Campus & Community

In an e-mail sent Monday (April 6) to Harvard students, faculty, and staff, Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith announced that Harvard College will be closed during the 2009-2010 mid-year break, between the end of exams in December and the first day of classes in January.

At its ninth meeting of the year on March 18, the Faculty Council was briefed by the Dean of the College on House renewal and on the review of the Undergraduate Council. The Council also considered a proposal to change the name of the Standing Committee on Ethnic Studies.

I once heard a story about service from a Focolarino, a member of the Focolare, a Catholic movement dedicated to Love of Neighbor. One day, the Focolarino was helping a poor man pick apples that he could sell to support his family. After he drove the man home, the Focolarino was surprised to find the poor man offering him some of the apples.

When I and 11 fellow Harvard students drove into Money, Miss., last week searching for the site of Emmett Till’s murder, we were expecting to find something to mark the event credited with igniting the Civil Rights Movement. Instead there was nothing.

Harvard students spend Spring Break helping others and learning lessons along the Tallahatchie River.

A memorial service for Samuel P. Huntington, who was the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard, will be held on April 22 at 3 p.m. in the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. Huntington, a longtime Harvard University professor, an enormously influential political scientist, and a mentor to a generation of scholars in widely divergent fields, died Dec. 24. He was 81.

Effective April 1, unleashed pets will no longer be allowed in Harvard Yard. All pets, with the exception of service animals, must be on a leash at all times. This policy is designed to ensure the safety of residents, staff, and visitors. This policy will be strictly enforced in the Yard by the Harvard University Police Department and AlliedBarton security personnel.

This year, Harvard University is preparing for its fall 2009 reaccreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Harvard, like all accredited universities and colleges, is reviewed for reaccreditation approximately every 10 years.

In a plan designed to eliminate waste, provide more options for faculty, students, and staff, and to reduce costs, the “Courses of Instruction,” “Harvard College Handbook for Students,” “The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook for Students,” and “Q Guide and Information for Faculty Offering Instruction in Arts and Sciences” will be available online only, beginning with the fall 2009 term.

Shelly C. Lowe has been named the new executive director of Harvard University’s Native American Program (HUNAP). The appointment becomes effective this July.

President Barack Obama announced March 25 his intent to nominate Howard Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), to be assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced March 20 the selection of David Blumenthal as the Obama administration’s choice for national coordinator for health information technology.

There’s no stopping them, and there’s no containing them. It’s too bad the team from Connecticut wasn’t forewarned.

On Wednesday (April 1) Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds announced the release of the “Report on Harvard House Renewal” in an e-mail to the Harvard residential community. The report is a synthesis of the findings of the House Program Planning Committee, a group charged by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith with envisioning the “ideal” undergraduate House. The committee’s work comes in the context of a University commitment to renewing and refurbishing the undergraduate Houses.

Experience the stirring sights and plangent sounds of a singular Spring Break, during which Harvard students worked to renovate Katrina-ravaged houses, tutored children in afterschool programs, and met — and sang with — pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement, like Hollis Watkins (harmonizing, above from left with students Diane Ghogomu ’10 and Sumorwuo Zaza ’11).

Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are measuring how patients’ posture affects MRI imaging of their breathing.

Harvard’s financial aid program made the critical difference in leading many of the nation’s and the world’s best students to apply to Harvard College in these challenging economic times. A record 29,112 students applied for admission this year, compared to 27,462 last year. Enhanced a number of times recently, Harvard’s undergraduate financial aid program next year will be the most generous in its history, with $147 million in scholarships, an 8 percent increase from last year and a 167 percent increase over the past decade.

Matt Lauer, co-anchor of “Today” on NBC News, has been selected as the 2009 Senior Class Day speaker. He will address Harvard College graduates and their guests on June 3 at 2 p.m. in Tercentenary Theatre at Harvard Yard.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Nobel laureate in physics and a leader in the pursuit of alternative and renewable sources of energy, will be Harvard’s principal speaker at the Afternoon Exercises of Harvard’s 358th Commencement on June 4.

On Sunday (March 29), the Radcliffe lightweight crew opened things off right, taking home two first-place finishes at Holy Cross. The varsity eight finished with a time of 6:35 — four seconds ahead of the Holy Cross Crusaders and eight seconds ahead of the Smith Pioneers. The Black and White also captured the novice eight, finishing just a second ahead of Smith in the event. Radcliffe was the runner-up in the second varsity eight race with a time of 7:29.1.

Despite falling behind 0-2 at New York University (NYU) on Saturday (March 28) and 1-2 at Sacred Heart on Sunday (March 29), the Harvard men’s volleyball team still fought through, taking both matches in five games.

After their heartbreaking 8-9 loss at Georgetown last Wednesday (March 25), the No. 17 Harvard men’s lacrosse team rebounded with a dominating performance on Friday (March 27), devastating the Presbyterian Blue Hose by a score of 17-2.

The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) will host its sixth annual auction for the Summer Urban Program at the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub (45 Quincy Street) on April 28 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event will support PBHA’s 12 summer camps, which serve more than 900 children and youth in Boston and Cambridge. The silent auction will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and will feature over 80 items, hors d’oeuvres, two complimentary drinks, and live jazz. The live auction of 10 items will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) is accepting applications for the Outstanding Student Research and Design Prize through May 1. The annual prize is offered for the best graduate-level research or design projects on housing that advance the field of housing studies as an academic endeavor. To be considered for either award the projects must be nominated by a faculty member familiar with the work.

Richard Losick, the Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, was recently named one of seven Canada Gairdner International Award winners by the Gairdner Foundation, and will receive a CA$100,000 as one of the world’s leading medical research scientists. The Gairdner award is among the most prestigious awards in biomedical science.

Five Harvard faculty members were awarded honorary membership to the Royal Irish Academy on March 16. The honorary members include Harvard President Drew Faust, Lincoln Professor of History; Arthur Jaffe, Landon T. Clay Professor of Mathematics and Theoretical Science; Michael B. McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies; Lisa Randall, professor of physics; and Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor.

April 29, 1636 — John Harvard marries Ann Sadler (sister of John Sadler, future Master of Cambridge University’s Magdalene College). Just over a year later, they emigrate to New England.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending March 30. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

On Wednesday (April 1) Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds announced the release of the “Report on Harvard House Renewal” in an e-mail to the Harvard residential community. The report is a synthesis of the findings of the House Program Planning Committee, a group charged by Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith with envisioning the “ideal” undergraduate House.

Carroll Emory Wood Jr., a professor of biology and curator of the Arnold Arboretum, passed away at his South End (Boston) home on March 15 at the age of 88.