Campus & Community

Sabrina Peck 84 never thought that the combination of dance theater, public service, and education that seemed so specific to her would appeal to generations of Harvard students. It follows that she never imagined that such a combination could propel her program, CityStep, to the ranks of the campus most popular, enduring civic activities.

For the first time, a total of more than 20,000 students applied for undergraduate admission, making the Class of 2007 the most competitive in Harvards history. The 2,056 admitted students were selected from a pool of 20,986, an admission rate of 9.8 percent. Students were notified by letter and e-mail on Wednesday (April 2).

What would Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the events planned to commemorate his 200th birthday?

What would Ralph Waldo Emerson say about the events planned to commemorate his 200th birthday?

Harvard has bid $75 million to purchase 91 acres of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority land located south of Cambridge Street in Allston. Harvards bid has been referred to the MTA Board, which will vote to select the highest responsible bidder no later than (Friday) April 4. Harvard sees the purchase as a long-term investment and expects that the lands current uses will continue in the foreseeable future.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institutes Black Writers Reading series continues online with a new Webcast of Elizabeth Alexander and Suzan-Lori Parks. View the latest entry at http://streams.wgbh.org/forum/forum.php?organization=Harvard+%2F+Du+Bois+Institute. For more information, or to access the latest entry, visit http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~du_bois/.

April 1910 – The Andover-Harvard Theological Library formally comes into existence. Owen S. Gates, former Librarian of the Andover Theological Seminary, becomes the first librarian of the combined collections.  April…

Charles Langmuir sailed to the top of the world to study the bottom of the ocean.

In the song, they paved paradise, put up a parking lot.

Be Bright – Use a Light is the new message that representatives of the Cambridge Bicycle Committee and the Cambridge Police Departments (CPDs) Bike Patrol want to deliver to area cyclists. Since nearly half of all cycling deaths occur at night without lights – even with only 3 percent of bike riding occurring after dark – the two groups are co-sponsoring a focused, weeklong campaign to increase nighttime visibility among bicyclists.

A renowned gathering of women poets, including Pulitzer Prize winners, Emerging Artist honorees, and state poets laureate, will gather on April 12 to celebrate the spoken word and their common bond as fellows-in-residence at Radcliffe.

To the stars through difficulties – the state motto of Kansas – took on some real meaning for the Kansas State womens basketball team this past Friday (March 22) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Up by 19 points in the second half, the No. 3 Wildcats were forced to hold off a defiant Crimson team in the final four minutes, before taking a 79-69 win in front of nearly 11,000 anxious fans in Manhattan, Kan.

This past weeks spring break provided little in the way of rest or relaxation for the Harvard mens and womens hockey teams. In fact, given the Crimsons recent string of heartbreakers in high-stakes tournament play, it seems that both squads – and their fans – have been treated to some rather cruel and unusual punishment instead.

In a survey of attitudes toward risks for children, respondents cite drugs and sexual abuse among the top 10. Theyre not.

Caroline Elam, currently the Andrew W. Mellon Professor at the Center for Advanced Studies for the Visual Arts at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., has been named the I Tatti Mongan Prize winner. The I Tatti Mongan Prize is given to a scholar of Italian Renaissance art, French art, drawings, and connoisseurship.

While it may lack the poetry of reading, writing, rithmetic or the hot-button relevance of high-stakes testing and school reform, Scaling Up Success – the subject of a conference March 20 and 21 at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) – is, its organizers say, a central conundrum of contemporary education.

After reviewing applications from around the world, the inaugural 2003 Roy Family Award will be presented to the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project in Bolivia. The project partners are American Electric Power (AEP), the oil and gas company BP, the Government of Bolivia, Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN), PacifiCorp, and The Nature Conservancy.

Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES) has announced the approval of the new rent schedule for approximately 2,500 Harvard-owned apartments rented by graduate students and other University affiliates. The new rents…

At the Graduate School of Educations seventh annual authors party in Gutman Library Monday (March 31), research associate Peter Gibbon (right) browses the 31 books published this year by GSE faculty and staff. Gibbons own A Call to Heroism: Renewing Americas Vision of Greatness joins books by senior lecturer on education Katherine K. Merseth, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education Catherine Snow, former GSE dean Patricia Graham, and former Harvard University President Derek Bok.

In a nondescript classroom above Somervilles Union Square, 10 teenagers are flipping through photographs they took.

At a time when the United States is in the midst of war with a country that has turned out to be more powerful than expected, foreign correspondent Chris Hedges has some words about the power of war itself. The New York Times journalist recently reflected on the destructive aspects of war that he has come to identify from his own very personal experiences.

For event listings, see the Harvard Gazette Calendar

Hundreds of Harvard students walked out of their classes at 12:30 p.m. March 20 to demonstrate their opposition to the war on Iraq. The rally was part of a nationwide action on college campuses. Gathering at the historic John Harvard Statue and filling the Old Yard back to Massachusetts Hall, students, faculty, staff, and community members heard speeches and chanted, No war on Iraq! Bill of Rights, take it back!

Hendrik S. Houthakker, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics Emeritus, has been selected by Pope John Paul II to be a Knight Commander with Star in the Papal Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

This past Saturday (March 29) was a perfect day for Project Outreachs give back to the cities of Boston and Cambridge. Organized by HBS Volunteers, a Business School group, the project reached out to eight different sites in the area where students painted, planted, washed, raked, and mulched through the warm, sprinkly, sunshiney New England day.

On March 20 at approximately 7:45 p.m., a graduate student was the victim of an unarmed robbery on Garden Street near the Cambridge Common. The victim was approached by six youths (five males, one female). He was pushed to the ground where he was punched and kicked by the group. One of the suspects took the victims wallet and removed one credit card. The suspects then fled in the direction of Harvard Square. The victim believes that the group had followed him from the Harvard Square MBTA stop.

At its 13th meeting of the year the Faculty Council discussed with Professor Jennifer Leaning (Medical School and School of Public Health), and other members of the Committee to Address Sexual Assault at Harvard, a preliminary draft of the recommendations the committee expects to make.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending March 29. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

UN fellowship celebrated

Top health care executives named fellows at Malcolm Weiner Center Harris A. Berman, CEO of Tufts Health Plan, and David M. Lawrence, who served as chairman of the board and…