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Problem with generic meds
Researchers from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that some patients who receive generic drugs that vary in their color are over 50 percent more likely to stop taking the drug, leading to potentially important and potentially adverse clinical effects.
Next step for South Asia Initiative
In response to the South Asia Initiative’s demonstrated commitment to the advancement of South Asian studies and programs, the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost at Harvard have formally renamed it the South Asia Institute at Harvard University.
Sniff mechanics
As described in a Dec. 19 paper in Neuron by Venkatesh Murthy, a professor of molecular and cellular biology, researchers have, for the first time, shed light on how the neural feedback mechanism of the olfactory system works by identifying where the signals go, and which type of neurons receive them.
Shareholder report available Dec. 20
The 2012 Annual Report of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR), a subcommittee of the President and Fellows, will be available upon request on Dec. 20.
EdX expansion set for spring
EdX, the online learning initiative founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announced its spring course and module offerings, including four at Harvard.
A week in the life of Leverett House
Established in 1930, Leverett House is the largest residential House at Harvard. These photos explore a week in the life of Leverett House.
Using privilege helpfully
Acknowledging one’s privilege — and using that advantage to help level the playing field for everyone — is essential in the fight against racism and sexism, activist Peggy McIntosh told a crowd of Harvard faculty and staff in the second of this year’s FAS diversity dialogues.
Climate change on world stage
In a question-and-answer session, Professor Robert Stavins discusses the recent international conference on climate change, and the prospects for nations to reach agreement on a plan to confront it.
Wonders of Wintersession
Wintersession and Winter Break offer many chances to try out a new skill or return to a passion.
Barry’s Corner plan filed
Following several months of community discussions, Samuels & Associates has filed a proposed plan for the Barry’s Corner Residential and Retail Commons project.
Gun violence in America
The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School should galvanize Americans to view gun violence as a public health crisis, says David Hemenway, professor of health policy and author of “Private Guns, Public Health.”
Charles ‘Henry’ Foster dies at 85
Charles H.W. “Henry” Foster, a 20-year associate of the Harvard Forest, a Harvard College alumnus, and for decades one of the nation’s leading environmental policy experts, died of cancer on Oct. 4 at the age of 85 in Needham, Mass.
Sir Alex leads the way
The manager of iconic Manchester United, the recent topic of a Harvard Business School case that examined his famous career and the keys to his effective brand of leadership, visited Harvard this fall to engage with HBS students in the classroom.
Three win international Rhodes
A Harvard senior and two recent alumnae have been named international Rhodes Scholars, and will join the six American Harvard students who will head to the University of Oxford next fall.
Pickles, prisms, and scientists
Celebrating its 11th year of public engagement, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ (SEAS) Holiday Lecture Series dazzled and delighted audiences on Dec. 8 with a show guaranteed to kindle curiosity about the natural world.
Corn in a changing climate
Harvard researchers have concluded that omitting the adaptive ability of crops from assessments of potential damages from a warming climate could substantially overestimate losses to U.S. maize yields.
A military base, reborn
Harvard design students imagine multiple futures for a longtime New England military base.
Battle cries of freedom
A Countway Library exhibit at Harvard Medical School brings the suffering of the Civil War to light.
Getting down to business
Advancing America’s economic competitiveness should be a top priority for elected leaders, Harvard Business School professors Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin told a group of new members of Congress attending a weeklong Harvard Kennedy School crash course on the policy issues they’ll face in Washington.
Carolling at Memorial Church
Each year in December, Harvard's Memorial Church presents members of the University community and beyond with the gift of song.
A musical gift
Each year, the Memorial Church offers the gift of song to the Harvard and Cambridge communities, with two moving services of carols. The Dec. 17 service is scheduled for 8 p.m.
A too-short life, examined
D.T. Max, author of a new biography of David Foster Wallace, sat down with professor and critic James Wood to discuss the writer’s legacy and his brief time at Harvard, a catalyst for the breakdown and recovery that inspired much of Wallace’s masterpiece, “Infinite Jest.”
Seeking healthy inspiration
More than 100 students packed Harvard’s i-lab in Allston Tuesday evening (Dec. 11) for the kickoff of the Deans’ Health and Life Sciences Challenge, a $75,000 contest seeking new ideas to improve the world’s health.
895 admitted through Early Action
Harvard College has admitted 895 students to the Class of 2017 under the Early Action program, an increase of 16 percent over last year.
Holmes’ suite home
In a pioneering first, the Harvard Law School Library has used its eight collections on celebrated jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. to aggregate a hyperaccessible digital “suite” that scholars and the public can search, browse, and tag.
Joining the quarter-century club
Harvard feted 139 faculty and staff — physics professors and dining hall checkers among them — for their longtime service to the University at the annual 25-Year Recognition Ceremony.
Freshmen take Winter Fest break
Winter Fest, planned by the First-Year Social Committee (FYSC), provides a low-key, winter-themed, relaxing social event every year, allowing hundreds of freshmen to socialize with their classmates and take a well-deserved break from studying for finals.
Social choice fund to be established
Harvard University announced today its intention to create a social choice fund.
Women’s hockey dominates
Co-captains Jillian Dempsey ’13 and Laura Bellamy ’13 showed their leadership with their play on the ice as they powered the women’s hockey team to a convincing 8-1 win over Providence College Dec. 7.
The pop-up, over-the-top library
Through Dec. 21, the Labrary, a student-designed pop-up space at 92 Mt. Auburn St., shows off projects that imagine the future of libraries.
Midyear graduates recognized
More than 100 Harvard students, along with their families and friends, gathered in the Radcliffe Gymnasium on Dec. 6 to celebrate the 2012-13 Midyear Graduates Recognition Ceremony. The event recognized students who graduate in November or March, off the usual Commencement cycle.
Lessons for the next Sandy
Disaster relief dollars flowing to those affected by hurricanes like Sandy and Katrina represent an important opportunity to ensure that communities are better able to withstand the stronger storms and higher seas likely coming as climate change worsens, panelists said.
Justice by committee
A research team made up of current and former Harvard students played a key role in the British trial centered on government atrocities during Kenya’s Mau Mau insurrection, lending support to an October court ruling that clears the way for the case to go to trial.
A notion to cool the skies
An international regulatory framework is needed to govern possible research and deployment of engineering approaches to counter climate change, an authority on environmental law says.
A call for creative know-how
The Dean’s Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge aims to harness the University’s entrepreneurial spirit to help promote and sustain the arts.
For a day, geek is chic
Hundreds of students — hackers and newcomers alike — showed off their programming chops at Monday’s CS50 Fair, a raucous exhibit of mobile apps, websites, and other projects created for Harvard’s wildly popular computer science class.
John Milton Ward
At a Meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on December, 4, 2012, the Minute honoring the life and service of the late John Milton Ward, William Powell Mason Professor of Music, Emeritus, was placed upon the records. Professor Ward was an inventor of many areas of research that later contributed to the broadening of the field of musicology and was the founder of the Harvard Archive of World Music, which began with recordings from his collection.
Extra chemo could be answer
Researchers have found that young patients with an aggressive form of leukemia who are likely to relapse after chemotherapy treatment can significantly reduce those odds by receiving additional courses of chemotherapy.
Solving a biological mystery
A team of Harvard researchers has shown that insects like crickets possess a variation of a gene — called oskar — that is critical to the production of germ cells in “higher” insects. That discovery suggests that the oskar gene emerged far earlier in insect evolution than researchers previously believed.
The bounty of EDEN
An associate professor at Harvard, Cassandra Extavour also heads up the Evo-Devo-Eco Network (EDEN), a collaborative group of researchers devoted to encouraging the study of nontraditional “model” organisms, ranging from sea anemones and crickets.
Remember research, Faust urges
During Washington visit, Harvard President Drew Faust tells business, policy, and diplomatic leaders that they should maintain a strong research partnership between the federal government and higher educational institutions.
New life for McKinlock
The second House renewal test project, Leverett’s McKinlock Hall, is scheduled to begin in June. The project will result in greater common and recreational space for students, which will help foster community and nurture learning.
The ongoing allure of Tolkien
In a question-and-answer session, Stephen Mitchell, Harvard professor of Scandinavian and folklore, explores the lasting appeal and the inspirations behind author J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale “The Hobbit.” Director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the book for the big screen opens in the United States mid-December.
How to build a nation
While the structures of state can be created by outsiders, national identities can only be created from within, and they commonly arise through shared language, culture, history, and ideals, political theorist Francis Fukuyama says.
McCartney named president of Smith
Kathleen McCartney, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development, will become the next president of Smith College next year.
Good, but never simple
Delivering Harvard Divinity School’s Ingersoll Lecture at Sanders Theatre, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison discussed concepts of good and evil in her work and that of her contemporaries.
30 million footsteps
Journalist Paul Salopek next year plans to begin a seven-year, 22,000-mile trip to follow the path of the first massive human migration around the world. He plans to begin in the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia and finish in Patagonia.
Different perspectives
Professor Robin Kelsey talked about “performing for the camera” in a Harvard Allston Ed Portal lecture, part of its faculty speaker series.
AA benefits vary between sexes
A new study finds differences in the ways that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous helps men and women maintain sobriety.
Girls who rock out
A film and a discussion at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library highlight Girls Rock Camp, which teaches girls and young women during summer sessions to find their inner musicians, shed some inhibitions, and celebrate themselves.
