Campus & Community

Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government has announced a new academic research program, the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs. The interdisciplinary initiative, based at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, will be directed by Monica Duffy Toft, associate professor of public policy, and J. Bryan Hehir, Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life. The new program is supported with a $400,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

With a ceremonial blessing and a cautionary reminder of native peoples’ historic oppression, a group of American Indian leaders joined an assemblage of experienced and budding archaeologists Wednesday (Sept. 26) to begin the search for Harvard’s Indian College roots.

Thirteen Harvard University faculty members will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony on Saturday (Oct. 6). Celebrated for their scholarship, artistic triumphs, and service to society, the 227th class of fellows includes the following Harvard affiliates:

The J.P. Lemann family has made a major gift to Harvard University to endow permanently its Brazil Studies Program. The first significant commitment of Drew Faust’s presidency, it signals the importance of international priorities at Harvard.

Harvard University has received the approval from the Board of Directors of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the city’s planning and economic development agency, for plans for the Harvard Allston Science Complex, the first new academic building of the University’s planned extended campus in Allston. Following completion of the zoning approval, construction can begin. Formal groundbreaking is expected to be in November.

Sept. 19, 1782 — The Harvard Corporation votes to establish the Medical School, following a detailed plan from President Joseph Willard and Professor Edward Wigglesworth. The plan calls for new books in chemistry and medicine, “a complete anatomical and surgical apparatus,” three new professorships, and organized lectures with required clinical components.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Sept. 24. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.

In August, the Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II to membership in The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, the oldest order of chivalry in the United Kingdom, dating to the 10th century. Gomes will be invested in November.

President Drew Faust will hold office hours for students in her Massachusetts Hall office on the following dates

At its second meeting of the year on Sept. 26, the Faculty Council reviewed the Ph.D. program in Information, Technology and Management, considered a proposal for open access to scholarly articles, and was joined by President Drew Faust for a start-of-term discussion.

Date for Chandler memorial service changed to Oct. 19

The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs is supporting 24 doctoral candidates as Graduate Student Associates for 2007-08. The associates represent a multidisciplinary group of advanced-degree candidates from Harvard’s departments of Anthropology, Government, History, Religion, and Sociology; the Kennedy School’s Public Policy Program; and the Law School’s S.J.D. program. All of the students are working on topics related to international affairs.

The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) recently announced its 2007-08 class of fellows.

The John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard has announced its 2007–08 class of postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, fellows, and associates. “We are privileged at the Fairbank Center to have so many highly trained scholars in attendance,” said Professor Martin King Whyte, acting director of the Fairbank Center. “While working on their own research, they attend our seminars and often give talks on campus. In that way, they contribute greatly to the vitality of the Fairbank Center’s intellectual community.”

As part of its evolving emergency communications procedures, Harvard University is making available text message alerts to students, faculty, and staff to be used only in the event of an extreme, campus-wide, life-threatening emergency.

The National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) will honor Pat Henry, senior associate athletic director at Harvard University for 22 years, as one of its eight Administrator of the Year Award recipients at an Oct. 8 ceremony in St. Petersburg, Fla.

This year’s RiverSing at the Weeks Footbridge was, as always, a festive affair with music from a variety of lyrical sources, including the Halalisa Singers and saxophonist Stan Strickland. Chiming along were bells rung by assorted visitors. Of course, there was the usual dazzling appearance by the gargantuan puppets Oshun and Poseidon. The music, the color, the weather — all conspired to make this autumnal welcome a success.

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra and Harvard Extension School will co-present “Witness to Darfur,” a unique evening of dialogue, film, and music, in Sanders Theatre on Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. The two-hour program aims to draw attention to the tragic events in Sudan, while acknowledging the work of organizations and individuals who are committed to putting an end to the genocide.

There’s no easy answer, said Norman Davies, an Oxford-educated British historian and Poland specialist who has written widely on the 1939-1945 conflict.

An afternoon of reflection, promise, and a bit of humor marked the official launch of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences on Thursday (Sept. 20), the first new Harvard school since the John F. Kennedy School of Government was created 71 years ago as the Graduate School of Public Administration.

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government on Sept. 25 announced seven state, city, and local government programs as winners of the 2007 Innovations in American Government Awards. The winners were honored at the Innovations in American Government Awards 20th anniversary reception at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill delivered the keynote address. This event launches a yearlong 20th anniversary celebration of the Ash Institute’s Innovations in American Government Awards Program.

Harvard University announced today (Sept. 27) that its gift receipts totaled $614 million in fiscal year 2007 — a $19 million increase over fiscal year 2006.

The inauguration of Drew Faust as Harvard’s 28th president will feature time-honored tradition — ancient artifacts and silver — world music, and talk of tomorrow’s promise.

Company’s coming, and Harvard is bringing out the good silver. The installation of President Drew Faust on Oct. 12 is one of the rare occasions when the eight pieces of…

Aug. 27, 1640* Civil and religious officials of the Bay Colony invite Henry Dunster to become “President of the Colledge.” He accepts. Harvard gains its first president. No formal installation…

Rarely seen Harvard insignia of office will emerge from the vault of University Archives to bear silent witness to the Oct. 12 installation of President Drew Faust. Directly or by…

At Cambridge. Is kept in the College there. Seems but little the worse for wear. That’s remarkable when I say It was old in President Holyoke’s day. —Oliver Wendell Holmes…

Shortly after the Harvard men’s soccer team defeated the visiting University of Massachusetts Minutemen this past Sunday (Sept. 16) by a score of 2-1, Crimson coach John Kerr attributed the success of his crew to their “poised” and “patient” play. Though Kerr’s words might aptly describe some of his squad’s many strengths, the gentlemanly characterization also seems a bit out of place for a nationally ranked team on a 6-0 tear.

All of Harvard’s museums opened their doors to the community on Sept. 16.All of Harvard’s museums opened their doors to the community on Sept. 16.

Local fans of jazz and blues will soon have a chance to hear some of the most talented and admired performers in those genres and to help the homeless as well.