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Deans of the Division of Humanities and the
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

During the administration of President Karl Taylor Compton (1930-1949) work was done to improve the status of humanities and social sciences at MIT. On 9 March 1932 the MIT Corporation adopted a new plan of administration, creating three schools (Engineering, Science, and Architecture) and two divisions including the Division of Humanities. The Division of Humanities differed from the schools in that it offered no programs leading to degrees. Aside from academic instruction in the fields of English, history, economics, and language, the division was also "...responsible for instruction in such fields as sociology, labor relations, government, international relations, law, philosophy, psychology, literature, music, and fine arts for both undergraduate and graduate students." The Department of Economics and Statistics, the Department of English and History, and the Department of Modern Languages were brought into the Division of Humanities in 1932. The division also had supervisory responsibilities for some extracurricular activities, such as drama, music, and museum exhibits. The administrative head of the division, originally to be called the director, but actually called the dean, reported to the vice president and the president.

Until the first dean, Edwin S. Burdell, was appointed in 1937, the duties of the director were divided among the deans of the three schools. Dean Robert Granville Caldwell was appointed in 1938, and in 1944 a four-year program of required courses in the humanities and social sciences for undergraduates was adopted by the faculty.

The Committee on Educational Survey, also known as the Lewis Committee, whose report was published in 1949, called for the establishment of a School of Humanities which could grant degrees. The School of Humanities and Social Studies was established in December 1950 with John Ely Burchard as the first dean. The Center for International Studies was founded and placed within the School in [1950] as an extra-departmental organization.

The psychology and political science sections were established in the Department of Economics and Social Science in 1951 and 1956 respectively. In 1954 a Department of Humanities was created within the school. The new department incorporated the Department of English and History and other areas of related academic interest.

In 1955, Course XXI was begun so that students could major in humanities or social sciences in combination with science or engineering. The students received the degree of bachelor of science without specification of a science or engineering department.

In 1959 the name of the school was changed to School of Humanities and Social Science (SHSS). Graduate programs in political science (1958), philosophy (1963), psychology (1960), and linguistics (1961) were developed in addition to the well-established graduate program in economics. The early 1960s saw the establishment of philosophy (1961), music (1961), history (1960), and literature (1962) sections within the Department of Humanities.

Dean Robert Lyle Bishop was appointed in 1964. The same year, the psychology section became a department. In 1965 the Department of Economics and Social Science (Course XIV) was terminated, and economics and political science achieved separate departmental status. Economics remained Course XIV while political science became Course XVII. Also in 1965 the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics superseded the Department of Modern Languages, and was in turn superseded in 1969 by the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics. In 1967 the undergraduate major in humanities was added. By 1968 the SHSS consisted of five departments (Humanities, Economics, Political Science, Modern Languages and Linguistics, and Psychology) and one research center (the Center for International Studies).

In 1971 the Commission on MIT Education began reevaluation of both the general structure and the specific content of the General Institute Requirements in the humanities and social sciences. In October 1971 Dean Bishop appointed a subcommittee of the School Council to examine various plans for revision of the core curriculum in humanities and social science.

Dean Harold John Hanham was appointed in 1973. During his tenure the SHSS stated its mission as comprising three elements: to provide highly developed graduate programs in economics, linguistics, philosophy, political science, and psychology; to enable students to satisfy MIT's humanities requirement (viewed by the SHSS as a general education requirement); and to maintain undergraduate subject majors in economics, philosophy, political science, humanities, and science and engineering. In 1973 the Technology Studies Program was developed to relate the humanities more directly to science and engineering.

In 1974 the freshman and sophomore core program was abolished,and a new form of the Institute requirement was approved, now titled the Institute Requirement in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS), designed to specify the distribution and concentration of subjects taken in the humanities. Under the HASS requirement students had to take at least three subjects in three separate fields from a list of humanistically oriented distribution subjects, at least three of which would be taken in a given field in order to achieve some degree of depth in that field. The requirement was administered by a faculty committee composed of members from all schools at the Institute (previously the humanities requirements had been administered solely by humanities faculty). The new Institute Requirement, which came into full operation in academic year 1975-1976, led to a greater range of choice for freshmen and sophomores.

In 1975 the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics was discontinued as a separate course (Course XXIII), and the subjects of foreign languages and literatures and linguistics became part of the humanities department. In 1976 the Department of Philosophy was combined with linguistics to form the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy (Course XXIV). A new undergraduate program called Language and Mind was established within Course XXIV. That same year, cross-registration and cross-teaching between the SHSS and Wellesley College language faculty began.

In 1977 the Technology Studies Program joined forces with the newly founded Program in Science, Technology, and Society. Ann Fetter Friedlaender was appointed dean in 1984. During her tenure, the Women's Studies Program was founded (1984), the Department of Psychology formally left the SHSS (1985) to become a part of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and the Statistics Center moved to the SHSS from the School of Science (1986).

In 1985-1986 an Institute-wide committee chaired by Professor Pauline Maier (history) recommended a new HASS-D (distribution) requirement and the restructuring of the current Hum-D requirement. The new HASS-D requirement, approved by the MIT faculty in 1987 and implemented over three years beginning in 1988-1989, was developed to ensure that students receive a broad and cohesive exposure to the humanities, arts, and social sciences. These goals were to be accomplished by imposing more structure on the distribution component of the HASS requirement and substantially reducing the number of subjects offered.

Philip Shukry Khoury became acting dean as of 1 July 1990 and was appointed dean in 1991, in which capacity he continued until 1 July 2006, when he became associate provost.

On 1 July 2000 the name of the school changed from the School of Humanities and Social Science to the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to recognize more fully the breadth and contributions of the arts at the Institute.

Deborah K. Fitzgerald, associate dean of the school, became interim dean as of 1 July 2006, and was named dean in January 2007.

Prepared by the Institute Archives, MIT Libraries
December 1995; updated September 2000, August 2006, January 2007