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May-June 2014

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Letters

A letter from President Faust

Attentive Schlesinger, “Bellboys,” bigger data

A letter from the editor

The College Pump

On the uses of mortarboards, and a centenarian’s update

Treasure

Thackeray’s self-portrait from an 1848 edition of <i>Vanity Fair</i>

Houghton Library celebrates William Makepeace Thackeray.

In this Issue

Thomas Rowlandson&rsquo;s view of the library of the Royal Institution in London, circa 1810

New gateways into the humanities for students “still fully molten as human beings”

Michael Gilmore directs the Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance. He has used genomic techniques to trace the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

As antibiotic resistance spreads, scientists and doctors race time.

The inscription below this bust of Vidyasagar quotes Rabindranath Tagore: &ldquo;The chief glories of [his] character were neither his compassion nor his learning, but his invincible manliness and imperishable humanity.&rdquo; The presence of a garland speaks to the reverence many still feel for the man.

Brief life of an Indian reformer: 1820-1891

Hanoi&rsquo;s streets (in 2007, above) are now full of motorcycles and scooters, and shop shelves are no longer bare.

During a quarter-century of engagement in Vietnam's economic development, Harvard scholars create a unique educational institution.

Letters

Attentive Schlesinger, “Bellboys,” bigger data

A letter from the editor

A letter from President Faust

Right Now

Alison Wood Brooks

Under pressure, getting excited yields better results than remaining calm.

Changes in climate have surprisingly far-reaching economic effects.

Climate change has diverse and far-reaching economic effects.

Joseph Conrad in 1916. In the background, ships entering the Suez Canal, circa 1888-90: harbingers of globalization

Historian Maya Jasanoff says fiction can capture the subjective experience of the past.

John Harvard's Journal

After a multiyear renovation, Harvard Art Museums make ready for a November reopening.

Melissa Franklin and Logan McCarty in the SciBox, an experimental learning space they designed

Instructors experiment with hands-on learning.

Rohini Pande

Economist Rohini Pande assesses the impact of public policies.

Justin Reich

The first analyses of online-course registrants—and "dropouts"—and other MOOC news

From the pages of the <i>Harvard Alumni Bulletin</i> and <i>Harvard Magazine</i>

Karen Gordon Mills and Kenneth I. Chenault

Two new Corporation members, College tuition and admissions, Allston teaching spaces, and more

Michael R. Bloomberg

Former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg speaks at Commencement.

David Barron

A Harvard task force released its recommendations in late February.

Kenneth C. Griffin

A landmark gift for financial aid, and other campaign gains

Big words and their use on campus

Maksim Korolev running last fall in the NCAA Cross-Country Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx

Distance runner Maksim Korolev has set Harvard and Ivy League records in cross-country and track.

Tommy Amaker

Harvard’s men’s basketball team lost, 80-73, to Michigan State in the NCAA tournament, giving them a scare.

Montage

&ldquo;Interweave,&rdquo; a 1982 studio quilt by Michael James. From the Ardis and Robert James Collection.

Fabric art that rises from mattresses to museum walls

In his Cambridge studio, Childs makes about six violins a year.

Bob Childs makes world-class violins.

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

An episode from <i>Starling</i> in which the superheroine, having made a midair rescue of an aspiring suicide who&rsquo;s leapt off a bridge, gets a not-especially-grateful reception.

“Starling” can handle thugs and palookas, but not daily life.

1911 Chicago Cubs player cards from the pre-Wrigley Field era, when baseball and smoking were <i>both</i> all-American

Economist Andrew Zimbalist analyzes the sabermetric revolution

The wrack at your feet, made lovely: Josie Iselin&rsquo;s photograph of <i>Botryocladia pseudodichotoma, </i>sea grapes, from San Clemente Island, California

Recent books with Harvard connections

Dramatic even in his student days: Leonard Bernstein at the piano in 1936

Leonard Bernstein’s life, in his letters

Alumni

Lissa Young fosters open discussions about love and sexuality during a psychology class for freshmen cadets at West Point.

An alumna chooses “the harder right.”

2014 candidates for Harvard Overseer and HAA elected directors

Shared Interest Group events during Commencement week

For the period between 1979 and 1994

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

The College Pump

On the uses of mortarboards, and a centenarian’s update

Treasure

Thackeray’s self-portrait from an 1848 edition of <i>Vanity Fair</i>

Houghton Library celebrates William Makepeace Thackeray.