Campus & Community

Harvard College will increase its financial aid budget for the 2013–14 academic year by $10 million, or 5.8 percent, bringing the total to a record $182 million. Since 2007, Harvard’s investment in financial aid for undergraduates at the College has increased by 88 percent.

The Harvard Alumni Association announced that Stephanie D. Wilson ’88, a NASA astronaut and engineer who flew three missions aboard the space shuttle Discovery, will serve as Harvard’s chief marshal for Commencement 2013.

Harvard has had lactation rooms on both the Cambridge and Harvard Longwood campuses for more than a decade. It most recently added two additional rooms and updated three others. The most recent room opened in Widener Library.

Harvard University today announced the selection of 10 teams of finalists in the 2013 President’s Challenge for social entrepreneurship.

David W. Oxtoby has been elected president of Harvard’s Board of Overseers for 2013-14. Lynn Chang will become vice chair of the board’s executive committee.

Harvard’s women’s basketball, making its fourth appearance in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, has advanced to the second round for a second straight year.

Harvard University and Homeowner’s Rehab Inc. (HRI), a Cambridge-based nonprofit, have agreed to terms on a property transfer for the Putnam Square Apartments at 2 Mt. Auburn Streetthat will ensure the building remains affordable housing.

Pfoho Pfridays use the newly renovated Junior Common Room to celebrate the weekend’s arrival at 5 p.m.

Harvard University announced the extension of the Harvard Allston Partnership Fund (HAPF), bringing an additional $500,000 in grants to local nonprofits that serve and support the Allston-Brighton community.

The latest bathroom technology is everywhere on Harvard’s campus: low-flush urinals, dual-flush toilets, metered faucets, and hands-free paper towel dispensers. But sometime, take a step into the past and enter Beck-Warren House, where the second-floor bathroom is so preserved it could be a museum.

Twenty students who were chosen by lottery to join Professor Matthew Nock and Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds at her house for a “fireside chat.” The event was the second in a new series meant to connect undergraduates with faculty members in an open, informal, and welcoming atmosphere.

A crowd of more than 100 teachers, school leaders, children, parents, Allston-Brighton residents, and Harvard University officials recently gathered at the Harvard Business School to encourage support for the Gardner Pilot Academy (GPA) and honor Lisa Moellman, the recipient of the second annual Gardner Champion Award.

With another Housing Day, Harvard’s freshmen learn where they’ll be living next year, as the Houses colorfully compete to show the most spirit.

For the second straight year, the Harvard men’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

On March 13, the Faculty Council heard a report on the capital campaign and discussed the proposed outside activities policy.

The Harvard Allston Education Portal is offering a new playwriting program, which links youngsters and professionals from the American Repertory Theater.

Fifty-seven FAS employees were honored at the fourth annual Dean’s Distinction awards ceremony and reception, held March 6 in the Faculty Room of University Hall.

Melissa Block ’83, the host of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” returned to campus to discuss her career and the changing landscape of digital media.

The U.S. Department of the Navy has presented Harvard President Drew Faust with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, its highest civilian honor, for leading the move to formal recognition of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on Harvard’s campus in 2011.

Jeff Lichtman, the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has been appointed as the first Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences.

A statement issued by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith and Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds regarding the role of the Administrative Board can be read…

Five Harvard faculty members are among the 126 scholars selected to receive Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The latest retail outlet to arrive in Barry’s Corner, Swissbäkers, opens its doors.

Welcoming the parents of the Class of 2014 in Sanders Theatre during Junior Parents Weekend, President Drew Faust spoke of the importance of something that people may strive to avoid: the risk of failure.

Harvard senior Tony Feng will use the award to study theoretical mathematics with a special interest in analysis, differential geometry, and physics.

Grids, Golden Section, Swiss style — the human eye enjoys simplifying the world, creating order, and finding patterns. The desire to frame, contain, and understand is instinctive. The photographer finds frames within frames.

At first glance, physics and basketball seem worlds apart, but at Harvard they’re connected in more ways than one.

After dropping the doubles point, the Harvard women’s tennis team won five of the six singles matches to knock off crosstown rival Boston University, 5-2, on Friday at the Murr Center.

Oprah Winfrey, who has consistently used her success as a talk show host and media entrepreneur to promote education, civic engagement, and charitable works, will be the principal speaker at the Afternoon Exercises of Harvard’s 362nd Commencement.

Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds hosted a fireside chat at her home with Professor Henry Louis Gates and about 25 student participants who had been selected through a lottery system. The chat was part of a series of events designed to foster interaction between undergraduates and faculty outside the classroom.