Campus & Community

Nov. 14, 1899 — In Sanders Theatre, students, faculty, and administrators celebrate Maj. Henry Lee Higginson’s recent $150,000 gift for building the Harvard Union (now part of Barker Center for the Humanities).

It was well after midnight, and America was more than an hour into the Obama era when 02138 erupted in a series of spontaneous, ravelike street parties. In Harvard Yard, revelers dressed up the sedate, seated bronze John Harvard in a cloud of red, white, and blue balloons, and propped on his still chest an Obama/Biden placard.

It’s November again, signaling the cold autumn preamble to another lengthy Massachusetts winter. And here at Harvard, “giving month” has arrived — kicking off the annual Community Gifts Through Harvard campaign, a campuswide charitable initiative that draws much-needed dollars from generous faculty, staff, and retirees for various Massachusetts Bay charities during the month of November. This year’s goal is to reach upwards of $800,000.

The interest in this contest on the Harvard campus was apparent early at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Their election night gathering, featuring returns showing on the forum’s large screen, was ticketed for the first time. Forum officials said that 1,500 applied for the 1,000 tickets available.

At 7 p.m., with election results still the stuff of dreams, Matthew Clair pitched in to inflate balloons at the Cambridge Queen’s Head at Loker Commons. The Dunster House senior, whose Brentwood, Tenn., family, he said, was the only one in town with an Obama sign on the front lawn, is president of the Harvard Black Pre-Law Association — one of two College groups that had rented the Memorial Hall pub for the night ahead.

One hundred and twenty seven years later, the Harvard Law School can claim it has another alumnus in the White House. On Nov. 4, Barack Obama became the second Law School grad to ascend to the nation’s highest office.

David R. Clarke, an inventive materials scientist recognized worldwide for his outstanding contributions to the study of ceramic materials, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Materials in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009.

The Harvard Forest has recently announced nine Charles Bullard Fellows in Forest Research for 2008-09. Established in 1962, the Bullard Fellowship program was created to support the study and advanced research of individuals looking to make important contributions as scholars or administrators in forestry.

Evelyn L. Hu, a pioneer in the fabrication of nanoscale electronic and photonic devices, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009.

On this year’s election night, the Harvard News Office cast its staff of writers and photographers out over the University to serve as witnesses. From the Kennedy School to the Queen’s Head pub, they recorded on notebook and film the tension, the growing enthusiasm, and the final nearly ecstatic pandemonium that marked this historic occasion.

Paul Zofnass ’69, M.B.A. ’73 has established a sustainability initiative at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) with a $500,000 gift.

Drawing on records dating back to the journals of Henry David Thoreau, scientists at Harvard University have found that different plant families near Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., have borne the effects of climate change in strikingly different ways. Some of the plant families hit hardest by global warming have included beloved species like lilies, orchids, violets, roses, and dogwoods.

It has been a decade since the women’s ice hockey team won a national championship. Despite 10 years of ECAC and Ivy League dominance, the Crimson have been way too close to the top — way too often. Since the first year of the women’s NCAA tournament (2001), the team has reached the NCAA tournament seven times and has had five Frozen Four appearances, three National Championship appearances, and no national titles. This includes last year’s 1-4 Frozen Four loss at the hands of NCAA runner-up Wisconsin.

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

Mortimer John Buckley was born July 1, 1932 in Worcester, Massachusetts to an Irish immigrant family from near Killarney. Mort attended the College of the Holy Cross and then Boston University Medical School, later being named a distinguished alumnus of both schools.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will honor Justice Richard J. Goldstone, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, with the MacArthur Award for International Justice in May.

Highs and lows were thematic throughout the 2007-08 men’s hockey season. After losing to No. 11 Clarkson in the season opener, the Crimson won six of their next eight games — outscoring their opponents 23-10.

The Korea Institute recently announced three postdoctoral fellows for Harvard’s 2008-09 Post-Doctoral Fellowship program in Korean Studies. Todd A. Henry and Se-Mi Oh were named as this year’s postdoctoral fellows for the Korea Foundation, and Jun Uchida was selected as the postdoctoral fellow for the Korea Institute-Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.

Ten tribal governments were honored on Oct. 21 by Harvard’s Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations (Honoring Nations) awards program. Five of the governments received a “High Honors” award of $20,000 and five others received an “Honors” award of $10,000 in recognition of their good governance achievements. Hundreds of guests attended the seventh annual event held in conjunction with the 65th Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians in Phoenix, AZ.

Oct. 26, 1952 — Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson worships at the First Parish Church in Harvard Square and visits President James Bryant Conant afterwards in Massachusetts Hall.

Andrew Gleason, professor emeritus of the Mathematics Department, perhaps best known for his contribution to solving Hilbert’s Fifth problem, died Oct. 17 of complications following surgery. He was 86.

As Harvard College ramps up for the official launch of the new Program in General Education — better known as “Gen Ed” — in September 2009, undergraduates are matriculating in the first round of courses related to the new curriculum. Six courses are being offered in the Gen Ed curriculum this fall, with nine others on deck for the spring semester.

If “April is the cruellest month,” as T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem “The Wasteland” — then November is certainly the most marvelous. Judging from the glorious display of fall foliage in a Harvard Yard stimulated by chill breezes and hosting a thousand squirrels, this year’s turning leaves are a short-lived sight to behold.

Harvard University employees who work at Holyoke Center are invited to participate in the ninth annual Holyoke Center Group Art Exhibition, displayed in the Holyoke Center exhibition space from Dec. 5 through Jan. 7. The goal of the exhibition is to showcase the artistic talents and creativity of the staff of the Holyoke Center and to celebrate its community.

Susan Keller of Harvard Real Estate Services is holding seminars on Nov. 6 and Dec. 4 from 12-1:30 p.m. titled “Home Buying Seminar & Obtaining a Mortgage: Tips to Assist You with This Process.” The programs will be at Mt. Auburn Street, Room 3311, and feel free to bring a lunch. Registration is required. To register, email: fres@harvard.edu.

Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography will come alive in a unique way Nov. 2 when it joins the Consulate General of Mexico in Boston in hosting a celebration of the traditional Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Dunster House seeks vocal soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists for its 36th annual Messiah Sing, scheduled for the evening of Dec. 11. One soloist for each voice part will be selected to perform. Auditions are scheduled Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to noon in Dunster House. To sign up for an audition or for more information, e-mail dmusic@hcs.harvard.edu.

In response to concerns about the economy and the recent turbulence in world financial markets, Harvard Human Resources will hold a Financial Resources Forum Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the ballroom of the Charles Hotel.

In Stephen Ansolabehere’s sunlit, minimalist Cambridge Street office, there’s a wide, wall-high shelf of books — not a remarkable circumstance for a Harvard professor.

Continuing the legacy of a flagship leadership development fellowship for high-potential academic administrators of color, 12 new fellows have been selected for the 2008-09 class of the Administrative Fellowship Program (AFP). The seven visiting fellows are talented professionals drawn from business, education, and the professions outside the University, while the five resident fellows are exceptional professionals currently working at Harvard identified by their department and selected by the fellowship program review committee as having the leadership potential to advance to senior administrative positions.