Nation & World

The man dubbed President Obama’s pastor, Joshua DuBois, said in a lecture that he is dismayed that Americans turn to God to resolve “infinitesimally small” questions not worthy of the Almighty.

The timely and effective use of social media in the hours and days following the Boston Marathon bombings may serve as a model for other law enforcement agencies in the United States, according to a report published as part of the New Perspectives in Policing Series by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School.

Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman discusses whom the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent ruling on campaign contributions will affect, and what the decision means for the future of campaign-finance reform, and for American politics.

A new report by Harvard crisis-management and criminal-justice experts, and former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, considers the factors that led to the successes and failures of last year’s emergency response to the Boston Marathon bombings and manhunt.

Peter Carfagna, a sports law expert at Harvard Law School, talks about growing legal pressure on the NCAA to reconsider the way it treats student-athletes.

A two-day conference organized by Harvard Law School students will bring together key players in the environmental justice movement. “Environmental Justice: Where Are You Now?” will be held March 28-29.

Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State, brought her experience as an advocate for autistics to a talk at the Ed School.

A professor in the department of epidemiology and population health at the American University of Beirut, Huda Zurayk has spent years trying to promote health in the Arab world. She discussed her work and how Arab women are coping with their lives, their health, and the survival of their families in the midst of uncertainty and conflict.

A large study of child growth patterns in 36 developing countries finds that, contrary to widely held beliefs, economic growth has little to no effect on the nutritional status of the world’s poorest children.

Ben Wizner of the ACLU talked about his work on the Edward Snowden case in a visit to HLS.

A classic Harvard Business School case about the Apple creation myth gets a Japanese manga-style comic-book reboot.

Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses innovation, advanced leadership, and how to make change in an inflexible organization in “The Business,” an HBS podcast series.

William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard, lauds the recently announced reform of the SATs. He explains why the changes should help level the playing field for students.

A Q&A with Nick Burns of Harvard Kennedy School on what’s likely to happen next in Ukraine and in the standoff with its neighbor Russia.

A January conference in Pakistan on urbanization was the first of five in the region and a result of Harvard’s South Asia Institute’s growing work there.

Harvard Kennedy School experts talk about recent efforts to keep nuclear materials out of terrorists’ hands in preparation for the biannual Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands.

Two of Russia’s leading human rights lawyers visited Harvard Law School to discuss the country’s legal system and offer some hope for ways toward democratic reforms in the coming years.

“Inspiring Change, Inspiring Us” is a series of portraits on view at Harvard Law School through March 14 in honor of International Women’s Day.

Model Lily Cole’s life in the fashion spotlight has gradually given way to her interests in technology and society. Today she is a digital entrepreneur, the founder of the social network Impossible.com, which tries to fulfill wishes for free. On Wednesday, an event at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society helped launch the website in this country.

In a question-and-answer session, a Divinity School scholar discusses the sweeping breadth, complexity of Islamic culture. Ousmane Kane will deliver an inaugural lecture on March 6 at Harvard Divinity School to celebrate the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professorship of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society.

Harvard Business School brings together top leaders in academia, government, and business to consider and address the nation’s transportation and infrastructure shortcomings, which have led to a lag in global competitiveness.

Universities are working to establish pathways to use open-access materials in online learning.

Gregg Fields, a business journalist and research fellow who studies institutional corruption at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, talked about the sweeping new financial reforms initiated by Pope Francis.

A new study has documented “slavelike” conditions in India’s handmade carpet industry, the largest single source of carpets sold in some of the most well-known U.S. retailers.

Journalist Ken Shulman talks about the ways in which global sporting events are used to advance political agendas and how activists can leverage sports to draw attention and action to human-rights issues.

Marshall Ganz ’91, who is credited with devising a grassroots organizing model used by President Obama, says that religious faith can play a greater role in community organizing.

Serhii Plokhii, an authority on Ukrainian history and director of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute, explains what’s behind the violence and what’s at stake for a country that’s caught in a tug-of-war between Europe and Russia.

Analysts discuss research and new strategies for overcoming the student achievement gap in schools with high poverty rates.

Every January, a handful of Harvard Law School students head to Washington, D.C., to work on cases bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Richard Weissbourd discusses whether love can be effectively taught in schools, reflects on the state of sex-ed, and examines where love is best modeled in the media.