At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on Nov. 4, 2025, the following tribute to the life and service of the late Ralph Mitchell was spread upon the permanent records of the Faculty.
The Harvard Scholars at Risk program connects the University to a national network that defends the human rights of scholars worldwide. Each year, the program (sponsored by the University Committee on Human Rights Studies [UCHRS]) awards one or more fellowships to scholars facing persecution.
Sever Hall, a National Historic Landmark widely regarded as an architectural gem, has emerged radiant and refreshed from its three-month restoration and remodeling. The façade of the 1880 building, designed by master architect Henry Hobson Richardson, was painstakingly preserved with upgrades to bricks, mortar, brownstone, terra-cotta roof tiles, and windows. Inside the building, the fourth and fifth floors have been opened up to create new space for the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, including the film program. The new space, designed by Kennedy & Violich Architecture, includes a dramatic two-story atrium (left), three screening rooms, a computer lab, an animation studio, a new video and film book library, video viewing stations, the Film Studies Center, a seminar room, and faculty and staff offices. At right, Ruth Lingford, visiting lecturer on visual and environmental studies, leads an animation class in Severs newly renovated fourth floor.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who as young reporters broke the Watergate scandal wide open, came together again Monday night (Dec. 5) for a Kennedy School Forum discussion on anonymous sources and journalistic integrity. Described by moderator Alex Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center, as the most celebrated and admired reporting team in history, both reporters defended a reporters right to keep sources confidential no matter what the circumstances.
Anita Goel is using the tools of physics to examine one of the most basic processes of biology, the way genetic information is extracted from DNA molecules and how this…
Scientists at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have sequenced the domestic dog’s DNA, thanks to the blood of a boxer named Tasha. Now they hope to follow Tasha’s…
Stem cell science is revolutionizing the field of cancer biology, changing the understanding of the structure of some tumors, and potentially shifting the treatment emphasis from eliminating all tumor cells…
With 82 students registered, “The Cognitive Dog: Savant or Slacker” is the second-largest Extension School psychology course this semester. When Bruce Blumberg proposed the course to Assistant Dean of Continuing…
Whether teasing out inconsistencies in quantum theory or figuring out what it means for one event to cause another, Ned Hall is asking questions about the forces that rule the…
The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.
Whats Maya Lin been up to since she won a national competition with her design for the Washington, D.C., Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall when she was a 21-year-old senior at Yale?
The Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) recognized Clinical Professor of Developmental Biology Donald B. Giddon for his contribution to the Defining the Future of Dental Medicine campaign by naming a conference room and adjoining office space in his honor at a Dec. 6 ceremony. The Professor Donald B. Giddon, DMD, Ph.D., Behavioral Science Research Area and Conference Room are on the fifth floor of the new 53,000-square-foot Research and Education Building at HSDM. The Research and Education Building is the Schools first new permanent building since the original brick edifice was constructed in 1906.
The Faculty Committee on Education Abroad and the Harvard College Office of International Programs have announced the winners of the first funding cycle of the International Innovation Fund grant program, which supports University faculty-sponsored initiatives in education abroad for undergraduates.
Only 18 months after the launch of the Broad Institute, a unique collaboration of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Los Angeles-based philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad announced on Wednesday (Nov. 30) that they are doubling to $200 million their donation to the Broad Institute with a $100 million gift to Harvard for research at the institute.
Harvard senior Lauren Schuker has won a prestigious two-year Marshall Scholarship with which she plans to study art history, with a focus on how art serves as a window on the society that produces it.
Due to a reporting error, an article that appeared on page 13 of the Nov. 17 Gazette misidentified the wife of Theodore H. Ashford 58. Jane Ashford is the late wife of Theodore H. Ashford.
At its sixth meeting of the year on Nov. 30, the Faculty Council was joined by three members of the Standing Committee on Advising and Counseling to discuss advising in a new curriculum, and also considered the next steps in the Curricular Review. The council next meets on Dec. 14. The preliminary deadline for the Dec. 20 Faculty Meeting is Monday (Dec. 5) at 9 a.m.
A pre-dawn, Nov. 25 fire has resulted in the tragic death of a 77-year-old resident, Gladys Evans, who was at home at the time of the blaze, which gutted the three-unit Harvard Real Estate Services-managed building at 47-49 Banks St., Cambridge. The residents of the other two units, an assistant professor and a graduate student, were away at the time of the fire. Upon their return, they were temporarily housed in a local hotel and have since been relocated.
December 1763 – Hollis Hall is completed in the Yard. Dec. 1, 1773 – To the surprise of all, Samuel Locke resigns as President. Not until the early 20th century,…
Through Dec. 15, the Phillips Brooks House (PBH) will be accepting donations for its annual holiday gift drive. Members of the Harvard community are invited to donate new, unwrapped gifts for children in preschool through middle school. Collection boxes will be located at the Memorial Church and at different locations throughout campus. And for students, collection boxes will be conveniently set up in the Phillips Brooks House lobby in the Yard.
Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending Nov. 28. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor, and is available online at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/.
History is repeating itself in Carolyn Abbates family. Some three decades ago, as a Yale University sophomore and an accomplished young pianist, she told her parents she intended to turn her back on molecular biology to pursue a career in music.
This is the third in a series of Gazette articles highlighting some of the many initiatives and charities that Harvard affiliates can support through the Community Gifts Through Harvard Campaign. Gifts will continue to be accepted throughout the holiday season.
Mark Churchill, educator, conductor, cellist, and dean of New England Conservatorys Division of Preparatory and Continuing Education, and Marylou Churchill, violinist and member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music (College and Preparatory School) and the Heifetz International Institute, have been named co-recipients of the 2005 Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award.
A team of researchers from Harvard, Columbia, and Rutgers universities has found the seat of fear. Its located in a pea-sized area deep in the brain of all mammals, from gerbils, to lions, to humans. And its involved in both inborn fear and the dread we acquire from dealing with people and things that hurt us.
Porter named Dana-Farber executive vice president, COOJanet Elaine Porter, an associate dean at the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health, has been named executive vice president and chief…
Harvard football captured an unprecedented fifth-straight victory over the Yale Bulldogs, 30-24, in the Ivy Leagues first-ever triple overtime game in the 122nd edition of the storied rivalry on Nov. 19 in New Haven, Conn. Tied 24-24 after regulation, the Crimson forced three Eli turnovers in the extra periods (while committing two of their own), before junior running back Clifton Dawson broke the standstill with a 2-yard score.
Nominations are sought for Scholars at Risk fellowsThe Scholars at Risk program connects Harvard to a national network that defends the human rights of scholars worldwide. Each year, the program…
Two months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, exposing appalling poverty, neglect, and lack of preparedness, a panel of experts from various fields met to discuss what can be learned from the storm and its disastrous aftermath and how those lessons can help mitigate future catastrophes. The Nov. 29 event was sponsored by the Humanities Center.
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