Campus & Community

The start of a new semester signals many things, one of which is “shopping week,” where undergraduates sit in on classes and check out syllabi before committing to a course.

On Sept. 11, the Faculty Council welcomed new members, reviewed history and policies, elected subcommittees for 2013-14, discussed the work of the council in the new academic year, and discussed proposed changes to the Q Guide.

For several Fridays, dozens of local artists, crafters, and designers from Boston’s SoWa Open Market will be selling their wares at the Science Center Plaza.

Harvard simultaneously faces stiff economic challenges and evolving opportunities, President Drew Faust said in her opening-of-year speech.

Houghton Library, Harvard’s home to literary and historical treasures, is more like a museum than your typical library.

Philip Harding, who is an M.P.P. student at Harvard Kennedy School and president of the Harvard Graduate Council, shares his thoughts on the “Harvard experience.”

After 15 months of construction, the renewal of Old Quincy — the neo-Georgian portion of Quincy House — was completed Saturday when it was renamed Stone Hall in honor of Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45, the late senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Freshmen this year come from very close to Harvard Yard and from very far away.

Coordinated through the Freshman Dean’s Office, the “Reflecting on Your Life” initiative, which invites freshmen to think about meaning and purpose, has received a grant from the Teagle Foundation to broaden the scope of the program.

PBHA summer campers rise through the ranks to take leadership positions and start to give back to their communities.

Jonathan Womack, a media technician at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, took home the grand prize at the Hollywood Book Festival for his sci-fi novel “A Cry for a Hero.”

Theodore C. Bestor, the Reischauer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology and director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, has received the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Award for the Promotion of Japanese Culture from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan.

Harvard President Drew Faust opened the first day of fall classes Tuesday by welcoming students and faculty to a new academic year during the traditional Morning Prayers.

As the Class of 2017 settled in at Harvard and began Freshman Week, students from around the world were busy taking in the unfamiliar sights and sounds of their tightly packed, red-brick neighborhood, their home base for the next four years.

At the annual Freshman Convocation Monday, Harvard President Drew Faust and other University officials told the Class of ’17 to embrace challenges, reach out to fellow students and others, and keep open minds about what the future should hold.

The Harvard University Police Department has released its annual report on crime, prevention, substance abuse, and other on-campus services.

Harvard Divinity School’s annual convocation included an address by Houghton Professor of the Practice of Ministry Studies Stephanie Paulsell, who explored the theme of devotion in the texts of the Bible’s “Song of Songs,” and in the work of author Virginia Woolf.

After 15 months of construction and renovation, Old Quincy, the first test project in the House Renewal initiative, began welcoming students this week.

David S. Landes, a renowned historian whose work focused on the complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance, died Aug. 17 at age 89.

Irish poet Seamus Heaney, the 1995 Nobel laureate in literature with longtime ties to Harvard, died Aug. 30 in Ireland at age 74.

Thanks to an abundant garden, the Harvard Faculty Club is saving money and producing even better-tasting food.

To address the growing numbers and concerns about disabilities, Harvard????s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Human Resources organized a community discussion titled “Working with People with Disabilities: What Happens After You Say Hello?”

On the Science Center Plaza for the next several Thursdays, Harvard freshmen and others will be able to spend time lingering at a small petting zoo, part of a new Common Spaces initiative.

The 103rd season of Harvard basketball opens Nov. 10 against Holy Cross as part of a tripleheader at TD Garden.

This year, Harvard researchers are receiving $719,701 in funding from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, or NARSAD.

Harvard Yard began to come alive again Monday morning as the Class of 2017 arrived on campus.

As freshmen move into dorms in and around the Yard, fellow students, faculty, and administrators offer their advice on how best to adjust to the Harvard experience. Their suggestions range from maintaining basic wellness to making sure to have fun.

After 15 months of construction and renovation, Old Quincy is ready to welcome back students for the academic year.

Former dean of Radcliffe admissions David K. “Deke” Smith of Topsham, Maine, died Aug. 14 at the age of 77, following a brief battle with cancer.

A memorial service for Harry Parker on Aug. 17 gathered the coach’s family and former students. Parker passed away June 25 at the age of 77. He served as the Thomas Bolles Head Coach for Harvard Men’s Heavyweight Crew for 51 seasons.