Harvard and the Military

Language, literature, and the liberal arts are key disciplines in forming leaders, Harvard President Drew Faust said during a speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The inaugural Official Harvard Military History Tours in November brought together 50 veterans who toured the many landmarks significant to Harvard’s distinguished military past.

Fifteen active-duty or veteran soldiers have matriculated at Harvard Law School this year. Among them is Anne Stark, who commanded a company that was responsible for the daily operations of a 500-soldier battalion.

Memorial Church hosted a private ceremony for more than half of the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Four Harvard seniors received their military assignments on Wednesday before family and friends during the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps commissioning ceremony in Tercentenary Theatre.

A new Harvard-wide seminar program, slated for three years, takes on a constellation of interdisciplinary issues around violence and nonviolence.

Robert McDonald, new U.S. secretary of veterans affairs, detailed initial progress in reforming the department, which has been scarred by revelations of mismanagement and lengthy, perhaps life-threatening, waits for veterans needing care.

Since its founding in 2012 by Clinical Professor of Law Daniel Nagin, more than 30 HLS students taking part in the Veterans Legal Clinic have represented more than 100 clients in the areas of federal and state veterans’ benefits, discharge upgrades, and estate planning.

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has been awarded a first-phase, follow-on contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to further develop its Soft Exosuit ― a wearable robot — alternative versions of which could eventually help those with limited mobility as well.

A look back at Harvard’s role in World War I, from the men and women who entered as volunteers after the first shot was fired to the thousands of graduates and students who joined the fighting in the American phase of the conflict.

Harvard President Drew Faust welcomed to campus the Warrior-Scholar Project, an academic boot camp for veterans thinking of applying to college, while Professor Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. introduced the students to the two works he considers seminal to understanding American politics.

In a question-and-answer session, Linda Bilmes, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, discusses how to fix serious shortcomings in the management of Veterans Affairs.

The Harvard and Radcliffe Classes of 1914 were the University’s final ones before world war. Their brilliant students became players on a stage of vanishing national innocence.

A Tercentenary Theatre ceremony launches seven ROTC graduates as officers in Marines, Navy, and Air Force.

Harvard Law School students argued a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, seeking to establish the rights of veterans who are redeployed and who also have benefits claims pending.

In what has become a Harvard tradition, President Drew Faust and guest Gen. Stanley McChrystal led a list of those welcoming new Harvard students who have military backgrounds.

All-American Crimson rower Courtney Diekema, a graduating senior, is hoping for a spot on the under-23 U.S. women’s crew and perhaps in the Olympics, even as she gets ready for duty as a lieutenant in Air Force intelligence.

The U.S. Department of the Navy has presented Harvard President Drew Faust with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, its highest civilian honor, for leading the move to formal recognition of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on Harvard’s campus in 2011.

Harvard design students imagine multiple futures for a longtime New England military base.

Harvard Law School student Jesse Reising will extend the Warrior-Scholar Project to Harvard. The Warrior-Scholar Project is a two-week “academic boot camp” to help veterans transition from the military to college.

In an annual fall tradition, Harvard rolls out the welcome mat for its new students and fellows who are veterans or who are still in the service.

Military training returns to Harvard, as ROTC cadets participate in their first on-campus workouts in 41 years.

Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering announced that it has received a $2.6 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a smart suit that helps improve physical endurance for soldiers in the field.

A decade after the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, studies have shown that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among troops is surprisingly low, and a Harvard researcher credits the drop, in part, to new efforts by the Army to prevent PTSD, and to ensure that those who develop the disorder receive the best treatment available.

A day before graduating, four Harvard seniors receive their military commissions.

In a ceremony March 28 at Hilles Hall, Harvard University resumed a connection with the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) that started in 1916.

Before the Civil War, Harvard was a microcosm of the complex loyalties and opinions that marked the United States. During the war, it lost more than 200 of its sons.

Harvard University announced March 21 that it has signed an agreement with the United States Army to re-establish a formal on-campus relationship with the Army Senior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (SROTC).

Among the top Harvard stories of 2011 was the return of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) to campus after an absence of 40 years. In March, the University signed an agreement with the Navy. By September, offices had opened in Hilles Hall for the Naval ROTC’s Old Ironsides Battalion.

Harvard University’s expansive role in World War II, from research to recruits, helped the Allies to triumph.