Barbara Liskov, Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Wesley Harris, Charles Stark Draper Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and currently head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, have been selected to share the office of Associate Provost for Faculty Equity, Provost L. Rafael Reif announced on Sept. 7.
As associate provosts for faculty equity and as members of Academic Council, Liskov and Harris will focus on faculty diversity and gender issues across the Institute, including the recruitment, retention, promotion and career development of minority and women faculty.
President Susan Hockfield and Reif created the new Office of the Associate Provost for Faculty Equity a year ago to build on the efforts of the Faculty Diversity Council and to provide a strengthened, central MIT focus for matters related to faculty diversity and equity.
In making the announcement, Reif invited the MIT community to join him in thanking and congratulating Liskov and Harris as they take on the new joint appointment.
"I am confident that the Institute will benefit greatly from their experience and leadership in these areas, and very much look forward to working with them in these new capacities," Reif said.
Liskov's appointment took effect July 1, 2007. Harris' appointment will take effect Feb. 16, when he is scheduled to step down as department head.
Reif carefully considered the goals of faculty equity as they relate both to women faculty and to minority faculty since the new senior leadership position was established a year ago, he said.
"While recognizing that issues related to gender and race share many of the same fundamental concerns, such as optimizing the recruitment and retention of the most talented faculty, I believe that MIT's engagement of these important issues at this point in time will be best served by the joint appointment of Professors Liskov and Harris," he said.
Both Liskov and Harris have been MIT faculty members for over 30 years, and each has served in leadership roles at the department and Institute levels.
Liskov has been co-chair of the Faculty Diversity Council, with Reif, for the past year, and she has had substantial experience working with the Gender Equity Committees of the five MIT schools. A member of the MIT faculty since 1972, she heads the Programming Methodology Group within the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and formerly served as associate head for computer science. Her research interests include programming languages, operating systems and distributed computing. Liskov is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Harris joined the MIT faculty in 1973. In addition to his duties as department head in aeronautics and astronautics, he directs the Lean Sustainment Initiative within the MIT Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development. His principal areas of research include unsteady aerodynamics, rotorcraft acoustics, structure and propagation of strong shock waves in gas mixtures, and sickle cell pathology. Harris and his wife, Sandra, also serve as housemasters at MIT's New House residence hall.
He formerly served as the director of MIT's Office of Minority Education and held an appointment as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor at MIT. Harris has also served as dean of engineering at the University of Connecticut, and as vice president and chief academic officer at the University of Tennessee Space Institute.
A member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and former trustee of Princeton University, Harris has spent much of his academic career building joint university-industry-government research and development programs, Reif said.
In the announcement, Reif thanked Harris for the distinction and integrity of his leadership of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh will be announcing shortly a faculty search committee to identify potential candidates for department head of aeronautics and astronautics, Reif said.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
iHouse opens its doors
New student residence focuses on global leadership.
The trajectory of innovation at MIT went outside the lab this year with the grand opening of the International House for Global Leadership, or iHouse, on Sept. 4.
The new residence, located within New House, an MIT dormitory at 471 Memorial Drive, is geared toward students committed to international development and global leadership.
Twenty-one students from countries including Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, India and the U.S. will occupy iHouse this year, supporting one another's international interests and attending courses and talks on development.
Like many innovations at MIT, the new living-learning group began with an individual vision and was produced with the support and collaboration of Institute faculty, staff and alumni.
It all started when Raja Bobbili, now a senior in electrical engineering and computer science, had the idea to launch a living community with a global purpose back in 2005.
"I envisioned a house that would develop leaders, develop a strong community and create a positive impact in the world," Bobbili said.
"By learning in iHouse, students will understand other countries' problems and have the skills to act on those problems. By living there, they will support each other with the same kind of kinship ties that exist in other areas of MIT," he said.
Faculty, administrators and alumni got involved right away, with guidance and leadership from New House housemasters Sandra and Wesley Harris, professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
Bish Sanyal, Ford International Professor of Urban Development and Planning and chair of the faculty, focused on the learning component of the initiative, offering a seminar on international development to iHouse residents.
Sanyal, who also directs the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS), has encouraged SPURS fellows--mid-career professionals largely from developing countries--to work with iHouse students.
Diane Davis, professor of political sociology and head of the International Development Group (IDG) within urban studies and planning, will also support iHouse's learning side with courses and lectures.
Sally Susnowitz, director of the MIT Public Service Center, described iHouse as a new model of residential life, one the PSC has supported as part of the Institute-wide International Development Initiative.
"Living in the context of international issues and actively working on them in collaboration with people living down the hall is bound to expand conceptual, communication and leadership capacities," Susnowitz said.
MIT alumni also support iHouse. The 484 Phi Alpha Foundation, which funds public service projects at MIT and in the local East Cambridge neighhorhood, has donated $50,000 over two years to iHouse for staffing, speakers, stipends and grants.
Carl King (SB 1965), head of the 484 Foundation's Gift Committee, was inspired to support iHouse when he heard student presentations on such projects as turning corncobs into charcoal to make cheap fuel and transforming bicycles into ambulances for communities without access to health care, he said.
"These students were doing things that would create tremendous benefit in the developing world," King said. "The opportunity to assist iHouse was an ideal way for us to continue to focus on MIT and also spread our wings and go international."
Bobbili acknowledged that iHouse is still a work in progress, full of challenges and promise. But the journey to its grand opening has already provided a pleasant surprise, he said.
"We knew anything was possible. But we never expected we would have so much interest, both within and outside the community," he said, noting that iHouse received the highest number of applications of any cultural house. "Within the house, one just has to visit to see the amount of interest and passion there is already."
In keeping with the principles, even the dinner menu at iHouse will reflect global diversity.
"Pizza will not be standard anymore," Bobbili said. "We hope we can cross boundaries from Chinese, Indian and Thai food to Cambodian, Ethiopian or Mongolian. After all, iHouse is there to be innovative."
The trajectory of innovation at MIT went outside the lab this year with the grand opening of the International House for Global Leadership, or iHouse, on Sept. 4.
The new residence, located within New House, an MIT dormitory at 471 Memorial Drive, is geared toward students committed to international development and global leadership.
Twenty-one students from countries including Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, India and the U.S. will occupy iHouse this year, supporting one another's international interests and attending courses and talks on development.
Like many innovations at MIT, the new living-learning group began with an individual vision and was produced with the support and collaboration of Institute faculty, staff and alumni.
It all started when Raja Bobbili, now a senior in electrical engineering and computer science, had the idea to launch a living community with a global purpose back in 2005.
"I envisioned a house that would develop leaders, develop a strong community and create a positive impact in the world," Bobbili said.
"By learning in iHouse, students will understand other countries' problems and have the skills to act on those problems. By living there, they will support each other with the same kind of kinship ties that exist in other areas of MIT," he said.
Faculty, administrators and alumni got involved right away, with guidance and leadership from New House housemasters Sandra and Wesley Harris, professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
Bish Sanyal, Ford International Professor of Urban Development and Planning and chair of the faculty, focused on the learning component of the initiative, offering a seminar on international development to iHouse residents.
Sanyal, who also directs the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS), has encouraged SPURS fellows--mid-career professionals largely from developing countries--to work with iHouse students.
Diane Davis, professor of political sociology and head of the International Development Group (IDG) within urban studies and planning, will also support iHouse's learning side with courses and lectures.
Sally Susnowitz, director of the MIT Public Service Center, described iHouse as a new model of residential life, one the PSC has supported as part of the Institute-wide International Development Initiative.
"Living in the context of international issues and actively working on them in collaboration with people living down the hall is bound to expand conceptual, communication and leadership capacities," Susnowitz said.
MIT alumni also support iHouse. The 484 Phi Alpha Foundation, which funds public service projects at MIT and in the local East Cambridge neighhorhood, has donated $50,000 over two years to iHouse for staffing, speakers, stipends and grants.
Carl King (SB 1965), head of the 484 Foundation's Gift Committee, was inspired to support iHouse when he heard student presentations on such projects as turning corncobs into charcoal to make cheap fuel and transforming bicycles into ambulances for communities without access to health care, he said.
"These students were doing things that would create tremendous benefit in the developing world," King said. "The opportunity to assist iHouse was an ideal way for us to continue to focus on MIT and also spread our wings and go international."
Bobbili acknowledged that iHouse is still a work in progress, full of challenges and promise. But the journey to its grand opening has already provided a pleasant surprise, he said.
"We knew anything was possible. But we never expected we would have so much interest, both within and outside the community," he said, noting that iHouse received the highest number of applications of any cultural house. "Within the house, one just has to visit to see the amount of interest and passion there is already."
In keeping with the principles, even the dinner menu at iHouse will reflect global diversity.
"Pizza will not be standard anymore," Bobbili said. "We hope we can cross boundaries from Chinese, Indian and Thai food to Cambodian, Ethiopian or Mongolian. After all, iHouse is there to be innovative."
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