All articles


  • Campus & Community

    Mother/daughter graduate from Extension School

    They’re not exactly a “mother-daughter team,” but Rosemary Dowling, 79, of Dorchester, and her daughter, Rosemary McCarthy, 55, of Duxbury, graduated in tandem from the Harvard Extension School with their Bachelor of Liberal Arts (A.L.B.) degrees on June 7. Both Rosemarys worked on their degrees over the past 10 years, commuting together, and enrolling in…

  • Campus & Community

    Jay Harris named committee chair, adviser to dean

    Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) interim Dean David Pilbeam has named Jay Harris chair of the new General Education Standing Committee.

  • Campus & Community

    FAS names Bruce Western professor of sociology

    Bruce Western, a leading social scientist in the field of inequality, whose work is focused on incarceration and labor market stratification, has been appointed professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), effective July 1. In addition to his appointment in FAS, Western will also direct the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and…

  • Campus & Community

    Crimson Summer Academy celebrates first graduating class at Commencement

    Harvard students weren’t the only ones commencing in Harvard Yard on Commencement Day (June 7) 2007. It was all smiles and cheers, and a few tears, at the afternoon exercises for the Crimson Summer Academy’s inaugural graduating class. The 30 Crimson Scholars, joined by their families, enjoyed the festivities of Commencement with a graduation ceremony…

  • Science & Tech

    Oceans are back on Mars

    Since spacecraft sent back the first close-up images of Mars more than 30 years ago, some experts have insisted that oceans once existed on the now dry, cold planet. Critics have maintained for decades that such an idea is the product of unrestrained imaginations. Now, a study published in today’s (June 14) issue of the…

  • Arts & Culture

    In search of grammatical architecture behind words

    When not in a classroom or laboratory, Maria Polinsky spends time doing fieldwork off the southeast coast of Africa, in Madagascar. She studies Malagasy, a melting-pot language whose influences start in Borneo and now borrow from Swahili, Arabic, and French.

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard Board of Overseers announces newly elected members

    The president of the Harvard Alumni Association announced on June 7 the results of the annual election of new members of the Harvard Board of Overseers. The results were released at the annual meeting of the association following the University’s 356th Commencement.

  • Campus & Community

    Researchers analyze ‘Africa effect,’ the slow growth of some economies

    African governments were instrumental in inhibiting the growth of their own economies in the late 20th century, according to a decade-long project conducted by African scholars and economists. Robert Bates, professor of government in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been immersed in this economic survey, helping the economists to understand that governmental role.

  • Campus & Community

    ‘Elder statesman’ brightens big day

    On Thursday afternoon (June 7), in the shade of a tree in the Old Yard, Philip Keene of Natick, Mass., sat in a wheelchair holding a small sign that read “1925.” Nearby was Thayer Hall, where he lived as a senior 82 years ago.

  • Campus & Community

    Honorary degree recipients and citations, 2007

    Three women and six men received honorary degrees at Harvard’s 356th Commencement. President Derek Bok read the citations.

  • Campus & Community

    Commencement marked by solemnity, joy … sunshine!

    Gown-gown issues On Commencement Day, what’s under those black gowns? Don’t ask. But an informal survey of Harvard College footwear revealed high heels, sandals, running shoes, dress shoes for men (rare), and — most of all — flip-flops, the 21st century’s footwear for all occasions.

  • Campus & Community

    Barbara J. McNeil named acting dean of Harvard Medical School

    Barbara J. McNeil, the Ridley Watts Professor of Health Care Policy and Professor of Radiology, has been named acting dean of the Harvard Medical School effective July 1, President-elect Drew Faust announced today.

  • Campus & Community

    Gates urges graduates to tackle global inequity

    Microsoft founder Bill Gates returned to Harvard Thursday (June 7) to finally collect his degree — an honorary doctorate — and to urge the Class of 2007 to change the world for the millions who live in poverty and die of preventable diseases each year.

  • Campus & Community

    Remarks of Bill Gates, Harvard Commencement 2007

    President Bok, former President Rudenstine, incoming President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, parents, and especially, the graduates: I’ve been waiting more than 30 years to say this: “Dad, I always told you I’d come back and get my degree.”

  • Arts & Culture

    With a little help from his PC

    With “The Ringo Starr Fine Art Show” paying a visit to 60 Church St. in Harvard Square for a three-day stint starting today (June 7), some might assume that the man who rocked the kit for the most influential band in the history of rock ’n’ roll has traded in his sticks for paint and…

  • Campus & Community

    Police reports

    Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending June 4. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

  • Campus & Community

    Newsmakers

    Altshuler to stay through fall Alan A. Altshuler, who announced last fall that he will step down as dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), has agreed to stay on as dean for the fall semester until a new dean is selected. Altshuler was appointed acting dean of the School in July 2004…

  • Campus & Community

    Career forum, June 12

    Employment Services, collaborating with a University-wide organizing committee, will host its ninth annual career forum on June 12. The event will be held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St. and will be open to the public from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

  • Campus & Community

    Faust installation, Oct. 12

    Incoming President Drew G. Faust will be formally installed as Harvard’s 28th president on Oct. 12 at an outdoor ceremony in the Tercentenary Theatre. An academic procession, featuring representatives of universities from around the world, will begin at 2 p.m. The installation will begin at 2:30 p.m. The event will be open to all faculty,…

  • Campus & Community

    Memorial services set for Ketelhohn, Carroll

    Gene Ketelhohn, Cabot House building manager, 60 Gene G. Ketelhohn, the building manager of Cabot House since 1983, died May 26 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He was 60.

  • Campus & Community

    Seven HBS students honored for their service to School, society

    Seven members of the Harvard Business School M.B.A. Class of 2007 will take home more than the coveted diploma they are receiving today from HBS Dean Jay O. Light. Anthony D’Avella, Sachin Jain, José Antonio Morán, Jean-Philippe “JP” Odunlami, John Serafini, Heather Thompson, and Arturo Weiss Pick are winners of the School’s prestigious Dean’s Award.

  • Campus & Community

    DRCLAS awards certificates, names thesis prize winners

    The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has awarded a total of 33 Certificates in Latin American Studies this year. Thirty undergraduates from 12 academic departments and two doctoral students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences received the certificate. To be eligible for the certificate, students must complete an approved course…

  • Campus & Community

    Hoopes Prize winners for ’07 are announced

    More than 70 Harvard College seniors have been named Thomas T. Hoopes Prize winners for outstanding scholarly work or research. The prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes ’19. The recipients, including their research and advisers, are as follows:

  • Campus & Community

    Radcliffe awards ’07 Fay Prize to two pioneering Harvard seniors

    The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has named Harvard seniors Rowan W. Dorin, a history concentrator, and Emily Vasiliauskas, a literature concentrator, the winners of its 2007 Captain Jonathan Fay Prize. Both winners were selected for their senior theses, which provide important, new contributions to their respective fields. Dorin was selected for…

  • Campus & Community

    Committee on African Studies awards grants

    The Harvard Committee on African Studies has awarded 13 research grants for Harvard undergraduates and graduate students to travel to sub-Saharan Africa during the summer of 2007. The undergraduates are juniors who will be doing research for their senior honors theses. The graduate students will be conducting research for their doctoral dissertations.

  • Campus & Community

    Richardson Fellowships are awarded

    The Class of 2007 recipients of the Elliot and Anne Richardson Fellowships in Public Service will help others in locations from Ghana to Los Angeles, aiding teenagers with sickle cell anemia and assisting low-income students to prepare for entry into top colleges.

  • Campus & Community

    Herchel Smith Fellowship awardees named

    The following undergraduates have been selected as winners of the 2007 Herchel Smith Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship. The fellowship aims to support academically motivated Harvard undergraduates in pursuit of personally significant scientific research experiences during the summer or on a leave of absence. The scholarships will support research projects undertaken with an established research center…

  • Campus & Community

    Kistefos Public Service Fellows named at KSG

    A Norwegian government attorney and a fomer adviser at the Norwegian Mission to the United Nations have been named Kistefos Public Service Fellows at the Kennedy School of Government. The fellowship program was established in 2006 by a donation of more than $1 million from Kistefos AS, one of Norway’s leading privately owned investment companies.

  • Campus & Community

    Center for European Studies announces 2007-08 student grants

    Continuing its tradition of promoting and funding student research on Europe, the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) has announced its selection of 41 undergraduate students for thesis research grants and internships in Europe this summer. Additionally, more than two dozen graduate students have been awarded support for their dissertations.

  • Campus & Community

    Extension School awards

    The Harvard Extension School has announced the following student prize and faculty award winners for 2007.