Letters

Cambridge 02138

The meaning of life, diabetes, Gandhi, burlesque

July-August 2011

Features

Restaurants Rampant

Dining out is surging—yet there are reservations.

by Craig Lambert

Mary Costelloe Berenson

Brief life of a Renaissance scholar: 1864-1945

by Diane E. Booton

Reefs at Risk

The world's most fragile marine ecosystems are in decline.

by Jonathan Shaw

Time to Electrify

Reducing our dependence on imported oil—while addressing the threat of climate change

Colleges in Crisis

Disruptive change comes to American higher education

by Clayton M. Chri... , Michael B. Horn

RIGHT NOW Harvard research and ideas

Swerves

Stephen Greenblatt traces the influence of Lucretius, through De Rerum Natura, on modern thought.

Women and Alcohol

Studying the differences in addiction and recovery between men and women

Snuffing Flames with Electricity

Harvard scientists have discovered how to extinguish flames by pushing them off their fuel source with an electric field.

John Harvard's Journal University news

Commencement Witchcraft

Highlights from Harvard's 360th Commencement

Honoris Causa

The honorary-degree recipients of 2011

Words to Live By

A sampling of Commencement week speeches

Commencement Confetti

An omnium-gatherum of notes and statistics, vital and otherwise

Center of Attention

Human touches within Commencement's pomp

The New Provost

An experienced Stanford administrator, an expert on health policy and economics, returns to take a big job at his alma mater.

Peter Der Manuelian

Meet Harvard's resident Egyptologist.

Fellows Three

New members enlarge the Harvard Corporation

Lessons from Libya?

Faculty consulting for the Qaddafi government prompts a debate on academic principles.

Yesterday's News

Headlines from Harvard's history

Marc Hauser’s Return

The psychology professor returns to Harvard, but not to teaching.

University People

Arrivals, appointments, awards

Ants through the Ages

In two new books, E.O. Wilson and his coauthors introduce pioneer myrmecologist José Celestino Mutis, and the ants that are "the most complex socially of all animals, except for humans."

Brevia

Radcliffe Institute's dean steps down, FAS's fitter fisc, renovation for Old Quincy, J-term update, and other Harvard news

Mentoring and Moral Experience

A student's tribute to medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman

Messy Questions, Messy Answers

A senior ponders cultural capital, socioeconomic realities, and career choices.

Dominant Flotilla

A stellar spring for men's crew

Montage Books, creative arts, performance and more

Channel Cerfing

With sound, image, and word, Chris Cerf teaches the basics.

Fakery and Shakespeare

A con man, his son, and a fiction on two levels

A Baton with Sting

Conductor Sarah Hicks spans Prokofiev and the Police.

(Un)common Sense

Historian Sophia Rosenfeld examines the origins of politicians' appeals to "common sense."

Devoted to Debt

Nancy Koehn reviews Louis Hyman's Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink.

Off the Shelf

Recent books with Harvard connections

Chapter and Verse

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Almuni Harvardians far and wide

The Brain As Art

Carl Schoonover ’06 merges science and aesthetics.

The Senior Seniors

Marjorie Thomas '42 and Donald F. Brown '30 led the alumni parade on Commencement afternoon.

Graduate School Medalists

Four scholars whose contributions to society were fostered at Harvard

Voting Results

The newly elected members of the Board of Overseers and new directors of the Harvard Alumni Association

Harvard Medalists

For outstanding service to the University, a Commencement afternoon thank-you

Cambridge Scholars

Four new graduates head back to school—in the other Cambridge

Alumni Gifts

A record-breaking fiftieth-reunion total is one among many contributions.

A Singular Woman’s Biographer

Janny Scott '77 introduces Barack Obama's mother to a wider audience.

The SIGnboard

Summer events hosted by Shared Interest Groups

The Classes

Harvard alumni may sign in to view class notes and obituaries.