Campus & Community

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.

Edward C. Forst, global head of the Investment Management Division for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and a member of the firm’s Management Committee, will become Harvard University’s first executive vice president, effective September 1, Harvard President Drew Faust announced today.

Judith D. Singer, the James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and former academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), has been named senior vice provost for Faculty Development and Diversity at Harvard University, Provost Steven E. Hyman announced today.

Lori E. Gross, director of arts initiatives and adviser to the associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been named associate provost for arts and culture at Harvard University, Provost Steven E. Hyman announced today.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on April 8, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Richard Abel Musgrave, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Musgrave was the leading public finance economist of his generation.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 20, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Ernst Mayr, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Mayr helped lay the foundations of contemporary evolutionary biology.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 6, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late Herbert Bloch, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, Emeritus, was place upon the records. Bloch did pioneering work on Greek and Roman historians.

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) recently announced the 15 finalists for the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards competition. These programs are models of government excellence, representing innovative programming from the local, county, city, tribal, state, and federal levels. The finalists were selected from an initial pool of nearly 1,000 applicants. Winners of the 2008 Innovations Award will be announced in September with each of the six winners receiving $100,000 toward the replication and dissemination of its innovation.

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) recently announced its faculty and student summer grant recipients for the 2008 academic year. The institute will fund four summer 2008 independent student research grants, two student Ash Summer Fellowships in Innovation, and five faculty research grants. Such grants are part of the institute’s efforts to enhance its studies of democracy and innovation by harnessing the talent and experience of the HKS community.

At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 20, 2008, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late David Roy Shackleton Bailey, Pope Professor of Latin Language and Literature, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Shackleton Bailey was one of the greatest twentieth-century scholars of Latin textual criticism.

The Harvard Interfaculty Initiative in Health Policy recognized 39 seniors at its annual certificate ceremony during graduation week.

The Institute of Politics (IOP), located at Harvard Kennedy School, Monday (June 9) announced the selection of 42 undergraduate students, chosen from a pool of 275 candidates, for paid summer political internships.