Following a comprehensive assessment, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will begin planning a major renovation of Harvard University’s undergraduate residential Houses. The renovations, a significant, long-term project that is anticipated to involve all 12 Houses, will unfold over 15 years.
Harvard Medical School (HMS) Dean Jeffrey Flier announced March 21 that the School is taking steps to reduce the cost of a four-year medical education by up to $50,000 for families with incomes of $120,000 or less.
The World Economic Forum has selected Daniel L. Shapiro as a 2008 Young Global Leader. The founder and director of the Harvard International Negotiation Initiative and associate director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, Shapiro is on the faculty at Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital.
The $25,000 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded to Barton Gellman and Jo Becker of The Washington Post for their investigative report “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.” The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy administers the award.
A record applicant pool of 27,462 has led to an admission rate of 7.1 percent, the lowest in the history of Harvard College. Traditional admission letters (and e-mails) were sent on March 31 to 1,948 students. Last year 2,058 applicants were admitted from a pool of 22,955.
Jane Mendillo will become the new president and chief executive officer of Harvard Management Company (HMC), effective July 1, 2008, the HMC board of directors announced today.
Despite the current building boom, many recent graduates from architecture and engineering schools are choosing to pursue more lucrative careers in high-tech and management consulting, rather than building and design. This trend, according to design professionals, could have major consequences for the construction industry. As part of an effort to address it, a recent $1.5 million gift to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design will support The RMJM Program for Research and Education in Integrated Design Practice.
March 13, 1944 — Between matinees at Boston’s RKO Theatre, composer-pianist Duke Ellington visits Paine Hall to give a 20-minute lecture on the blues (“Negro Music in America”). At the keyboard, Ellington illustrates his talk with “Sophisticated Lady,” “Subtle Slough,” “Dancers in Love,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” and “Mood Indigo.”
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending March 3. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
Ankush Sharma, a graduate student in the Health Careers Program at Harvard University, attended the inaugural Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) conference at Tulane University March 14-16.
The World Economic Forum recently named Daniel L. Shapiro a 2008 Young Global Leader. The director of the Harvard International Negotiation Initiative and a lecturer on law, Shapiro joins leaders across a wide range of fields who are under 40 years of age to be chosen to pursue solutions to global-scale issues including education, government, poverty, and the environment.
Craigen Weston Bowen, deputy director of the Straus Center for Conservation at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum and an accomplished rock climber and gardener, died at her home in Lexington, Mass., on March 1, 16 months after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 54.
With the Harvard women’s hockey team protecting a 5-1 advantage in the closing minutes of its NCAA regional showdown versus Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon (March 15), a small contingent of Crimson fans suddenly filled Bright Hockey Center with a battle cry. “Min-ah-so-ta” they sang, followed by a rhythmic succession of hand claps (two slow, three fast). Ever the educated sports fans, those Harvard hockey nuts – making up a good majority of the 1,497 on hand – weren’t just whistling Dixie.
What’s a 15-year-old boy, confined to a wheelchair with a fatal form of muscular dystrophy, to do on his summer vacation? Take a 7,000-mile road trip across the country with 11 friends. So thought Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) student Logan Smalley Ed.M. ’08, who organized the trek and then captured it in his 2007 documentary “Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life.”
In October 2007, a group of Harvard College students proposed a novel way to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Harvard’s birth — donate books. Their initial idea developed into the John Harvard Book Project, which ran from November through February and raised funds from students, faculty, and staff with the goal of purchasing books for local schools.
For the upcoming year, the estimated average total aid package of close to $40,000 will reduce the average cost (including nonbilled personal expenses of approximately $3,000) to an estimated $10,500 for those families receiving financial aid. Need-based scholarship aid for undergraduates at Harvard has increased by 143 percent over the past decade, while the total package has risen by roughly 50 percent, reinforcing Harvard’s commitment to affordable education.
The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy has announced that former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Paul E. Steiger will receive its Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism on March 18 at 6 p.m. at Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.
March 23, 1639 — In recognition of John Harvard’s recent bequest, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony orders “that the colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge.”
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending March 3. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online athttp://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
The Harvard Neighbors Gallery is now accepting portfolio submissions from eligible Harvard-affiliated artists (including current or retired full- or part-time faculty and staff and their spouses/partners).
With the flu season often lasting through April, there is still plenty of time and good reason to get immunized if you have not already. Following immunization, it takes approximately 10 days to develop antibodies and be protected.
The Harvard University Faculty Climate Survey is available online on the Faculty Affairs Web site (http://www.faculty.harvard.edu). The survey was conducted in academic year 2006-07 by the Office of Institutional Research and the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity. Highlights of the survey results were published in last year’s End of Year Report, which is also available on the Faculty Affairs Web site.
Neuroscience Ph.D. candidate Steven Flavell has been selected, along with a dozen other graduate students from North America, to receive the 2008 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award sponsored by the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC).
At its ninth meeting of the year on March 5, the Faculty Council discussed the Rules of Faculty Procedure. The council next meets on March 19. The preliminary deadline for the April 8 Faculty meeting is Monday (March 17) at 9:30 a.m.
Each spring, Harvard Swim School provides swimming and diving lessons for children and adults. Held at Blodgett Pool, the Saturday morning lessons will commence April 5 and run through May 10.
Seeking to improve health and recreation on campus, Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and Bob Scalise, director of athletics and interim executive dean of FAS, announced Tuesday (March 11) that funds have been made available to purchase new fitness equipment for the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC).
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