Year: 2007

  • Campus & Community

    Mendelson, substance abuse research pioneer, 77

    Jack H. Mendelson, director of McLean Hospital’s Clinical Research Program on Substance Abuse, co-director of its Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center (ADARC), and professor of psychiatry (neuroscience) at Harvard Medical School (HMS), passed away on Aug. 15 after a brief illness. He was 77.

  • Campus & Community

    Noted Islamic scholar Mahdi dies at 81

    Muhsin S. Mahdi, the James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic Emeritus, died July 9 after a long series of illnesses. He was 81.

  • Campus & Community

    Alexander H. Leighton of School of Public Health dies at 99

    Professor Alexander H. Leighton, first chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences (now part of the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health) at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), passed away on Aug. 11 at his home in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was 99.

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard College Fund’s ‘Peabo’ Gardner dies

    On Sept. 5, Harvard and the Harvard College Fund lost one of its best-known loyalists. George Peabody Gardner III, known to colleagues and friends everywhere as “Peabo,” succumbed to cancer…

  • Campus & Community

    Ethics Center’s 2007-08 fellows, senior scholar

    The Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics announced its Faculty Fellows in Ethics for 2007-08. Under the direction of Arthur Applbaum, professor of ethics and public policy, the fellows will spend the year participating in the center seminar and other activities, as well as pursuing their own research. Edward Hundert, senior lecturer on medical…

  • Campus & Community

    School of Design names Loeb fellowship class for 2007-08

    The following midcareer practitioners, whose work is dedicated to the improvement of the built and natural environment, will be in residence as Loeb Fellows at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) for the upcoming academic year.

  • Campus & Community

    Shorenstein Center names fall fellows and visiting faculty

    The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), recently announced its fall fellows.

  • Campus & Community

    University adopts a new schedule for management of records

    As of Sept. 1, the University has adopted a new General Records Schedule (GRS) — a publication of records management services in the Harvard University Archives. The new GRS describes and sets standards for the management and retention of University records. This vital document is relevant to every Harvard office and applies to records in…

  • Campus & Community

    Feldman lecture to mark Constitution Day in Lowell Lecture Hall

    Noah Feldman, professor of law, will present a lecture open to all students and staff titled “The Constitution and the International Order” at 1 p.m. on Sept. 17 in Lowell Lecture Hall.

  • Campus & Community

    Text message service available in event of extreme emergencies

    As part of its evolving emergency communications procedures, Harvard University is making available text message alerts to students, faculty, and staff to be used only in the event of an extreme, campus-wide, life-threatening emergency.

  • Campus & Community

    Opening Days will last all year

    On one of the last sweltering days of the summer, 1,675 first-years moved into the freshman dormitories. The next day the temperature dropped but their excitement didn’t. Over the coming weeks these new students face the challenge of adjusting to an entirely new life. To help them in these challenging first days — packed with…

  • Campus & Community

    Bobo, Morgan return to Harvard

    Marcyliena Morgan, a noted linguistic anthropologist, and Lawrence D. Bobo, a renowned sociologist, have been appointed professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Both will join the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS); Bobo will have a joint appointment in sociology. Morgan and Bobo, who are husband and wife, were members of…

  • Campus & Community

    Host of new mentors to take reins in upcoming athletic seasons

    As the University welcomes more than 240 freshman athletes to its various fields, courts, pitches, pools, rinks, and turfs this fall season, a group of new mentors and coaches will also settle in for their rookie season with the Crimson. Below are some of the new hires.

  • Campus & Community

    (Another) new era

    For all the talk about the commercialization and professionalizing of college sports, the one happy constant with athletics in academia is that players willingly perform in the same uniform for four whole seasons. Such loyalty among professional athletes, meanwhile, seems to be going the way of the granny shot.

  • Campus & Community

    Community Affairs fills fall with free family fun

    Among the abundance of fun and free offerings for the public in and around Harvard Square this fall are two upcoming events sponsored by Harvard’s Office of Community Affairs.

  • Health

    Stem cells make new heart valves

    Researchers have coaxed adult stem cells into forming artificial heart valves that could one day mean fewer surgeries for children suffering from heart defects.

  • Campus & Community

    2007 HAA award recipients

    The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Awards were established in 1990 to recognize outstanding service to Harvard University through alumni activities. This year’s awards ceremony will take place during the fall HAA board of directors meeting on Oct. 18.

  • Campus & Community

    Mathematician Taylor wins Shaw Prize

    Herchel Smith Professor of Mathematics Richard Taylor has been awarded the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences for work that unified the diverse fields of prime numbers and symmetry. Taylor shares…

  • Campus & Community

    El-Erian to step down as head of Harvard Management Company

    Mohamed A. El-Erian announced today (Sept. 11) that he plans to step down as president and chief executive officer of Harvard Management Company (HMC) at the end of 2007 and to return to his former company, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), as co-chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer.

  • Health

    Stem cells make new heart valves

    Harvard researchers have coaxed adult stem cells into forming artificial heart valves that could one day mean fewer surgeries for children suffering from heart defects. The scientists, at Harvard-affiliated Boston…

  • Science & Tech

    Biohybrid of elastic film and muscle cells packs a punch

    In an innovative marriage of living cells and a synthetic substrate, bioengineers at Harvard University have found that a rubberlike, elastic film coated with a single layer of cardiac muscle cells can semi-autonomously engage in lifelike gripping, pumping, walking, and swimming.

  • Campus & Community

    First class of Ruffolo Fellows introduced at Kennedy School ceremony

    A ceremony was held Sept. 21 at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) announcing the establishment of the Giorgio Ruffolo Fellowships in Sustainability Science and introducing the first Ruffolo Fellows to the Harvard community.

  • Campus & Community

    Live from the stadium: Saturday night lights

    Crimson football fans and Harvard history buffs might be surprised to learn that Saturday’s (Sept. 22) night game wasn’t, strictly speaking, the first time the stadium field was illuminated. In fact, for former Harvard footballers and current Crimson boosters Bob Brooks ’68, Chris Burns ’68, and Matt Donelan ’67, all of whom were in attendance…

  • Campus & Community

    Tamara Rogers named new vice president for alumni affairs and development

    Tamara Elliott Rogers, former director of major gifts in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and associate director of University Development, and currently associate dean for advancement and planning at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, will become Harvard University’s next vice president for alumni affairs and development, President Drew Faust announced today (Sept.…

  • Health

    Primates expect others to act rationally

    When trying to understand someone’s intentions, nonhuman primates expect others to act rationally by performing the most appropriate action allowed by the environment, according to a new study by researchers…

  • Health

    First robust genetic link to height in humans identified

    Over a century ago, scientists first proposed that height is a complex trait — one influenced by environmental factors and multiple genes. While subsequent studies revealed that most of the…

  • Arts & Culture

    New research challenges previous knowledge about the origins of urbanization

    Ancient cities arose not by decree from a centralized political power, as was previously widely believed, but as the outgrowth of decisions made by smaller groups or individuals, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh.

  • Health

    Scientists have something to chew on

    In a groundbreaking study, two Harvard scientists have for the first time extracted human DNA from ancient artifacts. The work potentially opens up a new universe of sources for ancient genetic material, which is used to map human migrations in prehistoric times.

  • Science & Tech

    Creating a computer currency

    Computer scientists are using the latest version of peer-to-peer video sharing software to explore a next-generation electronic commerce model that uses bandwidth as a global currency.

  • Health

    First orchid fossil puts showy blooms at some 80 million years old

    Biologists at Harvard University have identified the ancient fossilized remains of a pollen-bearing bee as the first hint of orchids in the fossil record, a find they say suggests orchids are old enough to have coexisted with dinosaurs.