAregularly organizes social activities(dancing parties and outings), conductsseminar series (career and academicdevelopment, insurance, immigration),and celebrates Chinese culture withvarious events (Mid-Autumn HarborCruise and Chinese New Year events).

CSSA’s role in resolving this controversyAlthough the recent controversy surround-ing the “Visualizing Cultures”Website gen-erated headlines worldwide, the issue wasswiftly resolved within four days, thanks tothe close cooperation among the MITadministration, the two professors (Dr.John Dower and Dr. Shigeru Miyagawa),and CSSA. The controversy originallyunfolded with the Website beingSpotlighted on MIT’s homepage on April

23rd and 24th (Sunday and Monday). ByMonday afternoon, CSSA had receivednumerous e-mails from distressed studentsprotesting against the inappropriate pres-entation of Japanese wartime propagandadepicting atrocities inflicted on the Chinesepeople in the “Throwing off Asia” unit ofthe Website. As CSSA officers, we held anemergency meeting to decide the course ofaction. Based on the email responses wereceived and the thunderous outcry fromthe worldwide Chinese online communitywe observed, CSSA wrote an official letteron behalf of Chinese students at MIT thatwas sent to the two professors as well as tothe MIT administration on Tuesday (seeCSSA Website cssa.mit.edu/new/new).The letter detailed the emotional damagethe inappropriate presentation had causedto thousands of Chinese people worldwide,and requested that, i) “the authors shouldprovide the proper historical context forthe prints” and ii) “MIT should pay specialattention to the presentation of culturally-demeaning content, particularly to itsemotionally-damaging potential.”

Also on Tuesday April 25th, CSSA offi-cers met with the MIT Ombuds Officeand Graduate Dean Ike Colbert. Wegreatly appreciate the promptness andattention with which they listened to ourconcerns, and the helpful guidance theyoffered. On Wednesday, while CSSA andDr. Miyagawa corresponded by e-mail toset up an official meeting, the two profes-sors and the MIT administration held apublic forum that evening. Some Chinesestudents from MIT as well as some fromChinese communities outside of MITattended the forum and voiced their per-sonal opinions.

Finally on Thursday morning, CSSAofficers had an in-depth discussion with

the two professors and the MIT adminis-tration. We were most impressed by, andthankful for, the two professors’ willing-ness to seriously consider our requests,and the Institute’s efforts in resolving thisissue. The meeting resulted in a mutualrecognition of the need to contextualizethese sensitive materials and a construc-tive plan to do so. In the afternoon on thesame day, one final detailed discussion ledto the joint release of three official state-ments. The two statements from the pro-fessors and the Institute can be found atthe MIT News Website web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/visualizing-cultures.html, while thestatement from CSSA is available at theCSSA Website and was sent to Chinesemedia worldwide (see next page). CSSAalso contributed to the translation of thethree statements into Chinese, with thehelp of Dr. Jing Wang.

This is not about censorshipSince then, Dr. Dower and Dr. Miyagawahave successfully relaunched the“Visualizing Cultures” Website, with con-structive feedback from CSSA officersbefore and after the amendments.Unfortunately, outside of the team directlyworking to resolve this issue (the two pro-fessors, the MIT administration, andCSSA), some members of the MIT com-munity without complete informationhave caused grave misconceptions of theChinese students at MIT. The openingparagraph of The Tech’s initial reporting ofthe issue (April 28th) misleadingly cast theissue as one of censorship versus sensitivity.It also conveniently excluded Chinese stu-dents from any of its dozen or so quotes,and decided not to place the official letteror statement from CSSA alongside thosefrom the two professors and the Institute.


19

As stated clearly in our official letter,statement, and multiple meetings with thetwo professors and the MIT administra-tion, we have utmost respect for academicfreedom and the quality of research pre-sented in the “Visualization Cultures”Website. We have asked for propercontext, but never censorship. As The Techstated in the Corrections section of theirnext issue, their initial reporting was“incomplete in its portrayal of the viewsof the Chinese students, many of whomwanted the sensitive material on the siteintroduced with better context, ratherthan removed altogether.” Nevertheless, itis very tempting for anyone who disagreeswith the views of Chinese students todenounce this as censorship, for censor-ship is one of the few issues that all of us atMIT would unanimously oppose. Oneshould, however, realize that, to blatantlyignore the actual request CSSA put forthon behalf of Chinese students and stub-bornly insist on calling our demands cen-sorship, is as inappropriate andirresponsible as the act of condemning theWebsite without reading its content.

We also hope that the MIT communitywould not generalize from the irrationalbehaviors of some Chinese individualsfrom outside of MIT. Just as the personalopinions of some students at theWednesday public forum did not repre-sent the majority of Chinese students atMIT, these irrational behaviors were butthe most extreme reactions amongChinese people. Right from the begin-ning, CSSA and its members clearly andrepeatedly stated our strong opposition toirrational behavior and acted swiftly todiffuse the tension, and indeed the major-ity of CSSA members were strongly sup-portive of the achieved resolution.

Implications on cultural sensitivityThis controversy has been an invaluablelesson for all parties involved. As readers,we must bear the responsibility of care-fully reading the materials. As authors,professors and researchers must carefullyconsider the possible impact of anyhighly-sensitive materials to their audi-ence. Sometimes highly-sensitive materi-

als, especially powerful visual imagery,exert such irreversible emotional damageson the unprepared readers, that they infact present an obstacle to the readers’complete comprehension of the authors’original intent.

In particular, it is important for profes-sors and researchers, especially in aprominent institution like MIT, to recog-nize their potentially wide audience. Inthe case of “Visualization Cultures,” “thehomepage brought it to the attention ofsuch a wide audience that we have tothink about how it will be interpreted,” asSuzana Lisanti (MIT homepage coordina-tor) pointed out in an article in The Tech.The materials’ emotionally damagingpotential was amplified by their publica-tion on the popular OpenCourseWareand Spotlight on MIT’s homepage for twoconsecutive days. All of this, together withthe “Visualization Cultures” Website’sexhibit-style presentation, indicated amainstream audience.

Beyond the current controversy athand, when presenting highly sensitivematerials for a mainstream audience, it isparamount that authors provide proper

guidance, to avoid the possible emotionaldamage for the unprepared reader. Again,this is not an issue of censorship. Thequestion is not whether these materialsshould be shown, but rather, how?

We at CSSA would like to expressgratitude once again for the two profes-sors’ openness to suggestions and for theMIT administration’s support. The sen-sitive way in which this controversy hasbeen handled could not have beenaccomplished without the collaborativeattitudes we all brought to the table. Weencourage anyone who would likefurther clarifications and who have addi-tional comments to please contact us,and/or Drs. Dower and Miyagawa. Wewelcome continued conversations onthis issue, and look forward to futuredevelopments of powerful educationaltools like “Visualizing Cultures.”

MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association:

Edward Chin Wang Lee, Officer

Shan Wu, Member

Lin Han, Vice President

Huan Zhang, President

Official CSSA Statement (April 27, 2006)

Dear CSSA Members and Other Members of the Chinese Community Worldwide,

Earlier this morning, the MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA) had an in-depth dis-cussion with the MIT administration on the issue of the Visualizing Cultures website, specifically the“Throwing Off Asia” unit. This is a scholarly research project, and there is no art exhibition associatedwith it. Representatives from the President’s Office, the MIT News Office, and the research groupbehind the website were all present. The meeting has resulted in a constructive agreement.

The research group recognized the need to contextualize these sensitive materials and pledged to con-tinue a dialogue with CSSA and other groups to address this issue.

Professors Dower and Miyagawa have expressed deep regret over the emotional distress caused by someof the imagery and are genuinely sorry that the website has caused pain within the Chinese community.

The agreed resolution is as follows:

1. Official statements from both MIT and Professors Dower and Miyagawa, which will be posted as alink off the MIT home page shortly and permanently reside on the MIT News Office website, and dis-tributed to the Chinese community worldwide.

2. Organize a public forum to facilitate a discussion on the use of sensitive imagery. The Committee onCampus Race Relations (CCRR) is currently organizing a panel discussion on visual imagery that isscheduled to take place in early May (date and location to be determined).

3. The Visualizing Cultures research team will address how it contextualizes sensitive content by pro-viding appropriate language to prepare users for the graphic material depicted. The research team islooking to CSSA for feedback and future dialogue.

As stated previously, CSSA is strongly opposed to any irrational behavior. Any feedback from individu-als on this issue is welcome.


20

Suzanne FlynnCommunication Requirement EvaluationProcess Begins

TH I S S PR I NG, M IT LAU NCH E D Phase

One of a three-part, 18-month program evalu-

ation of the undergraduate Communication

Requirement (CR). As you will recall, the CR

was established by a vote of the faculty in May

2000. At that time, the faculty Subcommittee

on the Communication Requirement (SOCR),

which is responsible for CR oversight, was

charged with assessing the overall effectiveness

of the requirement.

As a brief background summary, the CR

currently consists of four Communication

Intensive (CI) classes sequenced throughout a

student’s undergraduate career. Every student

takes two CI subjects in the humanities, arts,

and social sciences (CI-H) and two CI subjects

within his or her major degree program

(CI-M). CI subjects are designed to teach

written and oral communication skills within

the context of disciplinary material and in con-

junction with the teaching of general and tech-

nical skills. The implementation of this

requirement began with the Class of 2005.

Given that we have completed one full cycle

of the CR, we are now in a position to begin an

initial assessment of the requirement, as well as

put in place those mechanisms that will allow

for its ongoing evaluation. For the three

phased evaluation process we are now embark-

ing upon, we have several general goals:

• We seek to determine what the CR experiences

of our undergraduates are as there is consider-

able flexibility – especially at the

CI-H level – in terms of which classes a student

may choose. In addition, we know that many

students take more than the minimum four CI

classes during their undergraduate career.

• We want to understand what the impact of

these CR experiences is on students’ abilities

to write and speak, and we will seek this

information from both the students’ and

faculty’s perspectives.

• We want to know how effective the imple-

mentation of the CR is in terms of curricular

integration, acceptance, and sustainability.

Each of the planned three phases focuses

on some aspect of these overarching questions.

We also anticipate that the results of each

phase of the evaluation will inform subsequent

phases and allow us to expand areas of study,

deepen the line of questioning, and cross-

validate findings.

The evaluation process is guided by two

general principles: independence and trans-

parency. Independence will be ensured by the

participation of a nonpartisan in-house evalu-

ator, who will coordinate faculty involvement

and, when necessary, consultation with outside

faculty experts. Conducting an evaluation

using an internal evaluator makes certain that

the stakeholders are intimately involved with

the process and that the assessment addresses

the issues and questions the stakeholders deem

important at each phase of process.

Dr. Rudolph Mitchell of the Teaching and

Learning Laboratory has been appointed as the

in-house program evaluator for the CR assess-

ment. At another level, transparency will be

maintained through timely reports to the MIT

community that profile current evaluation

activities and summarize findings.

Phase One of the assessment process is now

underway. This phase will provide an

overview, focusing on students’ and faculty

members’ attitudes and experiences with the

CR and identifying new areas for investigation

in future phases. Select student and faculty

opinions were gathered through interviews

and meetings, which began in January. In April

and May 2006, all seniors and faculty were

asked to participate in online surveys consist-

ing of between 50 and 65 one-line statements

that respondents are asked to rate by a seven-

point scale. The senior survey seeks to gain an

understanding of these students’ attitudes,

experiences, impressions, and conclusions

about their CI subjects. The faculty survey

focuses on faculty beliefs about, and observa-

tions and impressions of the Communication

Requirement. The faculty survey also solicits

views on the impact of the CR and how the CR

might be improved. Findings from Phase One

will be reported to the MIT community in the

fall of 2006.

Scheduled for fall 2006, Phase Two will

focus on effects and will involve a more in-

depth investigation of the undergraduates’ CI

experiences and faculty views on how well the

Requirement has been implemented.

Phase Three of the assessment, slated to

take place in winter and spring 2007, will focus

on the impact of the CR on the overall educa-

tional experience of MIT undergraduates and

on understanding best practices in its imple-

mentation. This phase will include an exami-

nation of alumni reflections on how their

undergraduate education – specifically the CR

– prepared them to communicate in social and

professional settings and employers’ perspec-

tives on the ability of recent MIT graduates to

effectively communicate in professional con-

texts.

MIT provides students with an extraordi-

nary education, but success at the Institute and

beyond also requires effective communication

skills. The CR program evaluation will lead to

an understanding of the overall effects of the

Requirement on students’ communication

skills and help identify specific areas for

improvement of methodologies and further

integration of the Requirement into the cur-

riculum. SOCR members would like to thank

you, in advance, for your participation in the

survey and look forward to sharing the Phase

One program assessment survey findings with

you this fall. More specific information about

the Communication Requirement and lists of

subjects that are designated as CI are available

on the Website at: web.mit.edu/commreq/.

Suzanne Flynn is a Professor of Linguistics;Chair, Subcommittee on the CommunicationRequirement (SOCR) ([email protected]).


21

Edward B. SeldinA Modest Proposal:A Dental Insurance Plan for All Students

I N A N “ O P E N L E T T E R to the MIT

Faculty” in a previous issue of the Faculty

Newsletter (January/February 2006), I

expressed the personal belief that the Institute

creates for itself an ethical responsibility to

provide reasonable access to dental care when,

because of the excellence of its graduate pro-

grams, it attracts foreign students to come

study in Cambridge.

It may not be generally known to the

faculty, but some of our students come from

countries in which the average graduate

school-aged individual may have received

either no dental care up to that time, or care

that is deficient by U.S. standards. The plight of

some students is compounded by a knowledge

deficit regarding what constitutes good dental

health as well as by economic factors. Some

students may not recognize that they have a

significant problem until irreparable damage

has been done by disease processes that only

produce symptoms at an advanced stage.

Medical insurance is provided for students

by the Institute as a matter of course, and there

is now legislation that prevents foreign stu-

dents from waving local medical insurance

offerings. But no dental insurance is currently

provided by the Institute for its students, and

the difference in the way medical and dental

issues are dealt with seems almost to suggest

that the teeth and oral cavity are not legitimate

parts of the human body.

The extent to which members of the MIT

faculty and administration agree with my

statement regarding Institute responsibility

probably varies widely. Proximity to the

problem may be the principle determinant of

how it is viewed.

I can tell you, as the principal on-campus

provider of oral and maxillofacial surgical care

for the MIT community during the past 30

years, that every time I have had to preside over

the premature loss of teeth (ones that might

have been saved had a given student been prop-

erly screened for critical needs upon arrival at

MIT, given a baseline education regarding

dental health and treatment options, and pro-

vided with the wherewithal to access care in a

timely manner) I have, on every such occasion,

felt like an accessory – not to a crime – but to a

certain institutional indifference to the dental

plight of such members of our community.

Beyond its being an economic fact of life, it

should be an embarrassment to all of us that

some foreign graduate students find it less

expensive to stop work and fly home to get

dental care, rather than to seek help locally.

The differential in the cost of care offsets the

roundtrip airfare. A student I encountered in

the last few weeks almost did not make it back

to MIT after such a dental saga because of a

visa issue. Another student I was told about

suffered for a month with a toothache before

he could make arrangements to fly to Eastern

Europe and back.

For a provider of dental care, it is hard to

reconcile the disparity between medical and

dental insurance offerings for students. No

doubt, there are more important aspects of

life for MIT and for each individual member

of this community than teeth or dental

health. But it is remarkable how attention

getting such concerns can become for anyone in

the throes of a dental misfortune. Certainly

time lost due to illness is the same whether

the problem is medical or dental. Presumably,

a college or university is “about” its student

body. How then does one explain the

anomaly that at the Institute students com-

prise the only sub-set of our population that

goes without the benefit of a dental insurance

offering?

Would the administrators at MIT who, as a

temporary measure, brokered a discounted

rate for dental care for our graduate students at

a local dental school think it was optimal to

send their own sons or daughters across the

river to be treated by undergraduate dental

students rather than to get care on campus, at

MIT’s own Dental Service?

In this brief essay, I would like to make the

“modest proposal” that MIT break new ground

and do something novel and innovative: design

a capitated insurance plan that provides a base-

line level of care for all students, such that pre-

mature loss of teeth need not be part of the

price of an MIT degree. Then, in the next

capital campaign, seek one or more donors

who would be willing to underwrite the cost of

such a plan and make it self sustaining.

Endowed care may be not as visible as real

estate, but some enlightened donors might feel

that supporting such a plan would be a mean-

ingful display of generosity. I am convinced that

an individual who arrived at MIT as a student

from overseas with significant unmet dental

needs, who was able to retain his or her teeth

because of such an endowed program of edu-

cation and care might (upon striking it rich, as

some do) be no less grateful to MIT than a

student who lived in a dormitory endowed by

a generous donor.

I don’t know what it takes to generate dis-

cussion regarding such a matter, but in sub-

mitting this essay to the Newsletter I am trying

to attract some attention to this issue. I hope

that members of the Community with feelings

about this issue will speak up.

Edward B. Seldin is Chief of Oral Surgery,MIT Medical Department ([email protected]).

Presumably, a college or university is “about” its student body.How then does one explain the anomaly that at the Institutestudents comprise the only sub-set of our population thatgoes without the benefit of a dental insurance offering?


22

Ike ColbertNew Resource on Faculty Website:“Current Practices”

THE FACULTY RESOURCES WEBSITE

(web.mit.edu/faculty) has a new resource

called “Current Practices in Graduate Student

Administration.” This compilation, illustrating

current departmental efforts to enhance the

graduate experience in areas such as commu-

nications, faculty/student advising, orienta-

tion, and peer support and training, is a direct

outcome of the Graduate Student Council’s

initiative on better advising and research

ethics. The purpose of the resource is to docu-

ment current practices in student life and aca-

demic administration and inspire new ones.

This article tells the story behind the work.

* * * * *

In the fall of 2004, the Graduate Student

Council (GSC) initiated an effort to engage

faculty, staff, and students in considering the

status of advising and mentoring for graduate

students at MIT. A GSC subcommittee on

advising and mentoring designed survey ques-

tions for inclusion in the 2004 Graduate

Student Survey. Over half the graduate student

body responded to the survey. Subsequently,

the subcommittee convened eight different

focus groups, which included 85 participants

(faculty, staff, and students) representing 25

different departments. The GSC reported on

the results of this comprehensive work in an

article in the March/April 2005 MIT Faculty

Newsletter. They also presented their work to

the Committee on Student Life (January

2005), to the broader MIT community at a

town meeting in Room 10-250 (February

2005), at a faculty meeting (May 2005), and at

a roundtable meeting of all graduate adminis-

trators (May 2005).

Writing in this newsletter on the GSC’s

behalf (“Improving the Graduate Student

Academic Experience,” March/April 2005),

former GSC President Barun Singh described

the advisor-advisee relationship as the single

most important supportive relationship in

the career of a graduate student. In addition,

he noted that this relationship must be com-

plemented by “. . . training in essential skills

and advice to assist with their professional

development.”

If you read Singh’s article or attended one

of the GSC’s presentations, you couldn’t help

but be inspired by the passion and commit-

ment of the students who were determined to

improve the graduate student experience. The

graduate administrators (who serve as the key

representatives responsible for a broad array of

services and resources for graduate students

and work closely with me) applauded the

GSC’s undertaking, resonated with the results,

and agreed that the data generated was rich,

comprehensive, and timely. Determined not to

lose the valuable information and momentum,

they planned to design a structure and process

that would seed ongoing support for graduate

students by departments and faculty.

In August 2005, the graduate administra-

tors met for a day-long retreat at Endicott

House. The purpose of the retreat was to iden-

tify services currently provided across individ-

ual departments that differed widely in size,

academic orientation, and culture. Those who

attended the retreat discussed the most signifi-

cant results of the GSC’s survey and offered

descriptions of current departmental practices

that addressed student needs as flagged by the

survey. Over the past year, a subcommittee has

organized and refined these descriptions into a

directory of services organized by six broad

themes: communication; ethics; faculty/

student advising; mediation and conflict reso-

lution; orientation; peer support and training.

Later in the academic year, I invited the

graduate administrators to present their work

to the Committee on Graduate School

Programs (CGSP). The CGSP viewed the

directory as a practical resource for faculty and

offered many thoughtful recommendations.

They concluded that this work addressed the

recommendations of the original focus groups

that “emphasized the importance of regular

discussions – among faculty, students, and

graduate administrators – to assess the state of

advising and to seek out best practices from

other departments or Schools.”

More recently, the Chancellor and the

Faculty Policy Committee (FPC) reviewed

“Current Practices.” The FPC recommended

disseminating the information to faculty via

the Faculty Resources Website. “Current

Practices” is now available there as a pdf file

(web.mit.edu/faculty/currentpractices.pdf).

This is an evolving document, which the

graduate administrators are committed to

updating on a regular basis, with oversight

from the Committee on Graduate Programs.

Over time, issues and priorities change, and

“Current Practices” will reflect that. The grad-

uate administrators hope that many depart-

ments will find practices they can usefully

adopt, or adapt, to improve graduate student

life in their areas. Comments, suggestions for

change, and contributions are welcome at any

time. To contribute your current departmental

practice, please contact Department of Physics

graduate administrator Brian Canavan at

[email protected].

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank the graduate administra-tors’ subcommittee responsible for shep-herding this effort on behalf of theircolleagues and in support of graduate stu-dents: coordinators Brian Canavan(Physics), Cathy Modica (HST), andSusan Twarog (Political Science); and sub-committee members Sydney Miller(TPP); Paulette Mosley (ORC), CynthiaStewart (Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering); and Marie Stuppard(Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Ike Colbert is Dean for Graduate Students([email protected]).


23

Stir-crazy noctiluca,the dinoflagellate as night-light,enlightens a summer solsticeas I churn the cold Atlanticand Harp, Aquila, and the Swanilluminate the island’s rocks.

Maine is full of island-rocksto host a hunt for noctiluca;scattered feathers of the Swanfallen in its night-light,they float in the cold Atlanticunhurried by seal or solstice.

Plotting equinox and solsticeto drown schoolboys in the rocksof sunken cities, cold Atlanticsweeps the shining noctilucato my hands, a night-lightrivaling suns in the Swan.

I do not need the Swanas totem of my solstice;many beasts of night-lightinstruct the hundred rocksharboring the alga noctilucafrom death’s pull in the Atlantic.

There is no drowned Atlantictown ruled by the Swan;principalities of noctilucadance at the water-solstice,heedless of the darkened rocks,to mark the reign of night-light.

True patron of knight-lightin the luminous Atlantic,I would brave many rocks,the crucifixion of the Swan,to see you manifest at solstice,Lady of Waters, Noctiluca.

When chanted rocks draw lightfrom Noctiluca, the Atlanticcalls me, errant swan, to her solstice.

MIT Poetry

by Anthony Lioi

Anthony Lioi is Assistant Professor in theProgram in Writing and Humanistic Studies.

\Noc`ti*lu”ca\, n.; pl. Noctilucae. [L. noctiluca “something that shines by night,” from nox, noctis, night + lucere,to shine, lux light.]

1. (Old Chem.) That which shines at night; – a fanciful name for phosphorus.2. (Zool.) A genus of marine flagellate Infusoria, remarkable for their unusually large size and complex structure,

as well as for their phosphorescence. The brilliant diffuse phosphorescence of the sea is often due to myriads ofNoctilucae.

–Webster’s Dictionary (1913)

NNooccttiilluuccaa


24

Charles LeisersonCatherine Avril

“Soft Skills” to Help Avoid the “Hard Knocks”

Developing Leadership Skills for GreaterEffectiveness in Teaching and Research

Dealing with the tough (but nonacademic, nonscientific) issues

WHAT D O YOU D O when confrontedwith an apparently unmotivated student?How do you deal with interpersonal con-flicts that could jeopardize your research?How does your modus operandi help orlimit you in different situations? Howwould you communicate successfully withthat key donor who thinks very differentlyfrom you?

These situations typify just a few of thethorny challenges that faculty memberscan face. Generally unschooled in howbest to deal with such human-centeredissues, faculty are left to gain experiencethrough “hard knocks.” That’s painful . . .and not the most efficient approach fordeveloping leadership skills. So concludedProfessor Charles Leiserson of EECS.While on leave at Akamai Technologies in1999–2001, he saw first-hand the value tothat company of engaging a managementexpert to assist with leadership skills train-ing. Upon returning to MIT, Leisersonrealized that similar training provided toengineering faculty could significantlyenhance their teaching and research.

Since 2002, three dozen MIT facultyhave participated in a series of workshopsdeveloped and presented by ProfessorLeiserson and Chuck McVinney, manage-ment consultant. Originally offered tofaculty in the then Laboratory forComputer Science, this year sponsorshipby the School of Engineering has widenedthe audience to all Engineering faculty.“The School of Engineering at MIT is for-tunate to encompass many extraordinaryfaculty who are conducting pioneeringresearch and educational innovations,”says Dean Tom Magnanti. “These work-shops provide a novel forum for individ-

ual and collective reflection and enhancethe faculty’s effectiveness in those impor-tant endeavors.”

McVinney explains the customizednature of the Leadership Skills forEngineering Faculty program. “We havedeveloped these workshops specifically foracademic engineering environments anduse real-life examples taken from situationsfaced by engineering professors.” Leisersonand McVinney have run four workshopsover the past five years, including three atMIT and one at the National University ofSingapore’s School of Computing.

Having completed the program, par-ticipating faculty members can under-stand and articulate how leadership stylesaffect engineering, research, and the edu-cational process. “I learned many keythings essential to running a group andinteracting with others that you don’tlearn anywhere else,” says Prof. KimberlyHamad-Schifferli of MechanicalEngineering. “A good way to becomeaware of your inner strengths,” saysProfessor David Gifford of EECS. Bothsenior and junior faculty participants gainsignificant insights into:

• emotions in the workplace• being effective with people who think

differently• how to foster creativity• dealing with conflict• giving effective feedback• how different situations call for

different leadership styles• student motivation• self-understanding as a leader.

Professor Rodney Brooks, director ofCSAIL, comments, “CSAIL faculty speakin very positive terms about the work-

shop. It has provided them an opportu-nity to develop a better understanding ofthemselves and others and helped them toknow how to manage their researchgroups.” Professor Eric Grimson, depart-ment head of EECS, who has providedacademic support for Leiserson to teachthe workshops this semester, adds, “Theleadership course that Charles Leisersonhas created is a great opportunity for ourfaculty. While clearly of value to juniorfaculty who are anxious to learn skills thatwill make it easier for them to supervisestudents, run a research group, interactprofessionally with colleagues, and gener-ally be more effective leaders, we have hadsenior faculty in our department take thecourse and comment on how much theylearned that makes them better facultymembers.”

A question of timeLeiserson observes, “When I attend adepartmental luncheon to acquaintfaculty with these workshops, someoneinvariably expresses the concern that theyhave little time to attend a session. In fact,workshop participants often find that thetime invested in attending a workshop iseasily returned in just one semester byavoiding time-consuming miscommuni-cations with students and staff and byapplying the lessons in situational leader-ship to bring students up to speed onprojects more quickly.”

About the workshopLeiserson and McVinney instruct work-shop participants in human-centeredstrategies for leading effective teams inacademic engineering environments.Through a series of interactive role-playing activities, self-assessment instru-


25

ments, and group discussions, facultymembers develop a repertoire of tech-niques for addressing issues that com-monly arise within engineering researchgroups and among teaching staff. “I reallyappreciated the self-assessment instru-ments and the framework they providedfor future growth,” says Professor BruceTidor of EECS and BiologicalEngineering. Professor Polina Golland,also in EECS, points out, “Theprofessor/student role-playing taught mehow differences in communication stylescan seriously complicate interactions, apoignant and unforgettable lesson.”

Because leadership styles vary widelywith personality, the workshop eschews“one-size-fits-all” prescriptions. What

works for one person often fails to workfor another. Instead, the workshop pro-motes awareness of the participants’ ownstyles of leadership, offers them a paletteof approaches to explore, and providesexperiential learning to help them todetermine what works best for them. Theinstructors do not judge styles as “good”or “bad,” but provide a nonjudgmental yetstructured environment in which partici-pants can discover their own leadershipstrengths. In Professor Leiserson’s words,“No dogma.”

Discussion topics in the workshopcover a wide range of issues that includes:group culture, student advising, race andgender, balancing work and family,research and grants, the imperative to

publish or perish, reputation and tenure,teaching, and service.

Professor Regina Barzilay of EECS sumsup her experience this way: “I learned manythings about myself that will help me in myprofessional and personal life.” “I admit I was skeptical,” adds Professor Vivek Goyal,also of EECS, “but I was amazed that somuch of the material was genuinely universal.”

For information about future work-shops, please contact Donna Savicki in theOffice of the Dean of Engineering,[email protected], x3-3294.

Jerrold M. GrochowComputer Space Planning for MIT Tops IT-SPARCC’s Priority List

USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

has become one of the most importantfactors in the success of academic, research,and administrative enterprise at MIT. A2002 external review committee recom-mended that MIT appoint a strategic coor-dinating body to develop betterInstitute-wide processes for planning andresource allocation for all aspects of IT. Inresponse to this recommendation, theProvost and Executive Vice Presidentcreated the Information TechnologyStrategic Planning and ResourcesCoordinating Council (IT-SPARCC) toadvise them on policy and priorities for ITinfrastructure and services. IT-SPARCCmembers include faculty and senior admin-istrators, and is chaired by me, as VicePresident for Information Services andTechnology (IS&T).

IT-SPARCC has been meeting for thepast year to review reports and proposals onissues prepared by task forces of the Council,by staff, or by other organizations within

MIT with focus on policy and recommen-dations with broad impact across theInstitute. Topics that the Council considersinclude:• General review of the provision of IT and

related services at MIT• Charging mechanisms for IT services• Strategies for allocation of the Institute

general budget across academic, adminis-trative, and research computing

• Space allocation for IT• Review of priorities for computing infra-

structure, academic computing, andadministrative IT

Recommendations from IT-SPARCCfeed directly into the decision-makingprocess for capital allocation, annualbudgets, and rate structures.

IT-SPARCC members include bothfaculty and administration, by design over-lapping with members of the AcademicCouncil, MIT Council on EducationTechnology, and Administrative Systemsand Policies Coordinating Council. Faculty

members include Dean of Science RobertSilbey, Dean of Undergraduate EducationDaniel Hastings, Hal Abelson, NancyLeveson, Bob Redwine, and Associate Chairof the Faculty Bruce Tidor; ProfessorsSteven Eppinger and Lorna Gibson servedon the Council during academic year 2004-5.The Council’s charter and full membershipare available at web.mit.edu/it-sparcc/.

Top Priority: Computer SpacesOver the past year, IT-SPARCC has dis-cussed a variety of topics, and currently hascomputer space issues as its top priority.After an initial round of fact-finding anddiscussion, the Council endorsed the idea ofa multi-tiered solution for critical IT spaceneeds. Recognizing the complexity of thisidea, the Council then commissioned theComputer Space Task Force (CSTF) to focuson facilities for server management andhigh-performance computing (HPC). CSTFmembership includes many faculty and


Charles Leiserson is a Professor of ComputerScience and Engineering, EECS and CSAIL([email protected]). Catherine Avril is Director ofCommunications for the School of Engineering([email protected]).


26

researchers, as well as IT staff from variousdepartments. The CSTF’s charter and mem-bership are available at web.mit.edu/it-sparcc/cstf/.

At the present time, large-scale computerservers are pervasive throughout thecampus because of the relatively low-cost forcluster and server hardware. It is estimatedthat administrative and HPC computers arehoused in over 100 sites throughout thecampus, most under faculty control. Thevast majority of these sites are not properlydesigned for data center usage and as aresult, deans and laboratory directors areunder increasing pressure to renovate manylocalized prime campus space locations forsimilar types of infrastructure for computermachine rooms. The IS&T Department alsoprovides 4000 sq ft of space and facilities forcomputer server and HPC co-location man-agement, but that is running to capacity. Theopportunity cost for other more pressingacademic and research uses of on-campusspace coupled with the large costs of indi-vidual local space changes is prompting theInstitute to seriously examine this computerspace issue.

In June of 2005, the Council endorsed aset of recommendations to the Provost andExecutive Vice President that focused on theissues of computer space.1. That all Institute building projects (new

and renovation) require planning andreview for current and future computingneeds for expected tenants as part of theInstitute’s capital approval process.Funding considerations should be part ofthis process.

2. That the Institute plan for and provideeconomic and scalable computing, com-munications, and “co-location” spaces (asecure site with good environmentals forhousing servers and related equipment)to meet the current and future require-ments for computing and communica-tions hardware and related equipment.

3. That the Provost and Executive VicePresident use Institute funds for co-loca-tion where possible and agreeable to allparties. Such funding should apply to

requests for computer infrastructure space,power, cooling, and network connectivityin co-location spaces that have been specif-ically outfitted for these needs. Institutefunds should be considered for individualDLC sites if the DLC and IS&T jointlypresent to the Provost and Executive VicePresident that the Institute co-locationcannot meet the needed computer hard-ware infrastructure requirements.

4. That all DLCs identify computing needsand requirements in conjunction withresearch proposals and annual plans,taking an approach similar to identifica-tion of other capital needs. IT-SPARCCwill review this information in aggregateto ensure that IT considerations feeddirectly into the decisions for Institutecapital allocation, annual budgets, andrate structures.Researchers in many departments need

space and facilities ranging from housing asingle rack of computer equipment to asmany as 40. Some faculty want space thatallows easy access for themselves and stu-dents; others are able to manage their com-puters remotely. Some faculty are lookingfor basic facilities (power, cooling, andInternet access) while others want facilitieswith backup power, redundant cooling, orother aspects of high-reliability computercenters. Some faculty manage computerequipment using student labor, while othersare looking for various levels of servicesfrom IT professionals.

Recognizing the diverse needs of thefaculty for different levels of infrastructuresupport in this area, the CSTF is consideringa number of campus and remote locations.The task force has identified several key costcategories impacting the consideration ofany options for computer space. Theseinclude the costs of:1. Building construction and renovation2. Network connectivity3. Capital equipment and IT infrastructure4. Operating costs (labor and consultants)5. Lease costs (if applicable)6. Power costs

From an analysis of its preliminary find-ings, the CSTF has observed that power for adata center/co-location site is the mostexpensive cost factor over the lifetime of the

facility (it is estimated that MIT currentlyspends almost $2M per year for electricity topower and cool HPC sites across campus).Because the cost of power is similar amongcampus and Boston/commuting locations,the total cost of ownership over the lifetimefor any such data center and HPC co-loca-tion facility are fairly similar. One wouldhave to identify a remote location with sub-stantially lower power costs to significantlyimpact the total data center/co-locationcosts.

Based on its findings to date, the CSTFhas concluded that any solution to satisfyMIT faculty, researchers, and administratorsmay need to include a combination of on-and off-campus space, some administeredlocally and some centrally. The success ofthe centralized data center/co-locationapproach will depend upon adequate plan-ning, funding models that provide incen-tives, a plan to provide excellent equipmentservice to faculty who would locate theircomputer hardware at such a site, and closecooperation with faculty, department heads,and administrators in the DLCs.

As part of this planning and fact findingprocess, IT-SPARCC and the CSTF arekeenly interested in receiving feedback fromfaculty and researchers about their com-puter space IT needs and suggestions goingforward. The CSTF and the Councilwelcome all faculty suggestions and feed-back. The Council will delve into a variety ofissues related to IT planning on an Institute-wide basis and will make recommendationsto the Provost and Executive Vice President.MIT relies on well-run, cost-effective servermanagement and high performance com-puting to do all the things it does so well.

In addition to talking with any of itsmembers, you can also provide feedback toIT-SPARCC by:• Sending email to the CSTF at [email protected]• Sending e-mail to IT-SPARCC at

[email protected]• Filling out the Comments and Questions

form on the IT-SPARCC Website atweb.mit.edu/it-sparcc/comments.html.

Computer Space PlanningGrochow, from preceding page

Jerrold M. Grochow is Vice President forInformation Services & Technology ([email protected]).


27

Newsletter StaffSeniors Report Increased Satisfaction with Faculty Interaction

I N MARCH OF TH I S YEAR, all under-graduate seniors were invited to completean on-line satisfaction survey. This surveyis administered at MIT every two years;this is the third administration. Thesurvey asked students to describe theirplans after college, to rate their satisfactionwith various aspects of their education,and to indicate how their abilities had

changed since enrolling at MIT. Theresponse rate was 61%. For each academicdepartment with sufficient responses, areport with overall frequencies and chartswas produced.

The chart below summarizes seniorsatisfaction with several aspects of facultyinteraction. In general, seniors reportedhigher levels of satisfaction in 2006 com-

pared to previous years, with 84% beingvery satisfied or generally satisfied withtheir undergraduate education, and 78%with their social life on campus.

The survey was conducted by theOffice of the Provost, InstitutionalResearch. The overall Institute report forthe 2006 Senior Survey is available atweb.mit.edu/ir/surveys/index.html.

2006

2004

2002

2006

2004

2002

2006

2004

2002

2006

2004

2002

Qua

lity

of

Inst

ruct

ion

Opp

ortu

nity

to P

artic

ipat

ein

Res

earc

hw

ith F

acul

ty

Out

of C

lass

Facu

ltyA

vaila

bilit

y

Aca

dem

icA

dvis

ing

inM

ajor

32% 58% 9% 1%

3%

3%

1%

3%

3%

1%

2%

1%

8%

11%

11%

9%

13%

11%

11%

13%

10%

16%

18%

25%

29%

28%

57%

61%

40%

38%

34%

64%

59%

58%

45%

42%

38%

31%

22%

48%

48%

50%

26%

23%

23%

23%

23%

19%

Very Satisfied Generally Satisfied Very DissatisfiedGenerally Dissatisfied

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Satisfaction With Aspects of Faculty Interaction

Source: Office of the Provost, Institutional Research


28

Richard SchmalenseeSmart Buy Purchasing Initiative

MIT Sloan School dean reveals how a new campusresource is making quick work out of purchasing

T H E G OA L O F T H E Smart BuyPurchasing Initiative is to simplify andimprove the purchasing of commoditiesand services across the Institute – savingtime and money that can be redirected toeach unit’s higher priorities, like labequipment or research. The initiative,introduced in January 2005 by John Curryand Bob Brown, is a collaborative effortwith the MIT Procurement Departmentand representatives across MIT. As a steer-ing committee member of this importantinitiative, I wanted to share with you theprocess that was undertaken and theprogress that has been made.

Phase 1 of the initiative began with thereview of printing and express shipping.The MIT Procurement Department andan extended team of experienced buyers,including DLC staff and service providerslike the Publishing Services Bureau,undertook the work of evaluating com-peting vendors. Team members pooledtheir knowledge and negotiated terms.The result: reduced costs, improvedquality and service, and streamlinedordering tools.

What makes these efficiencies possibleis buying power. MIT spends millions ofdollars each year on printing and ship-ping. The Procurement Department andits partners have leveraged that buyingpower on behalf of the entire Institute.The more frequently the community pur-chases from participating vendors, thestronger its bargaining power.

The Smart Buy Purchasing InitiativeWebsite (web.mit.edu/smartbuy/) rolledout with two commodities in place, print-ing and shipping. Other frequently pur-

chased products and services – like cater-ing, office furniture, copiers, and officeprinters – will be available through theprogram in the coming months.

Members of the MIT community cantake advantage of this program by visitingthe Website, where they can quickly evalu-ate and compare the services of multiplevendors. Who are the best printers fordepartmental newsletters? What’s themost efficient way to send a packageacross town or around the world? Thesequestions and many more are answeredthere.

To print or not to printThe Smart Buy Purchasing Initiative siteprovides a profile of each participatingprinting company, as well as a toolkit ofresources and related links, such as accessto the Publishing Services BureauWebsite. There, members of the commu-nity can even evaluate a project to deter-mine whether print is the most effectivemedium for the job at hand.

Overnight or across townOn the shipping pages of the site,members of the MIT community canfind out how to get their documentsand packages across town or to the fur-thest reaches of the globe easily andinexpensively. A quick online formstreamlines the air bill creation processand makes it simple to choose the mostcost-effective service for a particularpackage. The Smart Buy PurchasingInitiative’s shipping team has negoti-ated prices even lower than previousbulk-pricing structures.

Keeping the machine oiledThe Procurement Department and itspartners will continually monitor the per-formance of these suppliers by looking tothe MIT community for feedback aboutservices rendered. Find out more aboutboth the process and the vendors atweb.mit.edu/smartbuy/.

Richard Schmalensee is Dean of the SloanSchool of Management ([email protected]).

A Sestina

The poem on page 23 by AnthonyLioi of the Writing Program is asestina, a famously (or infamously)complicated verse form invented inthe twelfth century by the wander-ing singers known as trouba-dours. A sestina contains six six-line stanzas and a three-line con-clusion (or envoy). The sestinaeschews rhyme in favor of a fixedpattern of end words, which mustbe repeated in a different (andspecific) order in each stanza.The envoy must complete the end-word variations and also containthe remaining three end words.

—David Thorburn, poetry editor


29

Corporation, including the visiting commit-tees which are so critical to the advancementof the academic mission of the Institute, andto explain the roles each constituent partplays in working to create efficient and effec-tive governance in support of MIT’smission.

No discussion of the Corporation goesvery far before the perennial question arises:“Why is it called the MIT Corporation, andwhy are the people on it called Corporationmembers instead of trustees?” The terms, asso much else at MIT, are rooted in historyand tradition. In the mid-nineteenthcentury when MIT was chartered, it was thepractice of legislatures to grant charters tocolleges that were incorporated under statelaws, and to refer to them as “corporations.”MIT was incorporated and empowered by aseries of acts of the Massachusetts legislaturebeginning in 1861, and was referred to fromits inception as The Corporation of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

Some of its membership was specified bylaw. When the Morrill Act of 1863 (“theLand-Grant College Act”) provided a grantto MIT, it specified that “…The governor,chief justice of the supreme judicial court,and the secretary of the board of educationshall each be a member, ex officio, of the gov-ernment of the institute.” The grant alsospecified that “…the Institute shall providefor instruction in military tactics.” The lega-cies of 1863 remain with us: theCorporation name, the representation of theCommonwealth on the Corporation, andmilitary instruction, in the form of ROTCtraining.

Most of the 54 original incorporators ofMIT who met in 1862 for the first annualmeeting of the Institute’s “Government” (asit was then called) were Bostonians. Today,the Corporation includes members from allparts of the United States and abroad. Theirbackgrounds are varied, but most are distin-guished leaders in science, industry, educa-tion, the professions, and public service.

Corporation members serve withoutcompensation, and have one thing incommon – a strong commitment to MIT. By

devoting their time, hard work, financialresources, and wisdom, they reinforce a tra-dition of active, not passive, trusteeship.

Composition of the CorporationToday, the Corporation is comprised ofapproximately 78 active members, including45 term members (who hold five-yearterms), 25 life members (who may serveuntil age 75), and eight ex officio members.In addition to the active members, there arecurrently 29 Life Members Emeriti, whoattend Corporation meetings and partici-pate in discussions, but are not permitted tovote.

Of the current term members, over 80percent are graduates of MIT and almost alllife members are MIT graduates – a repre-sentation that enhances the commitment ofthe Corporation to the Institute. Over 20percent of the Corporation members arewomen and 18 percent are minorities. Fiveof the term members are recent graduates. Ahigh priority of the Corporation is toachieve greater representation of womenand minorities in its membership. Thevariety of occupations among ourCorporation members mirrors theInstitute’s many-faceted interests. We havemembers representing academia (18%),business and finance (39%), technology(14%), the professions, government andnon-profits (15%), and manufacturing(14%). For a complete list of Corporationmembers, see: web.mit.edu/corporation.

The Corporation as a whole meets fourtimes a year, on the first Friday in October,December, and March, and has an abbrevi-ated meeting on the morning ofCommencement in June. These four- tofive-hour meetings typically include adetailed report from the President and otherofficers, reports from visiting committeechairs, followed by a question period,approval of degrees and new courses ofinstruction, a review of ExecutiveCommittee actions, financial reports, andoften a special presentation by a member ofthe faculty, a department head or dean,regarding an important aspect of their work.Nobel Laureates are always invited to make apresentation of their prize-winning work tothe members.

The members of the Corporation and itscommittees (Audit, Executive, Develop-ment, and CJAC) are nominated by theCorporation's Membership Committee,which is headed by the Chairman of theCorporation, who consults as well with thePresident and the Provost as part of thisprocess. The Chairman of the Corporationnominates the members of the MembershipCommittee. The Corporation as a wholeacts on these nominations. The ExecutiveCommittee appoints the board of the MITInvestment Management Company. Thevisiting committees are comprised ofCorporation members, MIT alumni, andpresidential nominees. Visiting committeemembers are selected through a processorganized by the Associate Secretary of theCorporation and involving the Chairman,the President, the Provost, the Secretary, theVice President for Resource Development,the VP and CEO of the Alumni Associationand associated staff, with the deans anddepartment heads providing input. TheCorporation as a whole annually ratifies allappointments to the visiting committees.

Committees of the CorporationMuch of the detailed and continuing workof the Corporation is conducted through itscommittees, whose chairs periodicallyreport their findings and recommendationsto the full Corporation.

The Corporation has delegated manyimportant responsibilities to its ExecutiveCommittee, which is comprised of eightCorporation members and, ex officio, thePresident, who is the chair, the Chairmanof the Corporation, the Chair of theInvestment Management Company Board,and the Treasurer. The Provost and theExecutive Vice President of Finance andAdministration are regularly invited guests,and the Secretary of the Corporation servesas secretary to the Committee. ThisCommittee acts similarly to a corporateboard, convening up to 10 monthly meet-ings during the academic year. TheExecutive Committee focuses on policyand administrative issues facing thePresident and the Institute, includingfinancial and budget planning, the man-

MIT CorporationMead, from page 1



30

agement and enhancement of theInstitute’s resources, and capital projects. Inconnection with the President and Provost,it receives and approves the annual alloca-tion from the endowment to the operatingbudget. Other significant topics of discus-sion typically include developments inteaching and research, student recruitmentand admissions and financial aid policies,student life, and external relations. All of itsactions are reported to the Corporation,which may be required to affirm orapprove some of these actions as specifiedunder the Bylaws.

The other standing committees are theAudit Committee, Membership Committee,and the Corporation DevelopmentCommittee (CDC). Both the MembershipCommittee, which I chair, and the AuditCommittee are composed entirely ofCorporation members and thoseCommittees’ functions are self-explanatory.The CDC, which counts 16 Corporationmembers among its 67 members, meets reg-ularly with the Institute’s development offi-cers to advise on and to assist with theresource development efforts.

MIT Investment ManagementCompany BoardThe newly created MIT InvestmentManagement Company (MITIMCo)manages the MIT endowment and otherassets. The MITIMCo was created toafford more flexibility in the framing ofinvestment policy and its execution andto provide the Institute’s investment lead-ership with broad, timely advice. Whilenot technically a standing committee, it isalso a creature of the Corporation. TheMITIMCo board chair and eight of itsmembers are members of theCorporation; its three outside members,who are all experts in the investmentbusiness, are appointed by the ExecutiveCommittee. Its president reports to theMITIMCo Board and to the President ofthe Institute. The MITIMCo managementand staff exist within the Institute’sorganization.

CJACAnother key group is the 18-memberCorporation Joint Advisory Committee onInstitute-wide Affairs (CJAC), established in1969 to provide a vehicle for bringing studentsand faculty into regular communication withthe Corporation on matters of importance tothe MIT community. The Committee consistsof six Corporation members, one of whomchairs the committee (including the Presidentof the Alumni Association); six faculty

members including the Chair of the Faculty;and six students, including the President ofthe Undergraduate Association, the Presidentof the Graduate Student Council, two under-graduate and two graduate students. TheCJAC, which meets several times during theacademic year, makes periodic reports to theentire Corporation.

Corporation Visiting CommitteesMost faculty have come into contact withone or more of the Corporation’s 30 visitingcommittees. Since their establishment in1875, these committees have been impor-tant influences on education, research, andgovernance at MIT. The visiting committeesare chaired by members of the Corporationand, as part of the Institute’s governance,their role is to provide appraisal, advice, andinsight on each academic department andon certain other major activities at theInstitute, such as student life, undergraduateeducation, the libraries, and athletics.

Each visiting committee meets forapproximately two days on campus everyother year, providing faculty and students anopportunity to provide impressions, ideas,and recommendations to the Corporation.Most committee members comment thatthe meetings with faculty and students arethe most valuable part of their deliberations.These meetings are always agenda items forvisiting committee sessions.

Approximately 400 distinguished sci-entists, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists,

executives, and educators serve on thecommittees. Each committee (typically17-18 members) has five Corporationmembers, one of whom is the chair, sixalumni nominated by the AlumniAssociation, and six presidential nomi-nees nominated by the President of MIT.This last group is comprised of distin-guished achievers in the disciplines of thedepartment being visited. As such, theyoffer a valuable outside perspective and

help to maintain a close relationshipbetween academic procedure and profes-sional practice.

The department heads play an impor-tant role in visiting committee meetings, upfront, by working with the CorporationChair, the visiting committee chair and theCorporation Office to frame the issues to bediscussed and to design the agenda for themeeting. The deans of the Institute’s fiveSchools are also often involved in the earlyplanning process. Most agendas include pre-sentations by faculty on current research, oron administrative issues for which they areresponsible within their departments.

The MIT visiting committee structure isunique in its scope and its longevity. Ourvisiting committees have great credibilitybecause of the great importance attached tothe committees’ views, which often stimu-late action and change. The visiting commit-tee reporting procedure is timely andintense, and includes oral reports by thechair to the full Corporation and by the rel-evant Dean to the Academic Council, as wellas a written report that goes first to theExecutive Committee and then to theCorporation, the members of the AcademicCouncil, and the Department Head.Between biennial meetings, an interimreport is prepared by the visiting committeechair and the Department Head, outliningprogress and the status of the various issuesand recommendations made at the previouscommittee meeting.

MIT CorporationMead, from preceding page

Each visiting committee meets for approximately twodays on campus every other year, providing facultyand students an opportunity to provide impressions,ideas, and recommendations to the Corporation.


31

The visiting committee structure hasevolved over 130 years into a vital part of thegovernance of the Institute, and I havealways urged the faculty, whose input is soimportant, to take full advantage of theopportunities these committees afford tomake their views and ideas known. Whenchairs of other prestigious university gov-erning bodies are asked about their views ofMIT, they are unanimous: “We would kill tohave your visiting committee structure andits success!” Despite this envious reputation,we have worked hard to continuouslyimprove the process.

Faculty InvolvementI have already touched on a number ofdirect and indirect ways the faculty isinvolved with the Corporation, but let mefocus a bit more directly on that subject.

The elected Chair of the Faculty is aninvited guest to all Corporation meetingsand is encouraged to be an active participantin its deliberations. The report to theCorporation by the outgoing Faculty Chair,presented biennially at the JuneCommencement Day meeting, has provento be a highlight, with many of the observa-tions and recommendations in the reportsbecoming important Corporation actions.

Probably the most important task of anygoverning body is to select the leadership ofthe organization. The faculty’s elected offi-cers as well as the broader faculty play vitalroles in presidential searches, and will beexpected to do the same in the future.

At the outset of the most recent search,18 members of the faculty served on aFaculty Advisory Committee (FAC) that,along with some members of theCorporation Committee on the Presidency(CCOP), interviewed faculty in everydepartment at MIT to ascertain their viewsof the issues, challenges, and opportunitiesfacing a new president and, by extension,helped to define the skills and experience anew president should have to be successful.

The FAC and the CCOP initially inter-viewed all candidates together. As the candi-date list narrowed, FAC and CCOP membersjoined in smaller groups to interview eachcandidate for more extended periods.Following all of the interviews, the FAC and

CCOP held extensive closed discussions andjointly conducted due diligence until theyagreed on a recommendation to theCorporation. The incredible cooperativeeffort between the Corporation and thefaculty enabled us to successfully completethe search in record time – nine months –and resulted in the identification of a greatnew president for MIT. (Space does notpermit me to outline the vital assistance wealso received from the Student AdvisoryGroup in the process, except to note that theinclusion of student leaders in this processproved to be invaluable.)

Faculty members and leaders are alsoinvited to present their work and plans tothe members as part of the regularCorporation meeting agenda. At the pasttwo meetings, for example, the Director ofthe Center for Cancer Research and theDean of the Sloan School made presenta-tions. These presentations have proven to beexcellent vehicles for increasing understand-ing and engendering Corporation supportfor the academic programs and projects thatare underway.

Of course, the Corporation and thefaculty brush up against each other in scoresof other ways: The Investment ManagementCompany calls on faculty for advice andassistance. The Chairman hosts Chairman’sSalons to bring faculty, entrepreneurs andinvestors together. The Chairman occasion-ally is invited to address a faculty meeting tooutline the current goals and responsibilitiesof the Corporation. In a celebration of excel-lence in teaching, the MacVicar Fellows areintroduced and honored at the Corporationluncheon each March.

Over nearly 150 years, Corporation gov-ernance has evolved to address changes inthe Institute’s focus and challenges. Its struc-ture has also changed to better reflect MIT’scomposition and to create greater inclusionand responsiveness. In the past 35 years, theemphasis upon alumni membership, theaddition of recent class representatives,changes in visiting committee proceduresand reporting, the addition of CJAC, the cre-ation of the MITIMCo, among many otheractions, have reinforced that goal. One of myobjectives as Chair is to increasingly assurethat the Corporation truly reflects the com-

position and foci of MIT as we moveforward. The changes in the Corporation’sstructure were intended to help us be moreresponsive to the needs and aspirations ofthe Institute leadership and the faculty.Throughout it all we have been assiduous inestablishing a clearly understood bright linebetween oversight, advice and support onone side – and management and executionon the other. It is the view of the Corporationand its committees that the latter two are theresponsibility of the executive leadership, thefaculty and the staff. We work hard to keepthat separation clear so that our support isnot misunderstood in any way.

Most people associate the Corporationwith fundraising, and it is a major part ofthe Corporation’s activity. It has proudlyprovided leadership for raising money forMIT, as during the recent successful $2 billion campaign, when the campaignchairman was a prominent member of theCorporation and the CorporationChairman, my predecessor, played animportant role. Some $425 million (21% ofthe campaign total) was contributed byCorporation members. It was a truly greatdemonstration of leadership by example.Building annual financial support, especiallyof unrestricted funds, will continue to be aprime objective of the Corporation. In fact,the capability to support generously theInstitute and its programs is a prime crite-rion used in selecting Corporationmembers. Our goal going forward is to buildan even more active and engagedCorporation in this vital activity

The Corporation above all is extremelyproud of the Institute’s pre-eminence ineducation and research, and very apprecia-tive of the great leadership – of the adminis-tration, faculty and staff – that has made itso. Our primary goal will be to continue tosupport you in a myriad of ways so you cancontinue to achieve your goals.

Editor’s Note: As a follow-up to his articleon the MIT Corporation, Dana Mead hasgraciously agreed to be interviewed by theNewsletter over the summer, for publicationnext fall. Please submit any questions you’dlike asked to: [email protected].

Dana G. Mead is Chairman of the Corporation([email protected]).


M.I.T. NumbersFrom the Funding of Graduate Students at MIT (FOGS) Report

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%Architecture &

PlanningEngineering SHASS Science Sloan

School

Research Assistantship Teaching Assistantship Fellowship No Support Through MIT

Primary Form of Support for Doctoral StudentsThree-Year Average, FY2004-2006(Average Headcount Shown in Bars)

71

30

33

43

998

146

253

112

42

64

116

59

500

163

308

101

34

20

56

6

Per

cent

age

of T

otal

Sup

port

MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XVIII No. 5 · Charles Stewart III 12 Some Thoughts on the Arts Alan...

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Transcript of MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XVIII No. 5 · Charles Stewart III 12 Some Thoughts on the Arts Alan...