All articles


  • Campus & Community

    Female monogamy is fiction, not fact, Hrdy says

    Women are naturally monogamous. Men tend to rove. That assumption is not only part of popular belief, it has also been enshrined by science. Darwin, writing of animal mating habits, referred to the “elusiveness of females.” More recently, Donald Symons, in his influential 1979 book “The Evolution of Human Sexuality,” contended that it is natural…

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard focuses on mental health

    People may think of Harvard students as models of cool, as intelligent, sophisticated youths well able to handle the pressures of academic work and social life at an elite university. But they are really like everyone else in terms of having to deal with the challenges of getting good grades, missing their parents, and making…

  • Campus & Community

    Delaney-Smith carries on fight against cancer

    In December 1999, Harvard women’s basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer. In March 2000, the Gazette chronicled Delaney-Smith’s fight. Today, we revisit her to see how she’s fared. Suddenly, cancer is all around Kathy Delaney-Smith. After fighting her own breast cancer for nearly a year, the Harvard women’s basketball coach sees it…

  • Science & Tech

    Better-quality child care has real effects

    In a study, higher quality child care showed a positive relation to higher levels of social functioning in children both at school and at home. Those children who attended higher-level child care also had fewer reports of problem behaviors and developed stronger bonds with their mothers. Children in classes that met fewer or none of…

  • Campus & Community

    Memorial service for Charny

    A memorial service will be held for David Charny, the David Berg Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 2 p.m. in the Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School, 1515 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Mass. Charny died unexpectedly, after a brief illness, on Thursday, Aug. 31. He was a resident…

  • Campus & Community

    Universities release manufacturing report

    Harvard University, the University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, the University of California, and the University of Michigan today are releasing the report of a team of independent consultants commissioned by the universities last year to gather and analyze information on apparel manufacturing. The report is the result of a yearlong effort that included…

  • Campus & Community

    Police Log

    Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Oct. 7. The official log is located at Police Headquarters, 29 Garden St. Oct. 1: A caller reported graffiti at Harvard Hillel. Oct. 2: An officer responded to a report of a past larceny at the B1…

  • Campus & Community

    Notes

    Celtic Deparment lecture The Celtic Department will present a lecture on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 5 p.m. in the Harvard Faculty Club Library, 20 Quincy St. The talk by Oliver J. Padel, lecturer in Celtic Languages and Literature, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge, is titled “Was There an Arthur of the…

  • Campus & Community

    Newsmakers

    Shavell named Samuel R. Rosenthal Professor of Law Harvard Law School’s Steven Shavell has been named the Samuel R. Rosenthal Professor of Law. The professorship honors the late Samuel R. Rosenthal ’24, an estate and probate attorney, philanthropist, and rare-book collector. The chair was endowed in 1991. Shavell joined the Harvard Law faculty in 1980,…

  • Campus & Community

    Crimson tennis blanks Colgate

    On Oct. 6, Harvard shone against Colgate in the ECAC tennis championships. 1. Freshman Ryan Browne vs. Evan Paushter 6-2, 6-2 2. Freshman Cliff Nguyen vs. Owen Fileti 6-3, 6-0 3. Sophomore Oli Choo vs Josh Cohn 6-0, 6-3 4. Freshman George Turner vs. Eric Sacullo 6-1, 6-2 5. Senior Anthony Barker vs. Andrew Davis…

  • Campus & Community

    ‘Evening of Champs’ to support cancer research

    Top Olympic and world-class ice skaters will continue their battle against cancer this fall as they gather to participate in “An Evening With Champions,” America’s premier figure skating exhibition. Hosted by 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie, this year’s performances will feature a star-studded cast including 1994 Olympic gold medalist Alexei Urmanov, 1998 Olympic silver…

  • Campus & Community

    Rockefeller Center’s program bridges Americas

    The Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Visiting Professor of Latin American Studies Program provides an opportunity for distinguished Latin Americans to teach at Harvard for one semester in any field. The RFK Visiting Professors are teaching such diverse areas as liberation theology, educational equity, human rights, and ethnic studies. With their presence, six new courses have…

  • Campus & Community

    One close game

    Quarterback Neil Rose ’02 stuttersteps his way across the goal line for the second of his three first-half touchdowns against Cornell on Saturday. Staff photo by Jon Chase

  • Campus & Community

    TV viewers a loyal group

    Bharat Anand What makes a television viewer more inclined to watch 20/20 than 60 Minutes? Do network identities play a role in the decision? And what about network promos — do they really attract people to certain programs? Media consultants have spent years studying these questions, and while there are no purely empirical answers why…

  • Campus & Community

    Brendan McGrath, 40, dies

    Brendan McGrath, whom many faculty members remember as the man who found them a place to live, died Oct. 7 while scuba diving near Gloucester. The cause of death was a heart attack. McGrath was 40. McGrath was hired in 1996 as faculty real estate services manager in Harvard Planning and Real Estate. In this…

  • Campus & Community

    Community Service Day at HMS

    The eighth annual Ebert Community Service Day will take place Thursday, Oct. 19, at 1:30 p.m. in the atrium of the Medical Education Center at Harvard Medical School. An informative afternoon of food and fun, this event is an opportunity for dental and medical students to learn how they can become involved in the community…

  • Campus & Community

    Hausers’ gifts boost human rights studies

    Law School alumni Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser have given Harvard University two gifts that significantly strengthen the University’s capacity in the field of human rights studies. They pledged a new Chair in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Law School (HLS). The first formal program in human rights at the University was…

  • Campus & Community

    Radcliffe to host symposium on gender

    The Radcliffe Institute, celebrating its inaugural year as an institute for advanced study, will host an interdisciplinary symposium on “Gender and Inquiry” on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 12 and 13, at the Agassiz Theatre in Radcliffe Yard. The event begins with a keynote lecture on Thursday at 4 p.m. by primatologist Sarah Hrdy ’68, Ph.D.…

  • Campus & Community

    Pryor to students: Get involved

    When Arkansas Senator David Pryor packed his bags, sold his home, and departed Washington in 1996 after more than 30 years in public service, he didn’t think twice about leaving. “I enjoyed my time in the Senate,” he says. “I loved my colleagues, but it was time for me to move out and have another…

  • Campus & Community

    ‘Horizon’ widens at Schlesinger

    In her autobiography, “The Dyer’s Hand,” astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the first female tenured professors at Harvard, summed up the rewards of a career in science: “Do not undertake a scientific career in quest of fame or money. There are easier and better ways to reach them. Undertake it only if nothing else will…

  • Campus & Community

    Got milk?

    The John Harvard statue, which has been sheltered during the reconstruction of University Hall, was apparently not safe from vandals. A “milk” mustache was painted on the revered statue. Staff photo by Jane Reed

  • Campus & Community

    Analyst of the American Dream: Hochschild tries to untangle issues of race and education

    For someone who was once sure she wanted to be a clinical psychologist, Jennifer Hochschild hasn’t done too badly as a political scientist. Hochschild, recently named a professor with a joint appointment in the Departments of Government and of Afro-American Studies, is one of the nation’s experts on race and education in American society. “She…

  • Campus & Community

    Over in overtime

    Cornell’s Adam Skumawitz took a pass from teammate Colin Nevison and fired it past Harvard keeper, junior Dan Mejias, with just under six minutes remaining in the second overtime to propel the Big Red to a tough 2-1 victory over host Harvard on Oct. 7. The Crimson falls to 4-3-1 and 0-2 in the Ivy…

  • Campus & Community

    Leadership Forum examines health disparities

    “When you hear that there is a disparity between minorities and the rest of the population, believe it,” says John Ruffin, the first associate director of research on minority health, of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In his address to the Leadership Forum of the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellows (CFHUF) in minority health policy…

  • Campus & Community

    Faculty Council Notice

    At its third meeting of the year, the Faculty Council reviewed with Administrative Dean of the Faculty Nancy L. Maull all of the faculty’s current building projects and plans. Associate Dean for Physical Resources and Planning David A. Zewinski was also present. The first faculty meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, Oct.17. Due…

  • Campus & Community

    Ig Nobel winners

    The Biology Prize, awarded for a report “On the Palatability of Some Dry-Season Tadpoles From Costa Rica.” Winner Richard Wassersug of Dalhousie University clarified that while the tadpoles were eaten to gauge palatability, they were neither dried nor seasoned. The Chemistry Prize, awarded for a discovery that romantic love may be indistinguishable from severe obsessive-compulsive…

  • Campus & Community

    Ig Nobels flush out the world’s top brains :Bad science gets good reputation at 10th annual prize ceremony

    While more informed minds awaited this week’s Nobel Prize awards, the Sanders Theatre crowd cheered the Tenth 1st Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, honoring “achievements that cannot, or should not, be reproduced.” The two-hour ceremony was conducted in comedic overdrive, with an over-the-top wink and nudge to the audience, from the traditional “Welcome, Welcome” speech…

  • Campus & Community

    Arts-to-smarts link overblown: Researchers sing a new tune for the Mozart effect

    Listening to Mozart won’t raise a child’s IQ, but music classes could help her or him to understand directions and diagrams. For enhancing a student’s ability to speak, read, and write, drama is a better choice. Beyond that, the arts don’t offer much boost to academic achievement in math or other non-arts courses. That’s the…

  • Campus & Community

    Student’s legacy is tool from which others learn

    A memorial service will be held this coming Saturday (Oct. 14) for a Harvard graduate student who found an opportunity to serve others under the most challenging of personal circumstances. Julie Goldman, a graduate student in anthropology, died Sept. 8 after a five-year struggle with cancer. She was 37. From 1998 until her death, Goldman…

  • Campus & Community

    Belfer Center associate holds ground in genocide debate

    It was labeled “the greatest, most pathetic, and most arbitrary tragedy in history” in a statement published in the New York Times on Nov. 1, 1915. The American Committee on Armenian Atrocities cited “authentic reports” of a “war of extermination being waged by the Turks against the Armenians.” As many as a million people had…