Brevia

Gender Milestone

For the first time, slightly more women than men will enroll in the cohort of students entering Harvard College, making the class of 2008 an historic group even before they begin their studies. Although the official final count awaits the arrival of students for registration on September 13, a summer census of acceptances tabulated eight more women than men planning to attend.

 

Mental-Health Central

A new position embracing University counseling, academic support, and mental-health services has been created in response to a recommendation by the Student Mental Health Task Force (see the "reports" section of the provost's website, www.provost.harvard.edu/). Paul Barreira, associate professor of psychiatry and chair of the task force, is the new director. He will oversee the Bureau of Study Counsel (BSC) and the clinical and counseling services delivered through University Health Services (UHS). All services are now under UHS supervision; the BSC had reported to the dean of Harvard College. The number of mental-health service providers will be expanded, with more outreach to freshmen in Harvard Yard and to other undergraduates in their Houses. Graduate and international students are also targeted to receive better mental-health and academic support. Long-time BSC director Charles P. Ducey resigned effective at the end of June; he will establish a private practice and continue teaching at the Graduate School of Education and the Extension School.

 

Same-sex Nuptials

Photgraph by Kris Snibbe

With the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, Harvard couples were among those who took vows. At left, Lowell House master Diana Eck (left) and co-master Dorothy Austin tied the knot in Memorial Church on July 4, with Rev. Peter Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals, officiating. At right, Kevin Smith '76 (left) and Mitchell Adams '66, M.B.A. '69 (center), were married June 22 at King's Chapel in Boston. Both men worked in the Massachusetts State House for former governor William F. Weld '66, J.D. '70 (right), a friend of Adams since college. Weld gave the homily, returning a favor: Adams (past treasurer and now executive committee member of the Harvard Alumni Association) had ushered at Weld's wedding in 1975. "Naturally, being a libertarian at heart," said the Republican Weld, "I've always supported gay rights"; his long friendship with Adams simply "crystallized it." Weld said he would downplay "how proud I am" of his Supreme Judicial Court appointee, now chief justice, Margaret Marshall, Ed.M. '69, whose court made such weddings possible, observing, "That's not the headline today."

Nota Bene

Managerial medicine. Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School will offer a five-year joint M.D.-M.B.A. program beginning in September 2005. The aim is to produce leaders for the increasingly complex healthcare system, public and private.

 

Alan A. Altschuler
Photograph by Christina Roache

Acting design dean. Stanton professor of urban policy and planning Alan A. Altshuler, who holds dual appointments in the Kennedy School of Government and the Graduate School of Design, has been appointed the acting dean of GSD. A search continues for the permanent suc-cessor to Peter G. Rowe, who concluded his decan-al service on June 30. Altshuler has served on the University's physical planning committee and on the Allston master-planning task force.

Edward L. Glaeser
Kennedy School of Government

 

Urban appointment. Edward L. Glaeser, professor of economics, has been named both codirector of the Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and co-faculty director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. Glaeser, who joins Alan A. Altshuler in these new capacities—see the previous item—specializes in urban and social economics.

 

VP to be. A sixth vice president is coming to Massachusetts Hall. A search is under way for a human-resources vice president, elevating the position from its former status: reporting to the vice president for administration.

 

International medicine. Harvard Medical International, the medical school's overseas-services arm, has broken ground on the Harvard Medical School Dubai Center, its largest project, to oversee quality management, education, and research at the Dubai Healthcare City now under construction in the United Arab Emirates.

 

Penalty paid. Harvard and medical-school affiliate Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center paid $2.4 million, over and above an earlier $850,000 payment by the University, to settle allegations concerning the misuse of four federal research and training grants. Harvard had alerted federal officials to the misallocation of funds from the National Institute on Aging between 1994 and 1999.

 

AIDS Alliance. The University's diverse programs related to AIDS will be united under a Harvard University Program on AIDS. The chair of the committee, which will operate as part of the emerging global-health initiative (see "Global Reach in Health Sciences," January-February, page 62), will be Paul E. Farmer, Presley professor of social medicine (see "Bedside Manner," November-December 2003, page 38). Other members are drawn from the faculties of arts and sciences, government, medicine, and public health.

 

Glimp honored. Fred L. Glimp '50, Ph.D. '64, is much beloved for a career of service to Harvard that included stints as dean of admissions and financial aid, dean of the College, and vice president for alumni affairs and development (see "Glimpses of a Harvard Half-Century," January-February 1997, page 62). Now the prodigiously successful University fundraiser and his wife (known as "Buster") have been honored by the creation of a Faculty of Arts and Sciences professorship in economics, government, or history bearing the names of Fred and Eleanor Glimp. It is the gift of George Joseph, S.B. '49, a California insurance executive.

 

Mutual-fund money. James F. Rothenberg '68, M.B.A. '70, started work as the University's Treasurer, member of the Harvard Corporation, and chair of Harvard Management Company on July 1 (see "Brevia," May-June, page 75). He is the president of Capital Research and Management, based in Los Angeles, the investment adviser to the American Funds family of mutual funds. The company announced in late June that it had been requested by federal and state regulators to provide information on its trading practices. At issue is the directing of brokerage commissions to firms whose representatives also recommend investments in the mutual funds, and disclosure of that practice to investors—one of a range of subjects involved in investigations of the mutual-fund industry as a whole.

Joyce Brinton
Stephanie Mitchell / Harvard News Office

 

Intellectual property proprietress. Joyce Brinton, director of the Office for Technology and Trademark Licensing since 1984, is retiring; she will serve until a successor is identified. The office handles inquiries regarding the University's intellectual property from internal inventors and outside industries, maintains a database of technology available for academic or industrial licensing, and negotiates suitable arrangements (www.techtransfer.harvard.edu).

 

Radcliffe roster. The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study's 2004-2005 class of 46 fellows, selected from 765 applicants, includes 8 creative artists, 14 scholars in the humanities, 12 social scientists, and 11 natural scientists. Members of the Harvard community who received fellowships include Homi K. Bhabha, Rothenberg professor of English and American literature and language; Kimberly M. DaCosta, assistant professor of African and African American studies and of social studies; Melissa Franklin, professor of physics; Jane J. Mansbridge, Adams professor of political leadership and democratic values; Rebecca Mercuri, a Kennedy School research fellow; Stephen A. Mitchell, professor of Scandinavian and folklore; Mica Pollock, assistant professor of education; Mary M. Steedly, professor of anthropology; and John R. Wakeley, Cabot associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology. Mahzarin R. Banaji, Cabot professor of social ethics and Pforzheimer professor at Radcliffe, will lead a small cluster of scholars who will explore unconscious prejudice and the law.

 

 
  Kimberly M. DaCosta Stephen A. Mitchell
  Courtesy of Kimberly M. DaCosta Courtesy of Stephen A. Mitchell
 
  Mary M. Steedly Mahzarin R. Banaji
  Courtesy of Mary M. Steedly Courtesy of Mahzarin R. Banaji

 

Disease Diagnostics

The Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention has broadened its on-line cancer-risk website, adding tools for assessing an individual's risk of suffering heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis. The expanded tools, complete with prevention tips, reflecting up-to-date knowledge from the School of Public Health, are now available at www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu.

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