Campus & Community

Over three decades, Cynthia Verba has advised hundreds of advanced students at Harvard. A scholar of French Enlightenment music in her own right, her guidance comes with more than a grain of salt.

Harvard’s NROTC midshipmen, from their first salute to their commissioning as officers, learn leadership and discipline during summer training and school-year classes.

With a green tour and “brain break,” Harvard freshmen learn early about the importance of living sustainably.

Harvard Corporation welcomes three new members, and nominations are now open for its future members.

In a ceremony on Sept. 20, Harvard welcomes ROTC back by opening an on-campus office for its Navy midshipmen.

In a letter today to the Harvard and Allston communities, Harvard Executive Vice President Katie Lapp shared the Harvard Corporation’s endorsement of the Allston Work Team recommendations and a plan for pursuing them in two development phases.

On Sept. 28, at 11:55 a.m., Harvard will be conducting a University-wide MessageMe test.

Three Harvard faculty members — Roland Fryer Jr., Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics; Markus Greiner, associate professor of physics; and Matthew K. Nock, professor of psychology — are among the recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation fellowships, also know as “genius” grants.

Popular Science magazine has selected Center for Astrophysics astronomer Justin Kasper as one of this year’s “Brilliant Ten” scientists.

The Institute of Politics (IOP), located at Harvard Kennedy School, announced the fall visiting fellowship of Tim Roemer the week of Oct. 3.

Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association, which helps to run 11 free summer camps in Boston and Cambridge, received the National Summer Learning Association’s 2011 Excellence in Summer Learning Award.

At its first meeting of the year on Sept. 14, the Faculty Council welcomed new members, reviewed history and policies, elected subcommittees for 2011-12, and discussed the work of the council in the new academic year.

Students from the Boston Collegiate Charter School reinterpreted the classic song “Summertime” from George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess” as part of a two-day workshop conducted by the A.R.T./MXAT Institute.

Joseph Aldy, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been named faculty chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.

An online procurement system rolls out across Harvard, saving the University $5.4 million in its first year and making life a little easier for thousands of researchers and administrators.

On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Harvard students, faculty, and staff joined in remembering that tragic day. At the start of the day was an early-morning memorial run; at the end of the day were candlelight vigils that lit up the dark. In between came music, dance, and centering discussion.

A ceremony under soggy skies on Sept. 8 kicked off the semester’s exploration of the archaeology of Harvard Yard. The event included speeches from University officials, and Native Americans from the Harvard community and the region.

Five alumni and one former employee will receive Harvard Alumni Association Awards for outstanding service to Harvard.

Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds announced the appointment of Lisa “Lee” Forest as the first director of bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer (BGLTQ) student life.

First lady Michelle Obama announced Sept. 2 that pediatrician Judith S. Palfrey, the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, will lead her Let’s Move! childhood obesity initiative as executive director.

A new three-year, $12 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support a Harvard School of Public Health effort to significantly improve maternal health in developing countries.

Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Sunney Xie will receive the Founders Award from the Biophysical Society for his influential contributions in the field of biophysics.

At Morning Prayers in the Memorial Church Sept. 2, Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds said that students should stretch beyond their comfort zones to make Harvard a truly inclusive place, and argued that the College’s new “Class of 2015 Pledge” was an important part of the effort to encourage them to do so.

The Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has announced the 2011 Fisher Family Fellows.

Harvard College will expand its investment in undergraduate financial aid this year by more than $10 million, providing a record $166 million in need-based scholarships to undergraduates. Beginning in the fall of 2012, financial aid will be further increased for low-income students by raising the income level under which parents pay nothing for the cost of attendance.

After almost a decade as dean of Harvard Divinity School, William A. Graham plans to step down at the end of this academic year. He will take a year’s leave and then return to teaching.

Graduate School of Education continues its leadership in the greening of Harvard.

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard Kennedy School, has announced its fall fellows.

The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School has welcomed a new crop of fellows.

Physician and historian David Jones works to bridge the gap between medical science and the social forces that shape it, as Harvard’s first A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine.