A top female dean set to leave Harvard

One of the top female appointees named by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers announced yesterday that she will step down this spring after three years on the job, and some faculty assert that her departure is connected to tensions with Summers, despite her stated reasons for leaving.

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, dean of the Graduate School of Education, said in an interview that she wants to write a book and that she also wants to allow her successor to take over before the school undertakes the long process of moving to Harvard's planned new campus in Allston.

"When I agreed to become dean of the Ed School, I did so with considerable trepidation," she wrote in a letter to the Education School community. "I knew that I was first and foremost a scholar and a teacher and that I had never wanted to be a dean."

Coming on the heels of two months of controversy at Harvard and a vote of no confidence in Summers from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Lagemann's sudden announcement is being viewed by Summers's critics as another example of his management style creating turmoil.

"By all reports their relationship was very rocky," said Howard Gardner, a professor at the School of Education, referring to Lagemann and Summers. Gardner is a friend of Lagemann and a critic of Summers.

But Lagemann denied experiencing tensions with Summers.

"He is more interested in K-12 education than possibly any president of Harvard has ever been," she said in a phone interview. "No dean of the education school before me has had the kind of support I've had from Larry. We have a wonderful time arguing about issues in K-12 education, and I would say he has been very supportive of this school."

Summers wrote an open letter praising Lagemann.

"I want to thank Ellen for the initiative, dedication, and drive that she has brought to the GSE during her time as dean," he said, noting that a search for her successor would begin soon.

The announcement was made at an awkward time for Harvard.

Summers's spokeswoman, Lucie McNeil, and his chief of staff, Jason Solomon, also recently announced their departures, which they said were unrelated to current events.

The dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Peter T. Ellison, who is also planning to step down at the end of the year, said in an interview last month that it's "more appropriate for there to be folks who are comfortable with [Summers's] style."

Gardner, a prominent member of the faculty who served on the search committee that hired Lagemann, said that from the beginning there was trouble between Summers and Lagemann.

During the interview process, "there was by all reports a very stormy meeting [with Summers], which gave Ellen deep second thoughts," Gardner said. "If you [already] have a great job, the thought that you might work with someone who is not respectful -- you have to think twice about it."

Gardner said he and others convinced Lagemann -- who was then the president of the Spencer Foundation, which funds education research -- to take the job despite her misgivings.

Lagemann vehemently disputed that account. "Howard and I had many conversations about the deanship, but sometimes discussions can get misinterpreted," she said.

She also said: "I wouldn't have come to Harvard if I didn't agree with the direction where Summers wants to take the university."

Lagemann earned mixed reviews at the education school, where there was debate over whether the school should focus more on basic or applied research and how involved it should be in American classrooms.

Several months ago, Richard F. Elmore, a professor, sent a memo to colleagues in which he said "the current configuration of the doctoral programs is a major, probably fatal, step backward" in the effort to give students a unique education. The description of one doctoral concentration "is so vapid as to be completely meaningless," he said.

He also said "it would be hard to invent a worse process" for admissions to the doctoral programs.

Elmore has declined in the past to comment on his memo, which was obtained by the Globe, and he could not be reached yesterday.

Richard Chait, another professor, said he was convinced that Lagemann's resignation had nothing to do with the larger campus debate over Summers's leadership.

He said Lagemann "decided after 2½ years that the life of a dean was not the life that she wanted to live, and that happens very often."

Chait also said: "There is not a pervasive consensus about what kind of school we should be. I think it's easier to lead when you have a mandate, when there's a clear consensus."

Lagemann said yesterday that she was proud of the $22 million she's raised as dean and the work she's done to develop a core curriculum, which will be based on the kind of case studies used at Harvard Business School.

After stepping down, she intends to teach on the Harvard faculty and write a biography of education historian Lawrence Cremin.

"I'm 59 years old, I'm not going to live forever, and I have a book I really want to write," she said.

"One of the things that's tricky in a job like this is finding the moment to step down. I can't wait to get back to doing what I really love."

Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.