‘Our progress has made me prouder than ever to be part of the University — and determined to see us through this uniquely challenging period in our long history.’
Bicyclists across the University have a new way to protect their rides. University Operations Services’ Transportation Services and CommuterChoice recently unveiled a covered bike shelter near the newly completed Francis Avenue parking lot close to the Divinity School.
It was only last year that a crowded room in Salem, Mass., chuckled as the Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes of the Memorial Church remarked that the city had erected a statue of “Bewitched” actress Elizabeth Montgomery — an irony as her sole relationship to Salem was her role as a TV witch. Salem’s real hero was, in fact, Caroline Plummer, Gomes declared at a city-sponsored celebration of her life. Plummer, a lesser-known figure by pop culture standards, was one of the two posthumous honorees at the Memorial Church’s annual Commemoration of Benefactors and of the War Dead on Nov. 9.
“Look at that blue! Look at it! Isn’t it pretty?” exclaims Adriana, a sixth-grader from Mother Caroline Academy in Dorchester. Four of Adriana’s peers rush to see the plastic paint tray she’s pointing at. They’re eager to share in Adriana’s excitement: after all, she’s just discovered a new shade of blue. This color, a luminous aqua, quickly makes it onto Adriana’s painting, titled “Me, Myself, and I.” This self-portrait, along with 15 others created by the students at the school, will be on exhibit at Harvard’s Gutman Library from Dec.14 to Jan. 5.
When the mayor of Somerville needed help with his city’s fiscal crisis in 2004, he looked to Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) for assistance. Four years later, in today’s uncertain economic climate, the city of Boston is turning to the institution for aid.
Officially complete this month, Harvard’s ambitious new Northwest Science Building — located just north of the Harvard Museum of Natural History — houses some 520,000 square feet of laboratories, classrooms, and offices.
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.
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.
“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/.
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.
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.
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.
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