Newsmakers

Teaching fellow receives Rome Prize

The American Academy in Rome has named Rebecca Ruth Benefiel, teaching fellow in the Classics Department, a recipient of the 106th annual Rome Prize. The prize provides fellowships ranging from six months to two years for American artists and scholars to live and work at the academy’s 18-building, 11-acre site atop Rome’s highest hill, the Janiculum.

Lagemann appointed History Department affiliate

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, incoming dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE), was recently appointed an affiliate of the Department of History. A leading historian of education and president of the Chicago-based Spencer Foundation, Lagemann is the author of “An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research” and “The Politic of Knowledge: The Carnegie Corporation, Philanthropy, and Public Policy,” among other books. She will begin her tenure as dean of GSE and affiliate of the History Department in July.

Mesoamerican archive gives inaugural award

The Moses Mesoamerican Archive and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology presented the first H.B. Nicholson Award for Excellence in Mesoamerican Studies to Mexico’s premier archaeologist, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, at a dinner on Tuesday (June 11). Matos Moctezuma, the coordinator of the Great Temple excavations in downtown Mexico City, has written scores of articles and numerous books about the mythology, archaeology, and art history of Mesoamerican culture.

Sachs named Sophia Freund Prize recipient

Stephen Sachs ’02 was awarded the 2001-02 Sophia Freund Prize as the highest-ranking student in the senior class of Harvard College. The award is given to the student who graduates summa cum laude with the highest grade point average.

HBS lecturer awarded research grant

The George and Robin Raymond Family Business Institute has awarded a grant and research fellowship to John A. Davis, senior lecturer on business administration at Harvard Business School, to support his eight-year research project and book on family businesses. Davis’ work examines the practices of several family companies, including Marriott, The New York Times, SC Johnson & Son, and Kikkoman. Davis is interested in identifying factors that account for the successful perpetuation of family firms.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks