After 22 years of teaching, writing and publishing, and serving in various academic and administrative roles from Colorado to Connecticut, Jane I. Smith returned to Harvard Divinity School on July 1 to serve as its new associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and Senior Lecturer in Divinity.
Smith is a leading scholar of Muslim-Christian relations, Muslim communities in the United States, and women in Islam. She served on the HDS faculty for 13 years—including six years as the associate director of the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR)—before leaving Cambridge for Iliff School of Theology in Denver as its vice president and dean of faculty. Smith is the author of numerous books, including Muslims, Christians, and the Challenge of Interfaith Dialogue (2007) and Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today (2006).
"Having Jane Smith return to HDS is such a positive development that I am still having trouble believing that it has happened," Dean William A. Graham said. "Jane's service as a regular faculty member and later as associate dean for academic affairs here in the 1970s and her subsequent experience as dean of Iliff Seminary are both indicative of the immense amount of expertise and experience that she brings to bear on the decanal work with faculty and curricula."
After nine years at Iliff, Smith was invited to Hartford Seminary—her first graduate institution—as Professor of Islamic Studies and co-director of the Macdonald Center for Christian-Muslim Relations. She was also co-editor of The Muslim World, a journal focused on Islamic studies.
"I felt like I was going home," said Smith of her time at Hartford. "But little did I know it would be the first of two homecomings."
Since leaving over two decades ago, Smith's contact with HDS has admittedly been minimal, though she has come back occasionally to use the library and to visit friends. For three years, from 2005 through 2007, she was a member of the 10-person Visiting Committee, which met each November with and engaged various HDS constituents on issues facing the School.
It was a "great surprise" that Graham sent Smith an email asking if she had any interest in the associate dean position. Smith says both she and Graham thought the idea was "loony." Having already spent so many years of her life at Harvard—as a PhD student and as a faculty member at HDS—Harvard was the last place she thought she wanted to go.
"I was extremely skeptical at first," said Smith. "But then I sent the position description to my son and daughter. After looking it over, my son said, 'What's the question here? This is the job for you.' So I'm coming back to something that, in one way, I know very well. But in another way, there have been so many changes. I am in the business of learning a lot in a short time in these early weeks, but this adds to the excitement of coming back."
Another part of the enjoyment of coming back to HDS for Smith is having the opportunity to work closely with Dean Graham. Both Smith and Graham were graduate students together at Harvard in the mid-1960s and were mentored by Wilfred Cantwell Smith at the CSWR.
"I have huge respect for Dean Graham," says Smith. "I thought that it would be a really engaging thing to come back and work with a dean who I know has already accomplished what I think are wonderful things and who has a continuing vision for the School."
As associate dean for faculty and academic affairs, most of her time will be spent working collaboratively to address academic concerns, policies, and procedures for the School. Another aspect of the position will be given over to teaching, research, and writing. Beginning in fall 2009, she will teach at least one course per year and will advise some students.
Smith now finds herself in the position of getting reacquainted with the community and programs, and navigating the changes—most notably the renovation of Rockefeller Hall and the construction of a new landscaped quadrangle—that have taken place on the School's campus. She is hopeful she can again, as she did before, remain in close contact with faculty, staff, and students.
"I am deeply invested in the relationships among those different components of the community here," she said. "And I want to do whatever I can to foster an understanding between these groups."
As her long-time friend and colleague, Graham considers Smith an ideal scholar and teacher, perfectly suited for her new role.
"I have always held her in great esteem and admiration for her many abilities with ideas, people, and problem-solving," Graham said. "She defines the statement, 'You can count on her.' I am very happy that we at HDS can now do so again."
—by Jonathan Beasley