Campus & Community

A Harvard College senior from Zimbabwe has become the fourth Harvard student to be named a Rhodes Scholar this year, accepting the prestigious award to study at Britain’s Oxford University.

Simon: What drew you to Harvard as a young graduate student in the early 1950s?

One could measure Stanley Hoffmann’s achievements in book publications (more than 18), academic titles (University Professor, chair, co-founder of the Center for European Studies) or honors (Commandeur in the French Legion of Honor, to name one). But the broad smiles and teary eyes at the Center for European Studies last Friday (Dec. 5) indicated the true caliber of this man, a profound influence on five generations of students, colleagues, and friends.

Harvard marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Wednesday (Dec. 10), highlighting both the document’s power and its unfulfilled promise through theater, song, and ideas.

A concerted effort should be made to put the arts at Harvard University on par with the study of the humanities and sciences, according to a report released today (Dec. 10) by a University-wide task force that examined the role the arts play in campus life.

Dec. 29, 1627 — John Harvard enters Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, England.

“The arts are something we all care deeply about, whether we are artists ourselves, whether we are social scientists, or whether we are scientists,” Senior Vice Provost Judith Singer told an audience of about 120 Harvard faculty of all stripes and ranks gathered at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Dec. 1. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

FAS Supply Swap; HRO plays Weber, Yannatos, Mahler; New lab to open at HKS

Obama names Summers director of National Economic Council; Honorary degree awarded to Professor Wei-Ming Tu; Retsinas honored by the Affordable Housing Hall of Fame; Lu wins grand prize in the 2008 Collegiate Inventors Competition; Business School’s Kanter receives honorary degree from Aalborg University

At its fifth meeting of the year on Dec. 3, the Faculty Council discussed the Summer School course list for 2009, undergraduate foreign language requirements, and the finances of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The council next meets on Jan. 7. Due to the holiday schedule, the preliminary deadline for the Jan. 13 Faculty meeting is Dec. 24 at noon.

The Office of Human Resources will be offering a special series of “HARVie chats” on banking, benefits, investing, and other financial topics. Harvard staff are invited to visit http://harvie.harvard.edu/chats/upcomingchats.shtml to get information that may help in navigating through the current economic downturn.

Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) is conducting free vaccination clinics. The clinics are open to the entire Harvard University community every Monday and Tuesday (noon-3 p.m.) at HUHS on the second floor of the Holyoke Center (Monks Library). Students must have their Harvard ID to receive the vaccination. More information on the flu can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/.

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy and former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and terrorism efforts, will join the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a senior fellow on Jan. 19.

Harvard University has a newer and shinier Web presence. The easily accessible and eminently navigable Web site has a clean, bold, handsome design.

With a 3-1 record, men’s basketball is off to its best start in three years — tallying wins over New Hampshire, Holy Cross, and Army — in large part because of the play of junior guard Jeremy Lin (averaging 20 points, 5.5 rebounds, and four steals per game) and freshman forward Keith Wright (averaging 12.3 points, nine rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game).

Even as we absorb the implications of the global financial crisis and plan for how we might react to it, our commitment to provide our undergraduates with an unparalleled academic experience remains as strong as ever. Progress continues with our new Program in General Education and with planning for our ambitious House renewal effort. It is about the latter initiative that we are writing today.

This is the fourth in a series of Gazette articles highlighting some of the many initiatives and charities that Harvard affiliates can support through this month’s Community Gifts Through Harvard campaign. The Community Gifts campaign allows affiliates to donate to a charity of their choice through cash, check, or payroll deduction.

Two young leaders, whose work on the front lines of public service has won national acclaim, were honored on Nov. 14 at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS).

Without action to slow the release of greenhouse gases, Harvard biologist and oceanographer James McCarthy said last week, current projections indicate that Massachusetts in 2080 could resemble South Carolina in 2008: The Bay State would experience an average of 24 days over 100 degrees each summer and two solid months of temperatures above 90.

Education, excitement about learning, and a sense of curiosity were the themes of the day as Harvard undergraduates and the Allston children they mentor joined Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Harvard President Drew Faust, and dozens of Allston families to celebrate the Harvard Allston Education Portal on Nov. 21.

Rosalind Chait Barnett, director of the Community, Families & Work Program at Brandeis University, received the 2008 Anne Roe Award from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) on Nov. 17. The biennial award was established in 1979 to honor Anne Roe, the first woman tenured at Harvard in, 1963, and also a leading researcher on career development and women.

Four Harvard undergraduates have received the prestigious Marshall Scholarships, academic grants that will allow them to study abroad for two years. Sponsored by the British government, the scholarships offer exceptional students from the United States the opportunity for graduate-level study at any university in the United Kingdom in a field of their choosing. In addition to its academic component, the program “helps scholars gain an understanding and appreciation of contemporary Britain.”

Two Harvard College students and a Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) doctoral student have received Rhodes Scholarships. Thirty-two Americans were chosen from among 800 applicants for the scholarships to the University of Oxford in England.

In one of the his last public speeches before succumbing to brain cancer in August 2009, Senator Ted Kennedy accepted an honorary Doctor or Laws degree from Harvard. President Drew Faust conferred the degree before a standing-room-only audience at Sanders Theatre on December 12, 2008.

President Drew G. Faust recalls decades of accomplishments in the life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. In one of his final public appearances before his death in August 2009, Faust confers upon Kennedy the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Stephen Breyer’s remarks at Harvard University’s Convocation, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy received an honorary degree.

Remarks by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at Harvard University’s 2008 Convocation.

Political dignitaries, family members, current and former colleagues, faculty, students, old friends, and admirers were all part of the capacity crowd that filled Harvard’s Sanders Theatre Dec. 1 to honor the life of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

It took a fourth-quarter, goal-line stand in the last few minutes against Yale in the 125th playing of The Game on Saturday (Nov. 22), but the Crimson eventually got what they wanted: the ball, the win, and a share of the Ivy League Championship with Brown.