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43 stories tagged ‘U.S.’
Fostering global understanding
A panel of scholars made up of the directors of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centers met to discuss how to promote better understanding between the Islamic world and the West.
"New Muslim Cool" documents an American Muslim’s rise from the tough streets and hip-hop beats to a creed of mercy and forgiveness.
Passionate and engaging, Warren has long been a fearless advocate for the middle class. She has been embraced by the left-wing blogosphere for challenging economic policymakers and has become a thorn in the side of the bankers and credit card companies, which, she insists, should be better regulated….
University Presidents Panel: Higher Ed after the Crash
Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, on a panel with three other university presidents at the First Draft of History conference, noted that the crash has occasioned a moment of stocktaking, in which universities have been reminded the importance of keeping focus on the "the long view." Universities, unlike corporations, should not be focused on the next quarter but rather on the ages. Cultivating this sense of the long view, Faust said, and instilling critical, skeptical thinking in students, might have helped to forestall or mitigate the economic cataclysm of the last eighteen months.
As the Civil War finally ends, a relieved, sad, graduation day
The Commencement of 1865 and the day of commemoration that followed it hold a unique spot in Harvard history. Though some military actions were still taking place, the Civil War had essentially ended in April of that year. John Langdon Sibley, head librarian at Harvard, wrote in his diary that there had already been a “Reception for the returned soldiers from Cambridge.
Seceding from the secessionists
Deep in Civil War Mississippi, where manicured plantations gave way to wild swampland and thick pine forests, a young white man named Newton Knight led a ragtag band of guerilla fighters against the Confederate Army. His story is one of personal bravery and unwillingness to adhere to the secessionist movement that all but surrounded him.
Leadership Initiative Fellow Bolden nominated to lead NASA
Retired Marine Maj. Gen. and former astronaut Charles Bolden was nominated to be the head of NASA on Saturday (May 23), interrupting his stay at Harvard as anAdvanced Leadership Fellow.
Looking at ‘spoiled’ Americans through an energy lens
In 1968, the United States was exporting oil. A decade later, given massive increases in domestic demand, it was importing half of this coveted fuel.
Religion key to foreign policy, says HKS speaker
As President Obama and his new administration seek to redirect U.S. foreign policy back toward more emphasis on diplomacy and less on the use of force, they should not overlook Orthodox Christianity as a resource.
Locke: More enlightened than we thought
English political philosopher John Locke died nearly a century before the American Revolution, and in his time parliamentary democracy was in its infancy. But his Enlightenment ideas — including the right to life, liberty, and property — went on to inspire American revolutionaries.
Remembering the ‘American War’ of the ’60s
How do nations remember? In part, they remember through monuments — public art designed to capture a national memory and carry it through the ages.
Experts talk about reducing crime through a holistic approach
Los Angeles is a city that many equate with violent gangs and an ineffectual and troubled police force. Yet recent years have seen a decline in gang homicides and violent crime due to a new approach in policing.
Harvard Kennedy School dean awarded Moynihan Prize
David T. Ellwood, dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, has been selected by the American Academy of Political and Social Science as winner of the 2009 Daniel Moynihan Prize. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 7.
Samuel H. Beer, Harvard scholar, dies at 97
Samuel Hutchison Beer, the distinguished Harvard political scientist, died in his sleep at the age of 97 on April 7. For years, Beer was the world’s leading expert in British politics, but he also studied the American political system, and was active in American politics as a lifelong Democrat and chairman of Americans for Democratic Action from 1959 to 1962.
Eight graduate students awarded Soros Fellowships
In 1997, Paul and Daisy Soros created a charitable trust to support graduate study by new Americans — immigrants and children of immigrants. This year, out of the 750 applications nationwide, eight of the 31 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship winners are Harvard graduate students.
Energy policies: ‘Forty-year failure’
In 1973, four weeks after the Arab oil embargo, President Richard Nixon went on national television to talk about an energy crisis that had been mounting for two years. He asked Americans to turn off their Christmas lights.
Afghan ambassador welcomes more U.S. ‘boots on the ground’
“I want to make one point very clear,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United States Said T. Jawad told a crowd in Harvard’s John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Wednesday (March 11). “To build a pluralistic, a prosperous, peaceful society in Afghanistan is not a luxury for the Afghanistan people or for the Afghan government; it’s a necessity. It’s a necessity for peace in Afghanistan, stability in the region, and for security in the world.”
Harvard, ETS to study diversity at predominantly white colleges
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, has announced a collaboration with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) on a study of the experience of undergraduate members of racial and ethnic minorities on predominantly white college campuses.
Taking on the ‘Godzilla Economy’
The president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas delivered a somber economic message Monday night (Feb. 23) during the annual Albert H. Gordon Lecture at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. But while Richard Fisher admitted that policymakers should have heeded the signs of financial stress long ago, he expressed hope that central bankers can play a key role in bringing the global economy back to health.
HKS, Stanford collaborate on poverty project
A new collaborative effort bringing together faculty and scholars from Harvard and Stanford universities is being launched to evaluate — and develop — national policy on poverty and inequality in America. The Collaboration for Poverty Research (CPR) will tap the vast intellectual resources of both institutions, leveraging their combined power to focus attention and garner public support for new measures to attack and solve one of the most significant public problems of our time.
Woolsey: New technologies will make need for oil obsolete
Salt was once highly valued as a preservative for meat, but eventually a new technology — refrigeration — greatly reduced its value. Today, rather than a contentious commodity, salt is a humdrum condiment.
Appreciating Billie Jean King’s contribution to second-wave feminism
In a stately room in the Barker Center, flanked by portraits of famous men, Billie Jean King holds court. Not physically. She’s the topic of discussion, the name on everyone’s lips. One would think this were the after party of her notorious 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match with Bobby Riggs, the match she won and changed the face of women’s sports — and feminism — forever.
Community Gifts finds food at the top of wish list this holiday season
That’s the magic number for The Greater Boston Food Bank’s (GBFB) annual Turkey Drive, where just $15 provides a meaty turkey to families across eastern Massachusetts for the holiday. Yet with winter swiftly approaching, Thanksgiving is just the threshold for the need the GBFB anticipates this season.
In introducing the featured speaker at last week’s (Oct. 29) John F. Kennedy School Forum, Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said, “If there were a really serious national security problem and we could only consult one person, that person, in my view, is Brent Scowcroft.”
Sam Nunn, former Democratic senator from Georgia (1973-97), is well known as an eminence in the realm of U.S. security policy.
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