Campus & Community

The Faculty Council held its monthly meeting on Nov. 28.

A total of 4,856 students have applied for admission to Harvard’s Class of 2017 under the Early Action program, an increase of 14.9 percent over last year. The Class of 2016 had 4,228 students in the early pool.

Thirteen deans from Schools across Harvard today announced $150,000 in new entrepreneurship challenges, expanding Harvard support for student innovation and cross-School collaborations with broad social and cultural impact.

The WATCH Portal, an online network launched last year to connect Harvard parents with University-affiliated baby sitters, is expanding its marketplace to include tutoring, pet care, and a host of other services for busy employees in a pinch.

The trees of Harvard Yard are in the midst of managed change as the once-ubiquitous elms continue their decades-long decline. Mixed species, dominated by American trees, replace them.

Joseph E. Murray, emeritus professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, whose many breakthroughs included the first successful kidney transplant, died Nov. 26, after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke at his Wellesley, Mass., home on Thanksgiving. He was 93.

Leah Rosovsky, executive administrative dean at Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences, will become Harvard University’s vice president for strategy and programs, President Drew Faust announced today.

Amartya Sen, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, has been decorated with the title of Chevalier in France’s Legion of Honor.

Six from Harvard win Rhodes Scholarships, among only 32 students nationally selected for the prestigious academic honor.

Six Harvard undergraduates are among the 32 American men and women chosen as Rhodes Scholars on Sunday. They will begin their studies at the University of Oxford in October 2013.

The Game began long before the teams hit the field. Tailgaters filled the parking lots and later everyone filled the stadium as more than 30,000 people watched Harvard beat Yale, 34-24, in the 129th annual showdown.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences administrators and staff gathered this week to thank co-workers and colleagues for their professionalism and thoughtfulness — and to reach out to those less fortunate in the community.

When alumna Danielle Thiriot ’07 returns for the Harvard-Yale game (aka The Game) on Saturday, she’ll have one of the best seats in the house. Above the house, in fact, and traveling at 300 knots, about 345 mph.

Each year Harvard and Yale vie for bragging rights in a football rivalry dating back to 1875. Harvard vs. Yale is more than just a game. It’s The Game. For many alumni, it’s also a chance to reconnect and reaffirm friendships forged decades ago.

Farish A. Jenkins Jr., professor of biology, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, dies at 72.

President Drew Faust joined Maria Cordon, principal of the Hennigan Elementary School in Jamaica Plain on Tuesday as part of Boston’s “Principal for a Day.”

Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI), an inter-university research partnership led by Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study with the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the city of Boston, held “Teaching Boston,” a workshop that introduced an array of Web tools and data to a packed room at Boston City Hall on Nov. 9.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on November 6, 2012, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Robert Dorfman, David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Professor Dorfman was a leader in the introduction of mathematical methods to economics in the twentieth century.

After an Atlantic magazine cover story launched a national debate on how women balance career and family, a group of Harvard women is continuing the conversation, and is looking for new ideas on how to make the work-life juggling act a little less stressful.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on November 6, 2012, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late William Kaye Estes, Daniel and Amy Starch Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Professor Estes made pioneering contributions to many cognitive domains over a period spanning more than a half century.

Members of the Harvard community gathered Sunday to salute the University’s war dead for Veterans Day, an event accompanied by the official institution service for Jonathan Walton, the Memorial Church’s new Pusey Minister and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals.

Harvard Law School student Jesse Reising will extend the Warrior-Scholar Project to Harvard. The Warrior-Scholar Project is a two-week “academic boot camp” to help veterans transition from the military to college.

Thomas K. McCraw Sr., a renowned and much-honored Harvard Business School (HBS) historian, teacher, and author, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1985 for his book “Prophets of Regulation,” died Nov. 3 at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., after a long illness. He was 72.

The Harvard Community Gifts campaign launched on Nov. 7. Faculty and staff can choose to donate by payroll deduction by Dec. 7, or may elect to give by check or credit card through Jan. 15. Harvard has established a user-friendly website where individuals can select their charity and donation amount.

As voters across the United States traipsed to the polls and awaited the election results, so did students, faculty, and staff members at Harvard, the University that helped to educate both major presidential candidates.

An Empty Bowls open house and dinner was held Thursday at the Harvard Allston Education Portal Annex. The fundraiser utilized the talents of Harvard students, artists at Harvard’s ceramics program, and other community partners to raise money for the hungry.

The decision to cancel the ING New York City Marathon didn’t stop Harvard College seniors Samantha Whitmore and Meredith Baker from running their own fundraising marathon on Sunday to raise awareness and funds for victims of the devastation in the tri-state area.

During a recent open house at the Student Organization Center at Hilles, students toured furniture displays from four different companies. The feedback gathered from the students will help administrators both narrow down specifications for ordering furniture for Old Quincy and work toward a standard to draw on.

Artist Alan Hark runs the Mather House wood-turning studio, where students work and hone their skills with wood.

The University issued its annual financial report Nov. 2, with a letter from Vice President for Finance Dan Shore and Treasurer James Rothenberg highlighting how Harvard’s financial profile “has changed considerably.” Shore and Executive Vice President Katie Lapp spoke with the Gazette about the ramifications of that changing profile.