Campus & Community

Georgene Herschbach, a longtime member of the Harvard community who has served the campus in a wide range of capacities, has been named to the new position of dean for administration in Harvard College, Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds and Jay Harris, dean of undergraduate education, jointly announced Aug. 19.

On the verge of making some of life’s biggest decisions, a group of Allston-Brighton high school students listened attentively to a few of the possibilities that lay before them.

Materials scientist Frans Spaepen will serve as interim dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) effective Sept. 15, Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced today (Aug. 15).

Julio Frenk, an eminent authority on global health who served as the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, will become the new dean of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), President Drew Faust announced today (July 29).

Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Dean Michael D. Smith has announced the appointment of Brett C. Sweet as FAS dean for administration and finance, effective Sept. 2. Sweet will assume the redefined executive dean’s position that has been held on an interim basis by Robert Scalise. Scalise will return to his position as Harvard’s director of athletics.

Scholar, author, and activist Rory Stewart has been named director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Stewart will assume his new position on Jan. 1.

Julius B. Richmond, a seminal figure in the history of American public health and pediatrics, and the first national director of the Head Start program, who held professorial positions at three Harvard Schools, died July 27 at his home in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He was 91.

Georgene Herschbach, a longtime member of the Harvard community who has served the campus in a wide range of capacities, has been named to the new position of dean for administration in Harvard College, Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds and Jay Harris, dean of undergraduate education, jointly announced Aug. 19.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) recently announced funding in the amount of $12 million for three, new public television documentary series in which Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. will explore the meaning of race, culture, and identity in America. Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, as well as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. His recent PBS series include “African American Lives” and “African American Lives 2,” “Oprah’s Roots: An African American Lives Special,” “America Beyond the Color Line,” and “Wonders of the African World.”

Susan Carey, a Harvard psychologist whose work has explored fundamental issues surrounding the nature of the human mind, has been awarded the 2009 David E. Rumelhart Prize, given annually since 2001 for significant contributions to the theoretical foundation of human cognition.

Sharyn Bahn was appointed the associate dean for advancement at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, effective Aug. 4. With a distinguished career in development, Bahn comes to Radcliffe from the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) in Cambridge and previously from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She succeeds Tamara Elliott Rogers, who was appointed Harvard’s vice president for alumni affairs and development.

Materials scientist Frans Spaepen will serve as interim dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) effective Sept. 15, Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced today (Aug. 15).

Julio Frenk, an eminent authority on global health who served as the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, will become the new dean of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), President Drew Faust announced today (July 29).

HARVARD-AFFILIATED MEEI NAMED ONE OF AMERICA’S BEST HOSPITALS; HUDS AND CRIMSON CATERING RECOGNIZED WITH AWARDS; DOCENTS SOUGHT FOR SEMITIC MUSEUM; AGREEMENT TO DOUBLE NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS FOR COLOMBIAN STUDENTS; HU PRESS PUBLISHING MODERN GREEK STUDIES SERIES; HABITAT FOR HUMANITY SALE SET FOR AUGUST; HARVARD POPS BAND TO HOLD SUMMER CONCERTS; EXTENSION SCHOOL PROVIDES OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMS; A.R.T. BRINGS SHAKESPEARE TO THE SQUARE; SUMMER SCHOOL CHORUS TO PERFORM; ‘KIDNEY KABARET’ LETS HARVARD FOLKS SING FOR CAUSE; DEADLINES FOR ONLINE AND FIRST PRINT ISSUE

HMS’s Burstein new editor-in-chief of cancer journal; Doctoral student receives prestigious national doctoral fellowship; Two students recognized for innovative solutions; Smith joins Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program; Dept. of Government of awards dissertation prizes; HMNH wins ‘Best Museum’ award; Melanie A. Samuel named Damon Runyon Fellow

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending July 22. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

President Drew Faust led Harvard University in honoring staff members who made outstanding contributions during the past year at the Harvard Heroes celebration in mid-June.

There was something conspicuously absent from Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) annual summer picnic last week (July 9): garbage. The “zero waste” event was one of the first of its kind held at Harvard and was organized by the HKS Green Team, a group of staff dedicated to the pursuit of campus sustainability.

The Harvard Allston Education Portal, a new resource center designed to be a bridge between North Allston/North Brighton residents and Harvard teaching and learning, opened its doors last week (July 14) with mentoring for area children and a science movie night for families.

Rolling thunderstorms dumped rain on Harvard Yard, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the student leaders and campers who gathered at the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) on Wednesday (July 23) for a barbeque that had one very special guest.

Jay M. Harris, a longtime member of the Harvard faculty who has also served in a variety of administrative roles at the University, has been named Harvard College’s new dean of undergraduate education. His appointment, by Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds, was effective July 1.

Bill Purcell, the former mayor of Nashville, Tenn., has been named director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Purcell will assume the post Sept. 1. Purcell has spent more than 30 years in public service, law, and higher education. During his eight-year tenure as mayor of Nashville (1999-2007), the city saw unprecedented economic expansion, an increase in Metro school funding of more than 50 percent, and the development of more than 26,000 affordable housing units. His accomplishments as a civic leader earned him “Public Official of the Year” honors in 2006 by Governing Magazine. Purcell was an IOP Fellow in fall 2007.

David C. Parkes, a leader in research at the nexus of computer science and economics, has been appointed Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), The appointment was effective July 1.

Mark D. Jordan has been appointed the first Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School. He will take up the new post in January 2009. Jordan has been Emory University’s Asa Griggs Candler Professor since 1999.

Donald Fleming, an intellectual historian who studied the impact of science on American thought and was a member of the Harvard faculty for more than 40 years, passed away at his Cambridge home on June 16. He was 84.

Twenty-five years ago, a group of Harvard Business School (HBS) professors started a program they hoped would change lives. Their wish has come true.

Christine Heenan, former director of community and government relations at Brown University and founder and president of the Clarendon Group, a communications and government relations consulting firm, has been appointed vice president for government, community and public affairs at Harvard University, President Drew Faust announced today (July 15).

In a succession of brief ceremonies outside Lowell House this week (July 8), Harvard University officially returned to authorities of the Russian Orthodox Church the last of a set of monastery bells saved from a Stalinist-era scrap heap.

Katherine Bogdanovich Loker, a major Harvard benefactor and one of the nation’s most active and generous supporters of higher education, died June 26 in Oceanside, Calif. She had suffered a massive stroke earlier in the week.

Harvard University today (July 8) released the report of its Greenhouse Gas Task Force. The task force, appointed by President Drew Faust in February, proposes elements of a framework for much-intensified efforts to reduce the University’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as part of a broader effort to promote environmental sustainability.