In brief

Community Gifts kicks off season of giving

November marks the beginning of the monthlong Community Gifts through Harvard campaign – the University’s workplace charitable giving campaign. The goal for this year is $1 million. Last year, more than 600 human service agencies and charities in the Greater Boston area received funding from Harvard affiliates. For more information, or to pledge online, visit http://www.community.harvard.edu/communitygifts.

Safra Foundation accepting fellowship applications

The Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University is currently accepting applications from graduate students who are writing dissertations or are engaged in major research on topics in practical ethics, especially ethical issues in business, education, government, law, and medicine. Students should be enrolled in a doctoral program of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or in one of Harvard’s professional Schools, and should have completed all course requirements and general examinations by September prior to the fellowship year (2007-08).

In professions such as law or medicine, where a doctoral dissertation is not required for an academic career, advanced students taking leaves of absence, recent graduates, and Harvard affiliates engaged in postgraduate training are also eligible. The application deadline is Nov. 15.

For more information, contact the graduate fellowship program at (617) 496-0587, or via e-mail at ethics@harvard.edu. Visit the center’s Web site at http://www.ethics.harvard.edu.

Science Education Department research receives NSF grant

Researchers in the Science Education Department at the Harvard College Observatory have received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the variables that encourage or impede women’s entry into careers in science. A critical transition point lies between high school and college, where a disproportionately high number of young women abandon an initial interest in science, mathematics, engineering, or technology; the researchers will conduct the first large-scale retrospective study of variables predicting persistence in the study of science at the college level.

Led by Philip Sadler, the Frances W. Wright Senior Lecturer on Celestial Navigation in the Department of Astronomy, the project is called “Persistence Research in Science and Engineering” (PRiSE) and will collect and analyze data from about 4,000 college freshmen at 20 institutions, with the goal of identifying the factors that strengthen interest in pursuing the study of science in college, particularly for female students.

Religion and spirits at Redline Bar

St. Paul Parish’s Graduate Students and Young Professionals of Harvard University is sponsoring a “Theology on Tap” series at Redline Bar (59 John F. Kennedy St.) on Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. The presenter will be Dominic Doyle, professor at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. Doyle will speak on the topic “Celebrity Death Match: Aquinas in the Ring with Nietzsche, Calvin, and the Boston Puritans – The Christian Humanism of Catholicism.” A second talk, titled “Being Pastoral: Helping People Where They’re At,” will be held Nov. 16.

For more information, visit http://www.stpaulparish.org/gradprofessional.html.