Year: 2003

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

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).

More intrepid than Sir Ernest Shackleton and his Endurance team … staring down icebergs with the swagger and bravado of the Titanic … its the Harvard crew coaches and their effort to free the Charles River from its icy winter stillness.

Controversial Danish writer Bjorn Lomborg was challenged by a U.S. environmental leader in a spirited debate over the global environment held in the Kennedy Schools Forum Thursday night (March 13). Lomborg, whose book The Skeptical Environmentalist has been condemned by some in the scientific community, argued that the world is not faced with imminent deterioration…

To some, engaged Buddhism may seem like a contradiction in terms. Traditionally, Buddhists have sought to avoid suffering by disengaging from desire, training themselves through meditation to look past the world of illusion to the spiritual reality beneath.

A 10-kiloton nuclear bomb exploding at New Yorks Grand Central Station is a prospect that is all-too real today and one that would kill 500,000 people and cause an estimated $1 trillion in economic damage, according to a new report from Harvards Project on Managing the Atom.

Amidst a four-game non-losing streak (three wins and one tie since Feb. 21), the Harvard mens hockey team (21-8-2) picked up two of its biggest victories of the season this past weekend with a two-game sweep of Vermont in the best-of-three ECAC quarterfinals. With the wins, a 4-2 decision on Friday (March 14) and a…

Nearly a century ago, bicycle racing was the most popular spectator sport in the nation. Velodromes were as common as shopping malls, early 20th century writers penned rabid reviews of bike races, and in 1903, “across the pond,” a handful of anxious race promoters waited to see if their race – named simply the “Tour…

Online Du Bois series adds Dove, Wideman The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute’s Black Writers Reading series continues online with a new Webcast of Rita Dove and John Wideman. View the…

DePinho selected AACR award recipient The American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) has named Professor of Medicine and Genetics Ronald A. DePinho as the recipient of its 43rd annual AACR-G.H.A.…

Due to an increase in homeland security alert status, which was recently raised to code orange, or high, because of the heightened probability of war in Iraq, Harvard has increased visible security on campus and urges faculty and students to check travel advisories, especially students who plan to travel over spring break and particularly those…

It was like finding a four-leaf clover. This year’s Daffodil Day bloomed on St. Patrick’s Day and was rewarded with the biggest yield ever.

Elegant facts await me. Small things in this world are mine, recited Elizabeth Alexander as she spoke her poem about the Venus Hottentot. If language is a currency that grants acquisition, then Alexander and her fellow reader, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Suzan-Lori Parks, have joint ownership of small things and large insights.

At a meeting of the Faculty of Divinity on February 24, 2003, the following Minute was placed upon the records.

A cost-savings and efficiency initiative begun by President Lawrence H. Summers has begun to bear fruit in the first University-wide preferred provider program, which would save a projected $2 million to $3 million annually.

The Institute for Government Innovation at Harvards Kennedy School of Government has announced that 15 groundbreaking initiatives have been named finalists for the Innovations in American Government Award. Each of the 15 finalists, eligible to win $100,000, will receive a $10,000 grant to support replication activities.

Harvard&s Pluralism Project invites students in the comparative study of religion, anthropology, sociology, history, government, and other academic fields to participate in research on the changing contours of American religious life. Undergraduates and graduate students with academic backgrounds in the Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jain, or Sikh traditions and/or in other relevant academic fields are encouraged…

The Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government has announced the availability of one doctoral fellowship for the 2003-04 academic year. The fellowship, open to any student in good standing in a Harvard doctoral or advanced- degree program, is designed to provide the successful applicant the opportunity to complete and/or make significant…

The Kennedy School of Government (KSG) has announced the fourth funding cycle for the Kuwait Program Research Fund. The fund is made possible through the generous support of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. A KSG faculty committee will consider applications for small one-year grants (up to $30,000) to support advanced research by…

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) was perhaps the most influential theatrical designer in the first decades of the 20th century, and was known for using nonrealistic, symbolist design rather than sentimentality in his creations. A master at the art of woodcut engravings, a publisher, editor, book illustrator, and essayist, Craigs passions covered many art forms, but…

Calling himself a traitor to Frances peaceful position on Iraq, yet not on board for Americas looming war, Doctors Without Borders founder Bernard Kouchner said it is the Iraqi people – machine-gunned, gassed, and murdered by the hundreds of thousands – who are forgotten in the debate.

A new study, prepared by two Harvard University professors, indicates public support for racial profile screening of airline passengers to reduce the risks of terrorism if such screening reduces significant flight delays passengers would otherwise experience.

Revelations about Irans nuclear power program have added to the Bush administrations foreign policy headaches, but Harvard experts said Wednesday (March 12) that the solution lies in pragmatic, not ideological, dealings with Iran.

President Lawrence H. Summers and Peter G. Rowe, dean of the Faculty of Design, are pleased to announce that the President and Fellows of Harvard College have established the Gerald M. McCue Professorship of Architecture in the Faculty of Design. The chair has been endowed by a generous gift from Frank Stanton to advance design…

Adults over age 65 who consume between one and six alcoholic beverages each week have a lower risk of dementia than either nondrinkers or heavier drinkers, according to findings that appear in the March 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

This is Mary Dyers last day on Earth. Next morning, she will be hanged from the great elm on Boston Common for the crime of being a Quaker. She does not fear death. In fact, this is the third time she has returned to Boston from the more tolerant colony of Rhode Island for the…

For the 2003-2004 academic year, Harvards package of undergraduate tuition, room, board, and student fees will increase by 5.5 percent, to $37,928. Costs include: tuition, $26,066 room rate, $4,706 board, $4,162 health services fee, $1,142 and student services fee, $1,852.

A $1 million gift from Merck Research Laboratories to Harvard Universitys Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) will create three new opportunities for research, fellowships, and summer school genomics education. The gift will be distributed over five years to fund three separate departmental and interdepartmental programs.