Campus & Community

Remodeling expenditures by homeowners declined again in the fourth quarter of 2001. The drop in remodeling, according to the Remodeling Activity Indicator (RAI) devised by Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies, reflects the slowing economy and reduced consumer spending. While spending has not fallen off precipitously, we are in the midst of a modest downturn, remarked Nicolas P. Retsinas, the director of the Joint Center. In light of the reality of the recession, homeowners have begun to defer and cancel major housing renovations.

HBSs Michael Watkins to discuss anti-terror coalition on Jan. 30

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending Saturday, Jan. 19.

Catalan government honors Professor Bisson

The world is on the road to becoming a barren, overcrowded, and lonely place for humanity, but famed biologist Edward O. Wilson is optimistic we will alter our path and emerge better stewards of the Earth, its creatures, and by doing so, ourselves.

In the spirit of his signature confessional monologues, Spalding Gray told a nearly full house at Sanders Theatre that not long ago, he thought he was out of stories. He expected to settle down in Long Island, a life-modifying venture that was the subject of his monologue Morning, Noon and Night, which premiered in 1999. The gonzo New Yorker had become a bona fide family man, raising four children with his present wife, Kathie Russo.

Alexander Keyssar, the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, received the Albert J. Beveridge Award at the 116th annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA) on Jan. 4 in San Francisco.

Its not the destination, its the journey.

Hidden away in the storerooms of the Peabody Museum are nearly 5,000 ancient Peruvian textile pieces, perhaps the largest such collection outside Lima.

The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies has awarded 23 grants to Harvard students with research projects in Latin America. These travel grants support academic research to be conducted as part of a regular Harvard thesis degree program, such as a senior honors thesis, dissertation, or a professional school thesis-equivalent.

Environmental epidemiologists from the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH) analyzing tap water samples from 36 surface water systems throughout Massachusetts have found high levels of disinfection by-products (DBPs), which form during water treatment and transport, and a wide range of by-product activity in the water supplies they tested. The study appears in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/allpubs.html).

As the audience questions escalated from softball (How did you start writing?) to hardball (How do you manage multiple points of view in your narrative?) to curveball (Why is there a disproportionate representation of Asian Americans among novelists all of a sudden?), novelist Gish Jen 77 responded thoughtfully, respectfully, insightfully.

If I learn one new thing, it makes my night, Cheryl Haberman, a Waltham kindergarten teacher, said on the roof of the Harvard College Observatory Thursday night (Jan. 17). Ive never walked away disappointed.

Teach For America seeks seniors ready to make an immediate impact

Michael Brenner is one of those rare people who does something different almost every day, and has fun doing it.

Janis Sacco, head of exhibition planning and interpretation at the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH), loves her job.

At a meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on December 11, 2001, the following Minute was placed upon the records.

It is an ancient custom, as ancient as the Roman Empire, to idolize those whom we honor, to make them larger than life, to give their marvelous accomplishments a magical and mystical origin. By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognize his humanity – his personal and public struggles – that are similar to yours and mine. By idolizing those whom we honor, we fail to realize that we could go and do likewise. As I have said on many occasions, honoring Martin Luther King Jr. would be dishonorable if we remember the man and forget his mission. For those among us who believe in him, his work now must become our own.

The last link in the chain from food to fat has been found. Deep in human cells sits the master regulator of fat cells, a gene with the awkward name PPAR-gamma. When activated, this gene and the protein it produces drive the formation of fat cells that are part of the epidemic of obesity now sweeping the United States.

Former foster children whove aged out of the child welfare system are an all-but forgotten population with few services and fewer statistics to show researchers how theyre doing, according to speakers at an all-day Kennedy School forum on their plight Friday (Jan. 11).

Jan. 11, 1924 – Gale-force winds rip off the new copper roof of the library at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory (Milton, Mass.), depositing heavy sheets up to 30 feet away.

HDNet to carry Ivy basketball

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Saturday, Jan. 12. The official log is located at 29 Garden St.

President Lawrence H. Summers will hold office hours for students in his Massachusetts Hall office from 4 to 5 p.m. on the following dates: Feb. 1, 2002 March 5, 2002…

A memorial service for Charles Segal, Walter C. Klein Professor of the Classics, will be held on Friday, March 1, at 3 p.m., at the Memorial Church. The service will be followed by a reception at the Faculty Club, 20 Quincy St., from 4 to 6 p.m.

On Jan. 14, 2002, the Shelby County Medical Examiners Office issued a report indicating that an accidental fall from a bridge into the Mississippi River was the probable cause of death for Professor Don C. Wiley. Wiley was first reported missing by the Memphis, Tenn., police on Nov. 16. His body was recovered from the Mississippi River on Dec. 20.

Halperin selected as Eisenhower Fellow

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study is sending its Radcliffe Seminars in Creative Arts to Lesley University so the institute can focus on its new, postmerger mission.

Following the success of the inaugural Sackler Saturdays series last fall, the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) will again sponsor the program for families with children ages 6 to 11. The program, which is free and open to the public, aims to foster the appreciation of artworks from ancient cultures and distant lands.

The following students were selected as the Senior 48 by the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Harvard College. The students, listed below with their Houses and concentrations, were elected to Alpha Iota this past November.