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Nation & World
Green politics at IOP
An environmental call to action issued by Harvard President Drew Faust accelerated this year, with a pledge to reduce campus-wide greenhouse gas emissions and with an October celebration of sustainability efforts.
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Health
Health disparities in Boston focus of talk at HSPH Community Partnership Day
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the city’s top health official, Barbara Ferrer, speaking at the Harvard School of Public Health’s (HSPH) 18th Annual Community Partnership Day, said efforts to end racial health disparities must go forward in the city even as the nation’s economy falters.
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Health
In survey, patients give some high, some low marks to hospitals
The quality of hospitals across the United States is inconsistent. To address this issue, the federal government and private organizations have begun to publicly report data, such as how well hospitals treat certain conditions. But until now, there has been no data on how patients themselves feel about the care they received. A new study…
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Campus & Community
HKS presents awards to 10 tribal governments
Ten tribal governments were honored on Oct. 21 by Harvard’s Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations (Honoring Nations) awards program. Five of the governments received a “High Honors” award of $20,000 and five others received an “Honors” award of $10,000 in recognition of their good governance achievements. Hundreds of guests attended the…
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Campus & Community
This month in Harvard history
Oct. 26, 1952 — Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson worships at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square and visits President James Bryant Conant afterwards in Massachusetts Hall.
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Campus & Community
Distinguished mathematician Andrew Gleason dies at 86
Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, perhaps best known for his contribution to solving Hilbert’s Fifth problem, died Oct. 17 of complications following surgery. He was 86.
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Campus & Community
‘Gen Ed’ connects students to outside world
As Harvard College ramps up for the official launch of the new Program in General Education — better known as “Gen Ed” — in September 2009, undergraduates are matriculating in the first round of courses related to the new curriculum. Six courses are being offered in the Gen Ed curriculum this fall, with nine others…
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Campus & Community
Fall commences motley fete
If “April is the cruellest month,” as T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem “The Wasteland” — then November is certainly the most marvelous. Judging from the glorious display of fall foliage in a Harvard Yard stimulated by chill breezes and hosting a thousand squirrels, this year’s turning leaves are a short-lived sight to behold.
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Campus & Community
Call for Holyoke Center artists
Harvard University employees who work at Holyoke Center are invited to participate in the ninth annual Holyoke Center Group Art Exhibition, displayed in the Holyoke Center exhibition space from Dec. 5 through Jan. 7. The goal of the exhibition is to showcase the artistic talents and creativity of the staff of the Holyoke Center and…
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Campus & Community
Home buying seminar Nov. 6
Susan Keller of Harvard Real Estate Services is holding seminars on Nov. 6 and Dec. 4 from 12-1:30 p.m. titled “Home Buying Seminar & Obtaining a Mortgage: Tips to Assist You with This Process.” The programs will be at Mt. Auburn Street, Room 3311, and feel free to bring a lunch. Registration is required. To…
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Campus & Community
Day of the Dead celebration
Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography will come alive in a unique way Nov. 2 when it joins the Consulate General of Mexico in Boston in hosting a celebration of the traditional Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
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Campus & Community
Dunster House calls for soloists
Dunster House seeks vocal soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists for its 36th annual Messiah Sing, scheduled for the evening of Dec. 11. One soloist for each voice part will be selected to perform. Auditions are scheduled Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to noon in Dunster House. To sign up for an audition or for…
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Campus & Community
Financial resources forum set
In response to concerns about the economy and the recent turbulence in world financial markets, Harvard Human Resources will hold a Financial Resources Forum Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the ballroom of the Charles Hotel.
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Health
Researchers gain ground in treatment options for disfiguring tumor
A team of researchers led by Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) Dean for Research Bjorn Olsen has discovered a mechanism for the rapid growth seen in infantile hemangioma, the most common childhood tumor.
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Health
New Guinea forest expands ‘observatory’
Just getting there takes hours of hot, sweaty hiking through lowland Papua New Guinea forests: three hours from the road to the base camp, then another seven to the site. That’s when the real work begins: tagging, measuring, and identifying 250,000 trees scattered over 50 hectares.
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Science & Tech
Lecture ‘Can’t you see I’m busy’ addresses ‘interruption management’
You’ve opened a Microsoft Word document and are just about to write. Feel good? No. Instead of inspiration, along comes Clippy, the annoying little pop-up man with his bobbing eyebrows and balloon full of intrusive questions. “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?”
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Science & Tech
Solar system’s twin has two asteroid belts
Astronomers have discovered that the nearby star Epsilon Eridani has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system. The inner asteroid belt is a virtual twin of the belt in our solar system, while the outer asteroid belt holds 20 times more material. Moreover, the presence of these three…
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Campus & Community
Twelve new Administrative Fellows announced for 2008-09
Continuing the legacy of a flagship leadership development fellowship for high-potential academic administrators of color, 12 new fellows have been selected for the 2008-09 class of the Administrative Fellowship Program (AFP). The seven visiting fellows are talented professionals drawn from business, education, and the professions outside the University, while the five resident fellows are exceptional…
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Science & Tech
Records dating back to Thoreau show some sharp shifts in plant flowering near Walden Pond
Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., have borne…
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Science & Tech
Solar system’s young twin has two asteroid belts
Astronomers have discovered that the nearby star Epsilon Eridani has two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring, making it a triple-ring system. The inner asteroid belt is a…
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Science & Tech
Gore: Universities have important role in sustainability
Former vice president Al Gore ’69 addressed a crowd of 15,000 in chilly, leaf-strewn Tercentenary Theatre Oct. 22, 2008, delivering the keynote address in a multi-day celebration of the University’s commitment to sustainability.
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Campus & Community
Kuwait Program Research Fund accepting proposals
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) has announced the 15th funding cycle for the Kuwait Program Research Fund, which is supported by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). An HKS faculty committee will consider applications for one-year grants (up to $30,000) and larger grants for more extensive proposals to support advanced research by…
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Campus & Community
Joseph J. Schildkraut
For a period during the late 1950s and 1960s, psychiatry attracted some of the most capable graduates of US medical schools. Intrigued by the conceptual interest of psychoanalytic theory, and the possibility of treatment via the couch, these students chose for residency departments of psychiatry that featured grounding in psychoanalysis. One of these was Joe…
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Health
Gene therapy restores vision to mice with retinal degeneration
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have used gene therapy to restore useful vision to mice with degeneration of the light-sensing retinal rods and cones, a common cause of human blindness. Their report, appearing in the Oct. 14 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the effects of broadly expressing a light-sensitive protein in other…
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Health
Global ‘chump change’ could provide biodiversity protection
Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson said the Earth’s major biological hot spots could be conserved for roughly $50 billion— an amount he termed “chump change” in a world of trillion-dollar financial bailouts.
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Science & Tech
GSD lecture and panel address ‘Designing for Sustainability’
Interest in green building is high at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), judging by the attendance at a lecture Tuesday (Oct. 21) in the Stubbins Room at Gund Hall. “Designing for Sustainability” was part of the popular and event-packed sustainability celebration instituted this year by Harvard President Drew Faust.