Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

November-December 2014

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Letters

A letter from the editor: an MIT vision of its educational future

Taxing carbon, teaching writing, legacy admissions, the sly Slive, louts

A letter from President Faust

The College Pump

Robert Norton Ganz Jr. and his wife, Anne, give pride of place to his 1925 Lincoln convertible.

A World War I Harvard aviator, plus a Game-worthy car buff and his wheels

Treasure

Scene from an 1858 German album

All that’s needed are scissors and a steady hand.

In this Issue

Orlando Patterson may be the last of Harvard sociology’s big thinkers.

Muir (at right) with his daughters Wanda and Helen and a friend at Kings Canyon, California, in 1902

Brief life of a Scottish-American conservationist: 1838-1914

Sven Beckert

Scholars pursue sweeping new interpretations of the human past.

The young Laughlin in his New Directions office at his aunt’s home in Connecticut

James Laughlin’s transit to Harvard and Europe—and pioneering literary publishing

Letters

A letter from the editor: an MIT vision of its educational future

Taxing carbon, teaching writing, legacy admissions, the sly Slive, louts

A letter from President Faust

Right Now

Max Bazerman wants leaders to take notice of ethical challenges.

Michael Rohan has developed a magnetic-stimulation machine that shows promise for the immediate treatment of depression.

Researchers at Mclean Hospital develop a magnet that treats depression and bipolar disorder

Harnessing civic data makes governments more responsive to citizens.

Harvard Squared

<i>The Light Princess</i> at ART

Events on and off campus during November and December

Gospel choir concert offers Christmas songs and other inspirational music at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

A former carpet factory (top left) was renovated to house the Museum of Russian Icons.

Gilded icons, stark portraits, and a warm tea room

A Nisga&rsquo;a club is armed with whale teeth (British Columbia)

A new exhibit at Harvard’s Peabody Museum highlights decorative weaponry through the ages.

The Wellesley College greenhouses offer winter pleasures like this fuchsia moth orchid.

The greenhouses at Wellesley College Botanic Gardens offer greenery and blossoms in winter.

The Kirkland Tap & Trotter, a convivial bistro-cum-pub not far from Harvard Square, draws crowds for beers, burgers, and banana splits.

A neighborly pub on the Somerville-Cambridge border

John Harvard's Journal

Light from the Calderwood Courtyard is ideal for the display of ancient sculpture, like this Roman work.

Harvard’s Art Museums reopen, poised to fulfill their pedagogical purpose.

Rakesh Khurana

Beginning the semester with Freshman Convocation, Morning Prayers, a learning and teaching conference, and cuts in employee benefits

Deborah Anker

A specialist on immigration at Harvard Law School

A rendering of the Kennedy School&rsquo;s expanded and reconfigured campus

Robust capital-campaign fundraising, plus Design and Education School launch events

A National Medal of Technology for SEAS dean, National Humanities Medalists, MacArthur Fellows, and more

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Gerald L. Chan

A transformative endowment gift from Gerald L. Chan and family

Stephen Blyth

Harvard's endowment nearly returns to its peak value—and welcomes new investment leadership.

Dan Shore and Christine Heenan

Vice-presidential vacancies in finance and communications, sexual-assault legislation, grade inflation, and more

Further dialogue on campus, and climate-change actions elsewhere

A senior finds her own place at the College.

Thrust into action by an injury to starting QB Connor Hempel, untried Scott Hosch filled in admirably against Holy Cross, directing the Crimson to its second touchdown, which he scored on a seven-yard run.

A roundup of Harvard’s football season so far

Wesley Saunders

Wesley Saunders of basketball excels at anticipation, just as he did in chess.

Montage

A silhouette can be seen in the negative space around the fountain at a Roxbury park.

Ross Miller’s public art in overlooked places captivates viewers.

<i>Puck&rsquo;</i>s view of putting the squeeze on wealthy trusts in the Teddy Roosevelt era

In To Make Men Free, Heather Cox Richardson seeks to explain the back-and-forth history of Republican Party goals.

The endless pain of the Middle East: woman and dead child near Aleppo, Syria (undated)

Recent Books with Harvard connections

John Payne teaches a saxophone student at his music center in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Rejecting the “tyranny of competence,” John Payne helps musicians bloom.

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

An ornate initial capital for Psalm 96 (<i>Cantate Domino canticum novum</i>) shows three singers singing a &ldquo;new song,&rdquo; probably a polyphonic motet.

The recording of songs and sounds past—a history of musical notation in the West

Alumni

Spencer Kympton talks to veterans about the importance of legacy, and aims to &ldquo;restore a sense of purpose&rdquo; in their lives.

Post-9/11 veterans find new ways to serve at home.

Harvard’s World War I participants are honored in an updated volume edited by Douglass M. Carver ’59.

“Harvard-Hiring-Harvard” helps students find employment.

Filmmakers seek visual material from the early days of Partners In Health.

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

The College Pump

Robert Norton Ganz Jr. and his wife, Anne, give pride of place to his 1925 Lincoln convertible.

A World War I Harvard aviator, plus a Game-worthy car buff and his wheels

Treasure

Scene from an 1858 German album

All that’s needed are scissors and a steady hand.