Campus & Community

Phi Beta Kappa recently elected 24 students from the Class of 2010 to the Harvard College chapter of Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.

Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design Mohsen Mostafavi announced the appointment of Charles Waldheim as professor of landscape architecture and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at GSD, effective July of this year.

The Harvard men’s lightweight and heavyweight crews turned out impressive performances this past Sunday (May 10) at the EARC Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has created a new Web site to provide faculty, staff, and students with up-to-date information on cost-saving measures.

In a ceremony honoring students and faculty for exceptional contributions to improving intercultural and race relations, the Harvard Foundation presented 40 students and one faculty member with awards at the annual Harvard Foundation Student/Faculty Awards Dinner on May 4 in Quincy House.

Scott Ruescher of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) was honored by the Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV) with its annual Mack Davis Award on May 13. Ruescher is the program coordinator for the Arts in Education Program at HGSE. He was one of six volunteers to receive this award.

May 12, 1638 — By order of the Great and General Court, “Newetowne” is renamed “Cambrige” (Cambridge).

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending May 4. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

Rakesh K. Jain, the A. Werk Cook Professor of Radiation Oncology for Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the affiliated faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and Cumrun Vafa, the Donner Professor of Science in the Department of Physics, have been recently elected into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for excellence in original scientific research. They will be inducted into the Academy next April during its 147th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States.

The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) at the Harvard Kennedy School is accepting papers for the John T. Dunlop Thesis Prize in Business and Government, awarded to the graduating senior who writes the best thesis on a challenging public policy issue at the interface of business and government.

Harvard Magazine’s Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows for the 2009-10 academic year will be Spencer Lenfield ’12 and Melanie Long ’10, who were selected after a competitive evaluation of writing submitted by student applicants. The fellows, who join the editorial staff during the year, contribute to the magazine as undergraduate columnists and initiate story ideas, write news and feature items, and edit copy before publication.

Nearly 500 Harvard undergraduates will learn about other cultures by participating in high-quality international experiences this summer, thanks to the generosity of David Rockefeller, longtime University benefactor and member of the Harvard College Class of 1936.

Morning Exercises To accommodate the increasing number of those wishing to attend Harvard’s Commencement Exercises, the following guidelines are proposed to facilitate admission into Tercentenary Theatre on Commencement Morning (June 4):

The Harvard Extension School has announced four new concentrations in its Master of Liberal Arts (A.L.M.) Program beginning with the 2009-10 academic year. The new concentrations are international relations, legal studies, visual arts, and clinical psychology. The concentrations were selected upon careful consideration of Extension School course offerings, the number of Harvard instructors teaching these courses, and repeated requests from students to create the concentrations.

As part of the University’s 10-year reaccreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the University is preparing a self-study report addressing NEASC’s 11 standards (chapters) for accreditation. These standards each focus on a particular dimension of the University, ranging from academics and the libraries to governance and finance.

The Ivy League has recently announced that both Chris Clayton ’09 of the Harvard men’s tennis team and Beier Ko ’09 of the Harvard women’s tennis team have been honored as the 2009 recipients of the Ivy League Player of the Year award.

The annual Community Gifts Through Harvard campaign has raised more than $600,000 via personal contributions from Harvard faculty, staff, and retirees. Over 400 charities, most in Massachusetts, were recipients of these funds.

Harvard students can do a lot of things, but hovering five stories in the air is not one of them.

Theoretical geophysicist Jerry X. Mitrovica, whose studies of the Earth’s structure and evolution have important implications for our understanding of climate and sea-level changes throughout Earth’s history, has been named professor of geophysics in Harvard University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, effective July 1.

Mark Kisin, one of the world’s most promising young number theorists, has been named professor of mathematics in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), effective July 1.

The unique collection of research universities, biotech and pharmaceutical firms, and science and engineering startups linked by the MBTA Red Line is an economic powerhouse that is going to pull Massachusetts through the current financial crisis and help drive the nation toward recovery, Harvard President Drew Faust told those attending the opening of a new Venture Development Center at the University of Massachusetts, (UMass) Boston, last Friday (May 1).

More than 3,000 Harvard students take to the streets with the 17th annual Arts First celebration, one of the nation’s largest university arts festivals. More than 225 music, theater, dance, film, and visual arts events comprise the four-day extravaganza, which takes place April 30-May 3 across the Harvard campus.

April 6-7, 1951 — The Law School holds an Institute for Practicing Lawyers focusing on legal problems of mobilizing for the Korean conflict.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending April 27. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

Liu wins Wendell scholarship; Nye, Walt, and Ruggie recognized by Trip; Witzel receives recognition; CID awards Quadir prize; Koven-Matasy ’10 named Beinecke Scholar; Cheng named to USA Today All-USA College Academic Team; Satcher to give Richmond Lecture; Allison to receive NAS award

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on March 10, 2009, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Hendrik Samuel Houthakker, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Houthakker published widely in economics and mentored generations of junior faculty and a future Pope.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on March 10, 2009, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Rudolf Arnheim, Professor of Psychology of Art, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Arnheim was a pioneer in the psychology of art with path-breaking books on visual perception and artistic creativity

Harvard Divinity School (HDS) student Angela Herrera ‘10 has been chosen by the Rev. William G. Sinkford of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) to deliver the sermon for opening worship at the denomination’s annual general convention in Salt Lake City in June.

Brendan A. Maher, the Emeritus Edward C Henderson Professor of the Psychology of Personality in the Department of Psychology, died in his Durham, N.C., home on March 17, at the age of 84.

Ilya Leskov’s love affair with the city of Paris began with a map. As a child growing up in Moscow, Leskov read the work of writers such as Dumas and Hugo, and often traced the exploits of his literary heroes across a map of the city he’d taped to the back of his front door. Earlier this month, Leskov’s passion paid off — he was awarded first prize in the Philip Hofer Prize for Collecting on April 14.