139 stories in March, 2007
A denarius in hand is worth two in a book
On exhibit at the Harvard University Art Museums are wide and deep collections that range from ancient Greece statuary to Ottoman textiles to Max Beckmann masterpieces to contemporary American graphic arts. As stunning and numerous as are the objects on display, significant portions of the museums' collections are not always up on the walls but are, nevertheless, available to students and other scholars. Study rooms and curatorial assistance are available to researchers and students to give them a chance to study these original works of art — firsthand.
World War II has been called "The Good War," often in contrast to later conflicts whose moral justification is seen as more ambivalent. But how did the Good War become good, and what aspects of it had to be suppressed to qualify it for that title? Three scholars attempted to answer that question at a symposium March 9 titled "Cultural Impacts of World War II." The event was sponsored by the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History and was part of the center's 2006-07 workshop on "Cultural Reverberations of Modern War."
Whittenberger, HSPH chair, dies at 93
James Whittenberger, who chaired the Department of Physiology at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) from 1948 to 1980, passed away March 17. He was 93 years old.
Smile and the world smiles with you, but why?
"We are connected in ways we don't consciously know, but which are absolutely essential for communication," said psychologist and author Daniel Goleman at a March 14 talk on social intelligence sponsored by the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Center for Public Leadership. "There is a subterranean emotional economy that's part of any interaction."
Modern Girl Project views women between the wars
When American women won the right to vote in 1919, the logical question was, What next? Suffragists had the answer ready: full enjoyment of civil and domestic life for women, equal to that of men. But suffragists found out that what was next was not much. It would be decades before American women gained anything like gender equality in the home, in the workplace, and in higher education. And they faced another unsettling fact: Flappers were next. To the dismay of early feminists, these unruly daughters of feminism were driven by an apolitical appetite for clothes, boys, and the outward signs of freedom.
This month in Harvard history
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending March 19. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
The 12,000-member Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) has selected Harvard Medical School Professor of Ophthalmology Ilene K. Gipson as the recipient of the Friedenwald Award.
At its 12th meeting of the year on March 21, the Faculty Council considered draft legislation concerning general education and met in camera with President-elect Drew G. Faust to discuss the Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean search.
Edward Willett Wagner, Professor of Korean Studies at Harvard for thirty-five years and founder of Korean studies in the United States, passed away at the age of 77 on December 7, 2001. He left his wife, Namhi Kim Wagner; two sons, Robert Camner and J. Christopher Wagner; three stepdaughters, Yunghi Choi Wagner, Sokhi Choi Wagner, and Sanghi Choi Wagner; a brother, John P. Wagner; and four grandchildren.
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