Constructive engagement report

To the Harvard Chan community,

One year ago, I formed the Constructive Engagement Working Group, with the aim of developing a set of practical recommendations for nurturing an inclusive culture, encouraging open inquiry, and building our capacity to engage respectfully across differences. Today, I am delighted to share the group’s report, posted on our open inquiry and constructive engagement page, which I fully endorse. Its recommendations advance our pursuit of healthy pluralism and constructive engagement at the School.

These efforts are essential to our School’s mission to promote health and improve equity so that everyone can thrive, far beyond our campus. It is through constructive engagement that we learn, build trust, advance science, and address complexity—all foundational to public health.

To develop the recommendations, the Working Group reviewed existing efforts around constructive engagement at the School and University and sought to understand the School’s current culture. The recommendations below build on our strengths, incorporate innovations from other schools, and are intended to be practical and actionable.

Recommendations for communicating and reinforcing values and expectations on viewpoint diversity, open inquiry, and pluralism

• Develop a guiding Constructive Engagement Framework for fostering a shared culture of pluralism, viewpoint diversity, and open inquiry at the School.
• Shape the norms and expectations of behavior across research, teaching, learning, and administration to operationalize the Constructive Engagement Framework.
• Create a standing Committee on Constructive Engagement to guide application of the framework and the recommendations from the Working Group.
• Implement an intentional data gathering and learning strategy to inform approaches to constructive engagement and viewpoint diversity over time.

Recommendations for schoolwide educational programs

• Adopt the Chatham House Rule as a foundation for classroom norms and building trust.
• Develop resources and pedagogical tools to support faculty in applying the Framework for Constructive Engagement in their classrooms while also designing opportunities that help students build the skills necessary for constructive dialogue and viewpoint diversity as a critical component of career readiness.
• Integrate constructive engagement approaches into the Advanced Learning Academy.

Recommendations for schoolwide programming and engagement

• Establish communications that reinforce our commitment, including through intentional orientation of staff, faculty, and students and throughout their experience at the School.
• Develop and implement a strategy for embedding constructive dialogue and exposure to diverse viewpoints at schoolwide events.
• Establish clear processes for responding to highly emotional or charged incidents.
• Seek to foster constructive engagement not only within the School but throughout society on issues related to population health.

I’m happy to report that we have already succeeded in accomplishing three of the recommendation priorities for 2025-26: developing a constructive engagement framework (see report, pp. 6-8); convening a standing Committee on Constructive Engagement; and piloting the Chatham House Rule for several spring classrooms, with a plan for a faculty vote and possible adoption of the rule later this month.

These recommendations are excellent—and they are a starting rather than an end point. Our success depends on the daily choices each of us makes: how we listen, how we ask questions, how we make room for perspectives different from our own, how we strive to learn from each other, and how we remain in relationship even when we disagree. Over the coming months and years, your contributions will help shape strategic initiatives that will guide us in fostering a more open, engaged, and respectful community.

The report concludes that “constructive engagement is central to the aims of academic freedom, excellence, inclusivity, and community well-being. It is also central to the work of public health.” I couldn’t agree more.

Please join me in thanking the Working Group members for their leadership in developing these outstanding recommendations. I look forward to working with all of you in support of our vision of building a world where everyone can thrive.

Best,

Andrea

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD
Dean of the Faculty

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Constructive Engagement Working Group

Committee Co-Chairs:
Jennifer Betancourt, director of educational policy, Office of Educational Programs
Michaela Kerrissey, associate professor of management, Department of Health Policy and Management

Committee Members:
Alya Al Sager, PHS PhD candidate, Department of Global Health and Population
Bryn Austin, interim department co-chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Jacqueline Bhabha, professor of the practice of health and human rights, Department of Global Health and Population, FXB Center
Marianna Cortese, senior research scientist, Department of Nutrition
Samantha Dixon, associate director of development communications
Anya Greenberg, CBQG candidate, Department of Biostatistics
Deepali Ravel, annual lecturer, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Ozlem Tok, 4th year postdoctoral fellow, Department of Molecular Metabolism
Bryan Thomas Jr., chief community and belonging officer
Tyler VanderWeele, John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology
Tim Whelsky, associate dean for student services

*Francine Laden, professor of environmental epidemiology, and Jennifer Betancourt are co-leads of the standing Committee on Constructive Engagement that was formed out of the Working Group’s recommendations.