In the Community

Harvard Executive Vice President Katie Lapp and Provost Alan Garber have shared the next steps in resuming development on the University’s Health and Life Science Center in Allston. Read the report.…

The John Harvard Book Celebration program included the donation of more than 400 books to libraries, 17 lectures by Harvard faculty and members of Harvard’s Board of Overseers at local libraries, and 18 programs for children and youth. The programming reached more than 200 children and youth in the Greater Boston area this spring, concluding with this event in late April.

In a talk at the Boston Public Library’s Honan-Allston Branch, the final event in the John Harvard Book Celebration, Linda Greenhouse ’68 said President Obama’s health care law is constitutional and should stand.

A thousand or so visitors wandered the colorful collections of Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum on Lilac Sunday.

As part of the John Harvard Book Celebration, Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Kathleen McCartney spoke about the most effective ways to close the achievement gap between low-income students and their middle and higher-income peers.

Diane Paulus explained her approach to theater, one that involves the active engagement of the audience.

Harvard President Drew Faust met with a new crop of Presidential Public Service Fellows for a candid discussion of what the University can do to promote public service as a career and a calling.

Since 2008, the Harvard Allston Education Portal has fostered learning, exploration, and connections between Harvard and the Allston-Brighton community. The new Ed Portal Annex will triple the size of the Harvard Allston Education Portal.

In its 10th year, Boston Shines, the citywide cleanup event, brought together staff from across the University, all of whom rolled up their sleeves to contribute to the cause.

Harvard scientists are participating in the Cambridge Science Festival, 10 days of events where experts in technology, engineering, and math share research with the public.

The Phillips Brooks House Association’s ninth annual Summer Urban Program auction raised funds to run 12 summer day camps for low-income children and teens from the Greater Boston area.

Rising sophomores are connecting with each other, their new House, and the community this spring through Harvard College Serves (HCS). Launched this year by the College Events Board, HCS joins incoming freshmen with House public service student representatives and public service tutors for volunteer projects at area nonprofits.

More than 150 students and family members participated in Family Math Night at the Gardner Pilot Academy. The academy had support from the Harvard Achievement Support Initiative.

Red Sox-themed fundraiser nets $11,700 for the Jimmy Fund.

Harvard University students and staff on Monday helped to celebrate the new U.S. citizenship of 23 staff members, all of whom achieved their goal with the aid of the Harvard Citizenship Program.

Professor Maria Tatar offered her insight into the enduring cultural appeal of fairy tales in an installment of the John Harvard Book Celebration series.

The 9th Annual SUP Auction, sponsored by the Phillips Brooks House Association, will be held April 24, 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Cambridge Queen’s Head Pub.

Anne Fadiman, a Harvard Overseer and author of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” explored the many varieties of book lover with a Cambridge Public Library audience on April 1.

As part of the John Harvard Book Celebration, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker brought the findings from his latest book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature,” to the Allston community, presenting his findings on how the world is growing less violent.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Harvard Drew President Faust celebrate the fourth round of Harvard Allston Partnership Fund grants that have infused $400,000 into 19 nonprofits.

The third John Harvard Book Celebration Lecture featured Harvard doctors and best-selling authors Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband, who tackled the topic “Your Medical Mind: How to Decide When Experts Disagree.” The next lecture is March 1 at the Parker Hill Branch of the Boston Public Library in Roxbury.

Representatives of Harvard and many agencies gather to celebrate preserving the affordability of 25 homes in Chapman Arms Apartments in Harvard Square.

Harvard’s 25th annual Daffodil Days campaign to help raise money for the American Cancer Society is under way through March 1, with gifts scheduled for delivery on March 19.

Delivering the keynote address Jan. 29 at the Cambridge Public Library’s 37th annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds called for educators to help students “make explicit their own values and build their own ‘beloved communities.’ ”

The Ceramics Program at the Office for the Arts at Harvard recently donated a handmade mural to the Harvard-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance.

More than two dozen Harvard undergraduates returned to campus early this month to help provide meals and beds to guests at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter during Winter Break.

People are “powerfully attracted to war,” Harvard President Drew Faust told a crowd at the Cambridge Public Library on Jan. 10, and no conflict draws as much continuing interest and controversy in America as its own Civil War. The historian’s job is to balance that allure with a search for the truth, Faust said.

Harvard is launching a lecture and program series in the Boston and Cambridge public libraries. President Drew Faust will give the inaugural address of the new John Harvard Book Celebration on Jan. 10.

Twenty-five affordable apartments in Harvard Square’s Craigie Arms Apartments will remain affordable for at least 50 additional years after the city of Cambridge, Harvard University, and the nonprofit Homeowners Rehab Inc. (HRI) put together a creative plan to preserve the affordability of these units through HRI’s purchase of the 50-unit Craigie Arms building.

Harvard University is encouraging staff, faculty, and students to “shop local” this holiday season and support locally owned, small businesses near work and in their home communities.