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Campus & Community
Nick Rizzo ’09: Have compassion, will travel
Nick Rizzo ’09 has been certain since the second grade that crimson is his color. The young sports fan from Kingston, Mass., used to travel to Boston with his father to cheer for Harvard in the annual Beanpot hockey tournament. When it came time for college applications, there was no question: early action to Harvard.
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Campus & Community
HBS students honored for service to the School, society
Six members of the Harvard Business School (HBS) M.B.A. Class of 2009 have been named winners of the School’s prestigious Dean’s Award. The recipients, who will be recognized by HBS Dean Jay Light at Commencement ceremonies this afternoon (June 4) on the HBS campus, are Andrew Goldin, Garrett Smith, and the team of Rye Barcott,…
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Campus & Community
Janitor’s granddaughter fulfills Harvard dream
Harvard is in my blood, though not in the traditional sense. I was born and brought up in Cambridge, Mass., as were my mother and her siblings. My grandparents struggled to raise seven children during tough financial times, and a college education was not an option.
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Campus & Community
For the 20th straight year, the peal of bells will mark Commencement
A joyous peal of bells will ring throughout Cambridge today (June 4). In celebration of the city of Cambridge and of the country’s oldest university — and of our earlier history when bells of varying tones summoned us from sleep to prayer, work, or study — this ancient yet new sound will fill Harvard Square…
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Campus & Community
Opening the door to knowledge
As thousands of Harvard students celebrate their graduation in grand style, the first graduating class from a project across the river will depart with little fanfare but immeasurable success.
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Campus & Community
HGSE students go back to high school — to mentor
When Alexandra Fuentes and Alicia Rosenberg enlisted in the Teacher Education Program (TEP) as students in the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), they were infiltrating a chaotic realm of teenagers and homework — and life would never be the same again: They were going back to high school.
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Campus & Community
Dean Tosteson dies at age 84
Daniel C. Tosteson, the Caroline Shields Walker Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology, who served an extraordinary two decades as dean of Harvard Medical School, from 1977 to 1997, died peacefully on May 27 after a long illness. He was 84 years old.
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Campus & Community
Three honored with gift to support science
An anonymous donor honored the extraordinary service of three Harvard veterans with a $15 million gift to support innovative science. From left, Robert L. Scalise, M.B.A. ’89, Nichols Family Director of Athletics; William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, Ed.M. ’69, Ed.D. ’71, dean of admissions and financial aid; and John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, executive director of…
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Campus & Community
Take two: Brother’s keepers Bill and Dan Jones ’09, ’09
Complete strangers recognize Dan Jones on campus all the time. It’s the same for his brother, Bill. “I just play along,” said Dan. “I don’t know their names, I’ve never seen them before. I just assume Bill knows them and I try to be friendly so they don’t start hating him.”
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Campus & Community
Young scholar aims at physics, finance, and the physical
Lin “William” Cong remembers his early childhood as a time of playing in the street, reading comic books, and coasting through the early grades. College was a dream.
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Science & Tech
Class of 1984 takes giant step in reducing carbon footprint
For its fifth reunion, the Class of 1984 added community service to the celebration — a novel feature that other reuniting classes have since copied.
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Health
Mobile health van returns $36 for every dollar invested
Researchers from Harvard Medical School (HMS) have developed a prototype “return on investment calculator” that can measure the value of prevention services. Using a Boston-based mobile health program called the “Family Van” to test the tool, the team found that for the services provided in 2008, this program, in the long run, will return $36…
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Campus & Community
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…
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Campus & Community
HAA President Morris hands off to Alvarez-Bjelland
Last spring, as Walter Morris ’73, M.B.A. ’75, prepared to become president of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), he was eagerly anticipating his 35th class reunion. For Morris, this reunion was another cherished opportunity to renew old friendships, and, in many instances, an occasion to build new ones. Class reunions are the HAA’s flagship alumni…
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Campus & Community
Ernest May, Harvard professor and eminent historian of international relations, dies at 80
Ernest May, a renowned historian of international relations and foreign policy and professor of history at Harvard University, died on June 1 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston from complications following surgery, according to his family. He was 80.
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Campus & Community
Groundbreaking professorship in LGBT studies
Harvard has received a $1.5 million gift from the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus (HGLC) to endow the F.O. Matthiessen Visiting Professorship of Gender and Sexuality. Harvard Overseer Mitchell L. Adams ’66, M.B.A. ’69, will inform participants at the annual HGLC Commencement dinner that a campaign spanning several years has reached its goal. Named after…
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Campus & Community
HDS grad hopes to alter military culture
Lukas Filler likes a challenge. One of the 6-foot-5-inch former competitive swimmer’s favorite pastimes is surfing … in the New England winter … before dawn.
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Campus & Community
358th Commencement: Harvard confers 6,777 degrees and 81 certificates
Today the University awarded a total of 6,777 degrees and 81 certificates. A breakdown of the degrees by schools and programs follows. Harvard College granted a total of 1,562 degrees.
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Campus & Community
O’Connor named Radcliffe Medalist
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has announced that Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, will be awarded the 2009 Radcliffe Institute Medal at the annual Radcliffe Day luncheon on Friday (June 5). Barbara J. Grosz, dean of the Radcliffe Institute, will give opening remarks…
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Campus & Community
Matt Lauer anchors Class Day festivities
Matt Lauer, co-anchor of NBC News’ “Today,” delivered the 2009 Senior Class Day speech in Tercentenary Theatre on Wednesday (June 3) under a canopy of green leaves and slightly overcast skies. With a joke-filled address that had the large crowd frequently in stitches, the accomplished journalist proved he is also an accomplished stand-up comedian.
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Campus & Community
Commencement orators talk the talk
A journalist, a landscape architect, and a Latin scholar are today’s Commencement orators. They fulfill a University tradition dating back to 1642. They also embark on three journeys that hint at the wide array of academic paths leading outward from Harvard.
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Campus & Community
Sobering poems, more sobering oration mark PBK
Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) chapter first met in 1781, two years before the end of the Revolutionary War.
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Campus & Community
At ROTC commissioning, Faust touts idea of ‘soldier-scholar’
Barron, Bilotti, Bras, Chiappini, Doohovskoy, Kristol, Pellegrini, West. That’s roll call for eight 2009 Harvard graduates who were commissioned late Wednesday morning (June 3). Five are new officers in the U.S. Army and three in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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Campus & Community
Faust bids farewell to 2009’s ‘improvisers’
Harvard President Drew Faust shared final words of wisdom with the Class of 2009 Tuesday (June 2), sending them into a newly uncertain world with assurances that their liberal arts education gives them the ability to improvise in changing times.
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Campus & Community
Ten honorary degrees awarded at Commencement
Harvard University has conferred today (June 4) honorary degrees on 10 outstanding individuals: Energy Secretary Steven Chu, filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, author Joan Didion, religious historian Wendy Doniger, legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin, immunologist Anthony S. Fauci, anthropologist Sarah Hrdy, engineer Robert Langer, musician Wynton Marsalis, and political scientist Sidney Verba.
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Health
Shining light on leptin’s role in brain
In investigating the complex neurocircuitry behind weight gain and glucose control, scientists have known that the hormone leptin plays a key role in the process. But within the myriad twists…
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Health
Researchers solve ‘bloodcurdling’ mystery
By applying cutting-edge techniques in single-molecule manipulation, researchers at Harvard University have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses to regulate the clotting of blood. The finding, which…
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Campus & Community
Harvard Class Day 2009
Journalist Matt Lauer joins student orators in a humor-filled afternoon of informal celebration.
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Campus & Community
Harvard to participate in Yellow Ribbon Veterans Education Program
President Drew Faust announced a partnership with the federal government today that will help America’s military veterans obtain a Harvard education.