Daniel C. Tosteson, the Caroline Shields Walker Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology, who served an extraordinary two decades as dean of Harvard Medical School, from 1977 to 1997, died peacefully on May 27 after a long illness. He was 84 years old.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has named Harvard math and physics concentrator Norman Yao ’09 the winner of its 2009 Captain Jonathan Fay Prize. Yao was selected for the quality and potential impact of his senior thesis, which describes a breakthrough scientific technique he developed to measure the properties of neurofilaments, a family of proteins found in the neurons that constitute mammalian nervous tissue. Already, Yao’s technique has enabled a discovery about how cross-linking occurs in neurofilament protein molecules — an important advance in understanding the mechanical properties of cellular networks.
An anonymous donor honored the extraordinary service of three Harvard veterans with a $15 million gift to support innovative science. From left, Robert L. Scalise, M.B.A. ’89, Nichols Family Director of Athletics; William R. Fitzsimmons ’67, Ed.M. ’69, Ed.D. ’71, dean of admissions and financial aid; and John P. Reardon Jr. ’60, executive director of the Harvard Alumni Association and associate vice president for University relations. The new President’s Fund for Innovative Science will support a range of cutting-edge initiatives — among them, stem cell research.
Complete strangers recognize Dan Jones on campus all the time. It’s the same for his brother, Bill. “I just play along,” said Dan. “I don’t know their names, I’ve never seen them before. I just assume Bill knows them and I try to be friendly so they don’t start hating him.”
Lin “William” Cong remembers his early childhood as a time of playing in the street, reading comic books, and coasting through the early grades. College was a dream.
The Commencement of 1865 and the day of commemoration that followed it hold a unique spot in Harvard history. Though some military actions were still taking place, the Civil War had essentially ended in April of that year. John Langdon Sibley, head librarian at Harvard, wrote in his diary that there had already been a “Reception for the returned soldiers from Cambridge.
Last spring, as Walter Morris ’73, M.B.A. ’75, prepared to become president of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA), he was eagerly anticipating his 35th class reunion. For Morris, this reunion was another cherished opportunity to renew old friendships, and, in many instances, an occasion to build new ones. Class reunions are the HAA’s flagship alumni event, the heart of the HAA’s ambitious goal “to make your Harvard experience last a lifetime.” And Morris, whose personal involvement with the HAA board dates back 15 years, remained committed to making that happen.
Ernest May, a renowned historian of international relations and foreign policy and professor of history at Harvard University, died on June 1 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston from complications following surgery, according to his family. He was 80.
Harvard has received a $1.5 million gift from the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus (HGLC) to endow the F.O. Matthiessen Visiting Professorship of Gender and Sexuality. Harvard Overseer Mitchell L. Adams ’66, M.B.A. ’69, will inform participants at the annual HGLC Commencement dinner that a campaign spanning several years has reached its goal. Named after the distinguished gay Harvard faculty member F.O. Matthiessen (1902–50), the professorship represents the first endowed named chair in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) studies in the country.
Lukas Filler likes a challenge. One of the 6-foot-5-inch former competitive swimmer’s favorite pastimes is surfing … in the New England winter … before dawn.
Today the University awarded a total of 6,777 degrees and 81 certificates. A breakdown of the degrees by schools and programs follows. Harvard College granted a total of 1,562 degrees.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has announced that Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, will be awarded the 2009 Radcliffe Institute Medal at the annual Radcliffe Day luncheon on Friday (June 5). Barbara J. Grosz, dean of the Radcliffe Institute, will give opening remarks and present the medal to O’Connor, who will deliver the keynote address.
Matt Lauer, co-anchor of NBC News’ “Today,” delivered the 2009 Senior Class Day speech in Tercentenary Theatre on Wednesday (June 3) under a canopy of green leaves and slightly overcast skies. With a joke-filled address that had the large crowd frequently in stitches, the accomplished journalist proved he is also an accomplished stand-up comedian.
A journalist, a landscape architect, and a Latin scholar are today’s Commencement orators. They fulfill a University tradition dating back to 1642. They also embark on three journeys that hint at the wide array of academic paths leading outward from Harvard.
Barron, Bilotti, Bras, Chiappini, Doohovskoy, Kristol, Pellegrini, West. That’s roll call for eight 2009 Harvard graduates who were commissioned late Wednesday morning (June 3). Five are new officers in the U.S. Army and three in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Harvard President Drew Faust shared final words of wisdom with the Class of 2009 Tuesday (June 2), sending them into a newly uncertain world with assurances that their liberal arts education gives them the ability to improvise in changing times.
Harvard University has conferred today (June 4) honorary degrees on 10 outstanding individuals: Energy Secretary Steven Chu, filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, author Joan Didion, religious historian Wendy Doniger, legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin, immunologist Anthony S. Fauci, anthropologist Sarah Hrdy, engineer Robert Langer, musician Wynton Marsalis, and political scientist Sidney Verba.
Harvard’s 358th Commencement begins: a beautiful day, a bittersweet poem, a cautionary talk, a president’s wisdom and good wishes – and hymns, prayers and farewells.
What do music therapy, midwifery, ballet, graphic art, physics, finance, and the study of military culture have in common? They are practiced at the highest levels of commitment and excellence by the Harvard graduates profiled here.
May 13, 1958 — On the steps of Widener Library, the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society perform choruses from Bach’s B-minor Mass. Although the groups have performed together for decades, the occasion marks the Choral Society’s first participation in a Glee Club outdoor concert.
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending May 25. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online athttp://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
Niall Kirkwood, chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and professor of landscape architecture and technology at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
The Trudeau Foundation has recently awarded two 2009 Trudeau Scholars scholarships to doctoral candidates Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry and David Theodore. Beaudry, currently pursuing a juridical science doctorate at Harvard Law School, and Theodore, an architecture and urban planning doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, were among the 15 scholars who will each receive a scholarship worth up to $180,000 to help with their research. Beaudry is examining social exclusion in Latin America with a view to promote equality and better integration of various social groups, and Theodore’s work concentrates on the architecture of health-care buildings as a form of medical technology influencing health care.
Judah Folkman was born Moses Judah Folkman in 1933. The son of a rabbi, he became inspired to become a physician as a young boy when visiting ailing members of the congregation with his father. He soon became fascinated with science and medicine, and as a high school student he devised a perfusion system in his basement that maintained the viability of a beating rat heart for days after surgical removal.
The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Board of Trustees named Kathleen Corriveau, a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as a 2009 APF Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Fellowship recipient. The $25,000 fellowship will support Corriveau’s research during the 2009-10 academic year.
Five Harvard graduate students — Meghan Haggerty, Devin Lyons-Quirk, Jessica Hohman, Antoniya Owens, and Michael Long — are among the 12 local graduate students who will spend the summer working in key state agencies as Rappaport Public Policy Fellows.
The Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics has announced this year’s recipients of the Lester Kissel Grants in Practical Ethics. Five Harvard College students have been awarded grants to carry out summer projects on a variety of important subjects.
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