Harvard’s teaching mission doesn’t go on summer vacation — and it doesn’t stop at Harvard Yard. In fact, Harvard’s labs and classrooms, the Yard, and nearby parks and local schools were all buzzing with learning and fun activities this summer as thousands of people, young and old, took part in dozens of Harvard community-based programs.
The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently announced its fall fellows. “There has never been a more challenging — nor a more exciting — time to focus on the press, politics, and public policy, and our fellows and visiting faculty this semester offer a fresh and compelling perspective on all that is happening,” said Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center.
The Academic Board of Universidad Alta Direccion (Panama) voted to award a doctoral degree honoris causa to Michael Shinagel, dean of Continuing Education and University Extension, in recognition of his “outstanding job in educating executives all over Central and South America.” Hailed as “a remarkable educator,” Shinagel received his diploma from the Universidad Alta Direccion President Ricardo Greco, at a special awarding ceremony held Aug. 20 in Cambridge, Mass.
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a $6.5 million grant (over four years) to a team of Harvard University researchers to further develop electronic sequencing in nanopores. The grant is part of more than $20 million in total funding given by NHGRI/NIH to spur innovative sequencing technologies that are inexpensive and efficient enough to sequence a person’s DNA as a routine part of biomedical research and health care.
In June, with an ambitious renovation in mind, Harvard closed the doors of 32 Quincy St., a stately fixture on campus since 1927. But by 2013, the University’s three art museums — now collectively known as the Harvard Art Museum — will take up residence there in one major facility.
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Sept. 8. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
During the Saturday night (Sept. 6) downpour, brought on by tropical storm Hannah, a circuit breaker tripped, plunging Adams House into darkness. While Harvard electricians tracked down the problem, freshmen were sent over to the Science Center for food, movies, and an impromptu meeting with President Drew Faust.
When the baby vomited again, Gail Melton knew something was seriously wrong with her second child, a son she and her husband, Doug Melton, had named Sam. She phoned Doug and took Sam to Harvard Health Services in Holyoke Center. Doug hurried to the clinic from his Fairchild Biochemistry Building lab on Divinity Avenue. Together Gail and Doug rushed their infant son to Children’s Hospital Boston.
Just tap it. That’s this year’s first homework for returning undergraduates, new freshmen, and others in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) who need access to FAS’s residential Houses and Harvard Yard dormitories. By the start of classes, about 10,000 members of the Harvard community will be issued ID cards that take advantage of new technologies and are easier to use than the old ones.
The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) has announced that applications for the 2009 Childcare Fellowship are now available for download at www.huctw.org/fund_childcare/2009_application.pdf. The fund covers a portion of day care, after-school care, and vacation/summer day camps.
In preparation for its 2008-09 repertoire (including performances of Mozart’s “Requiem” and Poulenc’s “Gloria”), the Harvard Radcliffe Chorus (HRC) will be holding auditions for University students on the following days and times: Sept. 11 from noon to 3 p.m.; Sept. 12 and Sept. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m.; and Sept. 15 from 1 to 5 p.m. and again from 7 to 10 p.m. These auditions will be held in Paine Music Building.
Houghton Library will host an opening reception on Tuesday (Sept. 16) from 5 to 7 p.m. for its major fall exhibition, “To Promote, to Learn, to Teach, to Please: Scientific Images in Early Modern Books.” The exhibition examines how images in early modern European books of science (1500-1750) not only were shaped by the needs of scientific communication, but also were deeply influenced by economic, social, and cultural considerations.
A Harvard Business School class, a 12-year-old competition, and the collaboration of some of the University’s sharpest scientific and business minds have yielded a company that could save countless lives. A six-member team recently won both the Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) business plan contests for their work on Diagnostics-For-All (DFA), a nonprofit that seeks to change the landscape of health care in the developing world with accurate, affordable, and easy-to-administer diagnostic devices.
Sept. 7, 1775 — The “New-England Chronicle or Essex Gazette” advertises that the Harvard Corporation and Overseers have chosen the Town of Concord as “a proper place for convening the Members of the said public Seminary of Learning” as the Revolution rages in Cambridge. Students are due in Concord by Oct. 4; probably less than 100 of the expected 125 show up. The College stays in Concord for eight months.
At its first meeting of the year on Sept. 10, the Faculty Council welcomed new members, elected subcommittees for 2008-2009, and discussed the work of the council in the new academic year.
The Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics welcomed its new fellows and senior scholars for the 2008-09 academic year. The faculty fellows were chosen from a pool of applicants from colleges, universities, and professional institutions throughout the United States and several other countries.
Given the convenience and widespread acceptance of text messaging, the University is offering this form of correspondence as another technological solution for communicating with students, faculty, and staff in the event of an extreme emergency on campus. As part of the University Emergency Management Plan, the Harvard community can now sign up to receive text message alerts in addition to traditional methods of notification.
Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Leon Eisenberg will receive the first Ibor Award from the World Psychiatric Association on Sept. 23 in Prague. Named after pioneerning Spanish psychiatrist Juan José López Ibor, the award aims to recognize individuals or institutions whose professional efforts have improved the condition of those affected by mental illnesses.
The Semitic Museum is currently seeking volunteer docents for the coming year. Docents will provide guided tours to school groups and the general public on the museum’s collection of archaeology of the ancient Near East.
Harvard University announced today (Sept. 11) that gift receipts totaled nearly $651 million last year — a $37 million increase over fiscal year 2007. Fiscal year 2008 fundraising results were the second-best in Harvard’s history, ranking only behind fiscal year 2001, when the University raised $658 million.
The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies has announced its fellowship, prize, research travel grant, and internship recipients for the 2008-09 academic year.
CIO Magazine has named the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a 2008 CIO 100 Award winner. The magazine presents the award to 100 organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. The winners were announced in the magazine’s Aug. 15 issue.
Laurence Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Law, will present a talk on the U.S. Constitution at the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Sept. 17) at 7 p.m. at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., where the original document is housed. The Harvard Club of Washington is hosting the event.
The second annual Conference in Quantitative Genomics will be held Sept. 23-25 at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Hosted by the Program in Quantitative Genomics at the School, “Emerging Quantitative Issues in Parallel Sequencing” is supported with a grant from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
R. Nicholas Burns, the highest-ranking career diplomat at the U.S. Department of State until his retirement in April, has been appointed professor of the practice of diplomacy and international politics at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Burns officially joined the faculty on Sept. 1. He will also serve on the board of directors at the School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Los Angeles-based philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Sept. 4 declared the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT an unprecedented success as an experiment in science and philanthropy and announced that they have increased their total gift to the Broad by $400 million to $600 million. The $400 million will be an endowment to convert the institute — which was originally launched as a 10-year “venture” experiment — into a permanent biomedical research organization aimed at transforming medicine.
Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have been chosen to receive a six-year, $86 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify and develop molecular tools known as “small molecules,” which can probe proteins, signaling pathways, and cellular processes that are crucial to human health and disease.
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Asia Programs at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) will announce a new partnership. Under the leadership of new institute director Tony Saich, Asia Programs became part of the Ash Institute on July 1. The new collaboration promises to leverage and expand the collective strength of both organizations.
The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) recently announced the winners of the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards. These six government initiatives — consisting of one city, three state, and two federal programs — were recently honored at an awards gala and reception at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Innovations Award winners will receive $100,000 toward replication of their initiative.
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