In brief

Pinkett-Smith talk will aim to empower young women

Actress and musician Jada Pinkett-Smith, who has starred in such films as “The Matrix” and “Ali” and who fronts her own band, Wicked Wisdom, will visit Harvard Friday (Oct. 20) as a guest of the Harvard Foundation. “A Conversation With Jada Pinkett-Smith” is being co-sponsored by the Association of Black Harvard Women. All students and faculty are invited to attend (5 p.m. in Science Center D). A reception will follow.

Yale Law School’s Reva Siegel to deliver Biddle Memorial Lecture

Harvard Law School (HLS) invites members of the University community to attend the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture with Reva Siegel, the Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Professor of Law at Yale Law School. The lecture – titled “The New Politics of Abortion: Woman-Protective Antiabortion Argument, in South Dakota and Beyond” – will be given Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. in Austin Hall East, HLS. A reception will immediately follow in the Austin Hall Rotunda.

Ambassador Abramowitz to deliver Neuhauser Lecture

This year’s speaker for the Charles Neuhauser Memorial Lecture will be Ambassador Morton Abramowitz. Based on his lifetime of high-level diplomatic experience, Abramowitz will speak on “The Asias I Have Known: Changing Policy Perspectives.”

Pinkett-Smith talk will aim to empower young women

Actress and musician Jada Pinkett-Smith, who has starred in such films as “The Matrix” and “Ali” and who fronts her own band, Wicked Wisdom, will visit Harvard Friday (Oct. 20) as a guest of the Harvard Foundation. “A Conversation With Jada Pinkett-Smith” is being co-sponsored by the Association of Black Harvard Women. All students and faculty are invited to attend (5 p.m. in Science Center D). A reception will follow.

Yale Law School’s Reva Siegel to deliver Biddle Memorial Lecture

Harvard Law School (HLS) invites members of the University community to attend the Francis Biddle Memorial Lecture with Reva Siegel, the Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Professor of Law at Yale Law School. The lecture – titled “The New Politics of Abortion: Woman-Protective Antiabortion Argument, in South Dakota and Beyond” – will be given Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. in Austin Hall East, HLS. A reception will immediately follow in the Austin Hall Rotunda.

Ambassador Abramowitz to deliver Neuhauser Lecture

This year’s speaker for the Charles Neuhauser Memorial Lecture will be Ambassador Morton Abramowitz. Based on his lifetime of high-level diplomatic experience, Abramowitz will speak on “The Asias I Have Known: Changing Policy Perspectives.”

Sponsored by the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, the talk – celebrating its 15th year – will be held Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. in the Belfer Case Study Room (S020) of the Center for Government and International Studies (south building, 1730 Cambridge St.). The talk will be followed by a reception outside the lecture hall, to which all audience members are invited.

Abramowitz received his M.A. from Harvard in 1955 before joining the Foreign Service in 1960. He has served as ambassador to Thailand (1978-1981) and to Turkey (1989-1991), and is currently a senior fellow at the Century Foundation.

Take pledge for a greener future

From Oct. 23 through Nov. 23, members of the University community can help support environmental sustainability on campus by taking the online Harvard Campus Sustainability Pledge, a joint project of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Harvard Medical School. Simply pick five actions to conserve resources in your daily activities, and if more than half of the people in your building take the pledge, Harvard will offset at least 10 percent of your building’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing renewable energy. Last year more than 4,000 Harvard students, staff, and faculty took the pledge. As a result, Harvard purchased 4 million kilowatt-hours of wind power. Take the pledge at http://www.greencampus.harvard.edu/pledge.

Lectures, panels among programming at Radcliffe

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study has announced its 2006-07 science programming, including lectures on medical advances in breast cancer and the environmental context of cholera; a panel of distinguished women surgeons sharing their research and experiences in the field; and a symposium, organized in conjunction with Harvard’s Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS), on tissue engineering. The institute’s science programming brings together experts across scientific fields to lecture and share their work with an audience of faculty, scientists, and the general public. For a complete list of upcoming Radcliffe Institute events, visit http://www.radcliffe.edu.

MAC renovations to begin in March

The Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) will close for renovations the week of March 19 and will remain closed through the end of October 2007. This scheduled closing has been set back from the originally published February date to help provide greater flexibility in the relocation of existing programs.

The Department of Athletics, Harvard College, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ Office of Physical Resources are actively determining alternative spaces for the activities that will be affected by the closing. Activities currently scheduled in the MAC gymnasium will move to Lavietes Pavilion, the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center (QRAC), and Hemenway Gymnasium. Pool activity will move to Blodgett Pool with expanded hours. Exercise equipment will potentially move to a combination of QRAC, House gyms, Yard spaces, and athletic facilities at Soldiers Field. Club and intramural activities will be accommodated at a combination of QRAC, Soldiers Field athletic fields and facilities, and activity space at Hilles Library.

More detailed information will be posted at the MAC and on the Athletics Department Web site (http://www.gocrimson.com) as it becomes available.