Dr. Bjorn R. Olsen, Hersey Professor of Cell Biology at the Medical School, was recently appointed the new department head of the Harvard-Forsyth Department of Oral Biology. In addition, Olsen will serve as director of research at the School of Dental Medicine.

"Dr. Olsen is a valued member of the Faculty of Medicine and I am very pleased that he has accepted this appointment," said Dr. R. Bruce Donoff, Dean of the School of Dental Medicine.

A graduate of the University of Oslo, Olsen joined the Harvard faculty in 1985 as the Hersey Professor of Anatomy. From 1990 to 1993, Olsen served as chair of the Cell and Developmental Biology Graduate Program. In 1993, he was appointed Hersey Professor of Cell Biology.

Dr. Lincoln Chen, Taro Takemi Professor of International Health and chair of the Department of Population and International Health at the School of Public Health, was named vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation, effective Jan. 1, 1997. As vice president, Chen will be responsible for all science-based international grantmaking activities for the Foundation.

Chen will oversee the Foundation's core strategies (principal activities) that address a wide spectrum of human and social concerns ranging from school reform and jobs creation in this country to increasing food production and improving the quality of health care systems in the developing world.

Prior to joining the Harvard faculty in 1987, Chen was the representative for the Ford Foundation in India and Bangladesh.

Peggy Charren, founder of Action for Children's Television and Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Education, recently received two awards honoring her many years of advocacy for America's children.

Last month, she was awarded the Annenberg (University) Public Policy Center award for "distinguished lifetime contribution to children and television" at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Charren also received the 1996 Spirit of Lincoln award from the Lincoln Museum and Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. in recognition of the "productive public discourse" her campaign for excellence in children's programming produced.