Campus & Community

James W. Breyer, a leading venture capitalist known for his expertise in innovative technology and media, will join the President and Fellows of Harvard College (the Harvard Corporation) as of July 1, 2013, the University announced today.

During Harvard Thinks Big 4, six professors and a student delved into their favorite ideas, ranging from a look at why dead Romans are so much fun to a detailed explanation of breast-feeding in mammals.

During this year’s Wintersession, College-led and student-initiated programming provided opportunities to explore creative passions, pursue career interests, learn about different academic fields, engage in recreational activities with friends, and connect with alumni.

A video documents how some Harvard students spent their free time during Wintersession, the period between academic terms that fosters creative learning.

In accordance with the University’s fair market rent policy, Harvard University Housing (HUH) charges market rents. The greater Boston rental market is experiencing low vacancy rates and robust rent increases. The proposed 2013-14 market rents will increase on average 6 percent relative to last year, across the 3,000-unit HUH portfolio.

Actress Marion Cotillard came to Cambridge to receive her Hasty Pudding award as the 2013 Woman of the Year.

Asked what she likes about Busch Courtyard, Michelle Timmerman ’13 writes, “It’s … an enclave, and is so apart from standard Harvard architecture, and therefore feels apart from standard Harvard life, that you can tuck away there, slip in the side gate — or, if you’re well-informed and well-intentioned, through the Center for European Studies building itself — and disappear.

Harvard’s popular outdoor ice rink has reopened, offering students and community members a fun winter diversion at the heart of campus.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, has named 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows, including three from Harvard.

During Wintersession, the Harvard College Library hosted a multimedia authoring “boot camp,” reflecting the increasingly essential use of media in academic work.

A new version of the University-wide mobile application was released this month with a number of functional, design, and content enhancements.

Wintersession offers Harvard College students unusual opportunities to explore fresh interests and develop new skill sets, such as personal-finance management, first-responder certification, and ethnic cooking mastery.

Skulls and bones drew a class of Cambridge third0graders to Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. They visited the museum’s zooarchaeology lab to learn about different animals and how they relate to the study of human life.

Erwin Hiebert, professor of the history of science emeritus, died on Nov. 28, at the age of 93.

The annual Joyful Noise gospel concert, a celebration honoring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., took place on Saturday at Sanders Theatre.

The Rev. Jonathan Walton, Harvard’s Pusey Minister of Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, galvanized Boston’s 43rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast with a keynote speech that contrasted the present-day ”sanitized and sterilized” version of the civil rights leader’s dream for America with the real message of economic inclusiveness that he left behind

The Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers (HUCTW) and Harvard University announced Jan. 17 that they have agreed to engage a team of experienced mediators in an effort to resolve negotiations on a new contract.

Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals has announced Marion Cotillard as the recipient of its 2013 Woman of the Year award.

The first House renewal test project, Old Quincy, is nearly halfway through its 15-month renovation.

Jane deLima Thomas, a palliative care physician and associate director of the Harvard Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is one of five U.S. physicians to receive the 2013 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award.

Chelsea High students got to sample the techniques of genetic engineering in Harvard’s Science Center as part of a two-year program to bring biotechnology to science classes in 50 schools.

As Harvard Community Gifts comes to a close on Jan. 15, Program Manager Mary Ann O’Brien hopes Harvard employees are inspired to start the New Year in the spirit of giving.

The Film Study Center (FSC) at Harvard University offers fellowships for the production of original film, video, photographic, and phonographic projects.

Jennifer A. Lewis, an internationally recognized leader in 3-D printing and biomimetic materials, has been appointed as the first Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and as a core faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

The Office for the Arts at Harvard and Harvard’s Department of Music announced that Thomas G. Everett, director of Harvard Bands since 1971, will retire Feb. 15. His Harvard career will be celebrated in various ways at the University, including a Jazz Bands concert dedicated to him on April 13 at 8 p.m. in Sanders Theatre.

The Harvard Allston Partnership Fund (HAPF) announced today that 10 local nonprofits will receive grants totaling $100,000 to support programs in the Allston-Brighton community.

An undergraduate suggests that, when it comes to innovation, there is no place better than Harvard to start work on an important initiative, since the University combines entrepreneurship, leadership, and knowledge-sharing into a coherent whole.

Two new initiatives are being rolled out by Harvard’s CommuterChoice Program this winter. The expanded benefits will offer bicyclists tax-free reimbursements for bike-related expenses, including purchase and repair, and will provide Emergency Ride Home services to faculty and staff commuters who do not travel by car.

President Drew Faust today named an advisory group and invited the community for its input in assisting her in the search for a new dean for the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). Kathleen McCartney will be concluding her service as HGSE dean at the end of the spring term.

Donations to Harvard Community Gifts aid many charitable programs, including scuba lessons for wounded warriors.