Campus & Community

This year’s choices for the Hasty Pudding Man and Woman of the Year awards join the stellar company of a constellation of talent that includes Ella Fitzgerald, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Lemmon, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The 2008 recipients of the coveted honor are Christopher Walken and Charlize Theron.

In the first year without early action, more than 27,000 students have applied to Harvard for entrance next September, shattering the previous record of 22,955 set this past year. Harvard eliminated its early action program starting with the Class of 2012 because early admission programs tend to disadvantage students from modest economic backgrounds and often pressure students from across the economic spectrum to make premature college choices.

J.K. Rowling, author of the world-renowned “Harry Potter” novels, will be the principal speaker during the Afternoon Exercises of Harvard University’s 357th Commencement on June 5, 2008.

After years of consideration and subsidizing their costs, Harvard sold the two Sutton Island properties in 2007.

Harvard President Drew Faust announced today the adoption of a coordinated academic calendar that synchronizes the academic schedules of Harvard’s 13 Schools.

An investigation by law enforcement has identified a Harvard College student who had produced counterfeit state driver’s licenses and Harvard University identification cards that, in some cases, used actual Harvard identification numbers. There has been no indication of further activity of this nature. The student is no longer on the Harvard campus.

Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia scout the Southeast in a joint recruitment trip, advertising affordability and economic diversity.

Allan M. Brandt, who holds appointments in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and the Medical School, has been named dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Harvard, effective Jan. 1.

Harvard President Drew Faust and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith today announced a sweeping overhaul of financial aid policies designed to make Harvard College more affordable for families across the income spectrum through major enhancements to grant aid, the elimination of student loans, and the removal of home equity from financial aid calculations.

Dec. 13, 1856 — A(bbott) Lawrence Lowell, Harvard’s future 22nd President, is born in Boston.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Dec. 3. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

PBH launches gift drive for area children The Phillips Brooks House (PBH) launched its annual holiday gift drive on Dec. 3 in an effort to collect hundreds of gifts for children in Boston and Cambridge. Running through Dec. 14, the drive will provide books, games, toys, art supplies, and sports equipment to children whose parents are impoverished, incarcerated, or homeless. Last year, PBH donated more than 1,000 gifts to a dozen agencies in neighborhoods throughout Greater Boston.

Olupona to accept prestigious Nigerian National Order of Merit Professor of African and African American Studies Jacob Olupona has been awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit prize for 2007. The president of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’Adua, will confer the award in the nation’s capital city of Abuja today (Dec. 6). The National Order of Merit is regarded as Nigeria’s highest prize for intellectual achievement and is given in recognition of unique and outstanding contributions to scholarship, research, and the field of humanities.

A walking tour of Dublin and a pair of Red Sox tickets are just two of the items up for bid at the annual Summer Internship Fund auction scheduled for today (Dec. 6) at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The silent auction, featuring dozens of items, will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by a live auction.

Robert Dorwart was an academic of the highest rank and a physician committed to understanding and improving the lives of those who could not access quality health care.

Distinguished American classicist Zeph Stewart, who was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities Emeritus at Harvard University, passed away at his home in Watertown, Mass., on Dec. 1 at 86.

Donald Pfister, Asa Gray Professor of Systematic Botany at Harvard University and curator of the Farlow Herbarium, will become dean of the Harvard Summer School effective Jan. 1, 2008, announced Michael Shinagel, dean of Continuing Education and University Extension in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). He succeeds Robert Lue, professor of the practice of molecular and cellular biology and director of Life Sciences Education.

David Maybury-Lewis, a Harvard anthropologist who served as a tireless advocate for indigenous cultures and peoples, died Dec. 2 at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 78.

Free tix for hoops, hockey University employees with a valid ID are eligible to receive a pair of free tickets to the following Harvard athletic events: women’s basketball vs. Holy Cross (Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.); men’s basketball vs. University of California, Irvine (Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.); men’s hockey vs. Clarkson (Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.); and women’s hockey vs. Union (Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.).

Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) is offering free flu shots to members of the Harvard community.

The following seniors, listed below by their Houses, were nominated to Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) in the latest round of elections, held this past November.

The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the Kennedy School of Government presented the 2007 Gleitsman International Activist Award to Sakena Yacoobi on Dec. 4. Yacoobi is the founder and executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she established in 1995 to provide teacher training to Afghan women, to support education for boys and girls, and to provide health education to women and children.

Officials at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) recently announced that the late Alan L. Gleitsman has left a bequest of $20 million to the School in order to advance his longtime passion: the pursuit of social justice. The gift is to serve as an endowment at the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the School.

Megan Galbreth, a senior in Lowell House, has been named a 2008 Marshall Scholar. The award entitles Galbreth to two years of study at Oxford University, where she will pursue an M.Phil. in English Language and Literature.

Late one morning in mid-November, William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 looked for his seat on a jetliner at Boston’s Logan Airport. Moving down the aisle, magazine in hand and wheeling a carry-on, he had the weary certainty of a seasoned traveler.

The Charlesview Inc. board of directors and Harvard University have signed a purchase-and-sale agreement that will enable the construction of a new apartment complex for Allston’s Charlesview residents on Harvard-owned property located a half-mile from the current complex in Barry’s Corner.

Two Harvard seniors and a recent graduate have been chosen as Rhodes Scholars. Clara L. Blättler of Brookline, Mass., and Shayak Sarkar, of Edinburg, Texas, were among the 32 Americans chosen for the prestigious scholarship that funds two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. Sammy K. Sambu has been selected as a Rhodes Scholar from Kenya, according to Harvard Fellowships Director Paul Bohlmann.

At its fifth meeting of the year on Nov. 28, the Faculty Council considered proposals for mandatory course evaluations and for restructuring and renaming the joint Ph.D. program in Information, Technology, and Management, and voted on the proposed Harvard Summer School Courses of Instruction for 2008. The council next meets on Dec. 5. The preliminary deadline for the Jan. 15 Faculty meeting is Dec. 21 at 5 p.m.

Upon the recommendation of the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), Harvard President Drew Faust has approved and announced the following Standing Committees. Standing Committees of the faculty are constituted to perform a continuing function. Each committee has been established by a vote of the faculty, and can be dissolved only by a vote of the faculty or, with the agreement of a particular Committee, by the dean and Faculty Council. The dean recommends the membership of each committee annually.

Nov. 11, 1951 — On Armistice Day (now Veterans’ Day), an overflow crowd jams the Memorial Church for the dedication of the World War II Memorial wall, bearing the names of those from the Harvard family who gave their lives in service to the nation. The guest preacher is the Rt. Rev. Henry Knox Sherrill, Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. Divinity School Dean Willard L. Sperry formally accepts the tablets as a gift from the University to the Church.