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Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898

July-August 2021

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Letters

A standard-setter retires—plus U.S. presidential debates, Overseer elections, admissions biases

President Bacow on exploring better work-life balance after the pandemic

Corporation members’ civic-mindedness, and undergraduate education at research universities

The College Pump

Portrait photograph of Sidney Verba

Sidney Verba

Photograph by Justin Ide/HPAC

Harvard’s mensch, and a record-setting recorder of Crimson lives

Treasure

The front and back of a die-cut trade card shaped like a donkey that was used to advertise coffee. When the card is flipped over, the viewer can see that there is a boy riding on the donkey's back.

Click on image to see full trade cards

Trade cards courtesy of the Baker Library Historical Collections/Harvard Business School

A nineteenth-century advertising medium traces the rise of consumer culture.

In this Issue

Joan Donovan

Joan Donovan

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Scholars’ perspectives on a pervasive new threat

Daguerreotype portrait of Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King

Thomas Starr King in an undated daguerreotype

Image in the public domain

Brief life of a transcendentalist out West

Emily Balskus

Emily Balskus

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Emily Balskus deciphers the human microbiome.

Illustration of seated people talking in a restorative justice circle

Illustration by James Heimer

Exploring an alternative to crime and punishment

Letters

A standard-setter retires—plus U.S. presidential debates, Overseer elections, admissions biases

President Bacow on exploring better work-life balance after the pandemic

Corporation members’ civic-mindedness, and undergraduate education at research universities

Right Now

An illustration showing a donkey and an elephant, representing the Democratic and Republican parties, wrestling.

Illustration by Morten Moreland

Can election reforms end the crippling gridlock in American politics?

A photomontage showing how, when a whole panther worm is cut in two, the parts heal, form regeneration, and then develop into two complete panther worms.

Srivastava hopes to learn how neoblasts persist and reawaken, and why human and other mammalian stem cells are limited in their regenerative capacities.

Courtesy of Mansi Srivastava

Mansi Srivastava’s basic research seeks to uncover the origins of whole-body regeneration in animals.

An illustration of the crumpled front end of a car that has been in an accident with mountains that are the result of crumpling of Earth's crust, rising in the background

Illustration by Taylor Callery

The research provides insight into the way materials react to repeated strain.

Harvard Squared

Aerial view of historic downtown New Bedford buildings

Click on arrow at right to view additional images 

(1 of 3) An aerial view of downtown New Bedford highlights historic buildings, which include the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and its cupola. 

Dennis Tangney Jr./Istock

Exploring the coastal fishing hub’s history, architecture, parks, and arts scene

Painting of masted ships on the ocean

Click on arrow at right to view additional images

(1 of 3) Ship America on the Grand Banks, circa 1800, by Michele Felice Cornè

©2014 Peabody Essex Museum

From oceanic voyages to romping in the waves, a new exhibit explores relationships to water.

Boat cruising on Boston harbor at twilight

Cruising Boston Habow at twilight

Photograph courtesy of Cycleboat Boston

Enjoying inner harbor views and history

View of summer garden in bloom with walking path

Summer’s wild blooms abound in Weezie’s Garden

Photograph by Allison Kern/Harvard Magazine.

Massachusetts Horticultural Society renews its mission.

Sisters Vanessa and Casey White in the kitchen of their company, Jaju Pierogi

Honoring their Polish heritage, sisters Vanessa and Casey White launched Jaju Pierogi in 2016.

Photograph courtesy of Jaju Pierogi

Two sisters’ culinary venture honors their Polish American roots.

Two blue surfboards and an orange on rest on end against a weatherbeaten wall.

Photograph Courtesy of CinnamonRainbows.com

Where to explore, relax, and renew this season, from the Berkshires to the beach

John Harvard's Journal

Screen shot of Harvard President Bacow and deans applauding graduates.

Click on arrow at right to view additional images 

(1 of 3) President and deans applaud the graduates.

Screenshot by Harvard Magazine

Harvard’s second, more expansive online graduation, with honorands and more

An honorable tradition resumes, virtually.

The T-shirt designed for the College class of 2024, reading "Crimson Crew WORLD TOUR" and displaying a globe-like circle labeled 2024

A freshman year unlike any other, memorialized in the Class of 2024 tee. 

Couresy of Tyler Nilson

Class spirit (the shirt), recyclable regalia, Zoom primal scream

Namwali Serpell

Photograph by Liz Hafalia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

The professor of English is also a novelist and a critic.

Photograph of teaching a playwriting class under a tent outdoors

Playwriting and performance classes were piloted outdoors.

Photograph courtesy Faculty of Arts and Sciences/Office of Undergraduate Education

Pilot program points to the potential of hybrid instruction.

Elements may be in place for the University’s financial recovery.

Photograph of 60 Oxford Street, new center for quantum science and engineering

60 Oxford Street will be overhauled and outfitted with instruments required to accommodate research in quantum science and engineering.

Kristina DeMichele/Harvard Magazine

A large leap in the smallest science, decarbonization debates, admissions lawsuit

Illustration by Mark Steele

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

New police leader, top teachers, and an excellent economist

A stylized illustration of a tree with many small flowers blooming on one side and on the other one small branch on which a small human figure is nurturing one large blossom

Illustration by Mike Austin

Why do so many Harvard students start clubs, instead of joining them?

Jason Rosenfeld delivers a presentation with microphone in hand

A statistical standout: Rosenfeld shares his fascination with analytics in classrooms, conference rooms, and conventions across the country.

Photograph courtesy of Jason Rosenfeld

Jason Rosenfeld ’12 traces his path to sports-statistics success.

Montage

A photograph of Zoe Sarnak performing on stage

Zoe Sarnak was headed toward a medical career, until a college music project propelled her into an unexpected life in the arts.

Photograph courtesy of Zoe Sarnak

Composer Zoe Sarnak’s warm-hearted songs

Illustration of open doors, tied to concept of commitment instead of just seeking opportunities

Photograph by iStock

Pete Davis expands on his Commencement address.

Photo of Bonnie Tsui standing on a pier

<p class="caption">For as long as she can remember, Bonnie Tsui has been drawn to the water: “that slide into lovely immersion, that spiraling weightlessness.”</p><p class="credit">Photograph by Lynsay Skiba</p>

In the swim with Bonnie Tsui

<i>Puck<i> magazine cartoon from 1895 lampooning the income tax

Puck lampoons the income tax, represented by a browbeaten mongrel cowering in front of the U.S. Treasury (1895).

Photograph ©Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Tax follies, Thomas Sowell, Donald Hall, and more

Photograph of Mao Zedong during what is thought to be the Long March, 1934-1935

Man, myth, party: Mao Zedong during what is thought to be the Long March, 1934-1935, with the army in northern Shaanxi

Photograph by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images

The first century of the Chinese Communist Party—and what impends

Alumni

Illustration of Radcliffe alumna Alice Abarbanel amid scenes from Radcliffe College

Alice Abarbanel with scenes from Radcliffe, illustrated by Daniel Baxter

An ambitious oral-history project captures the lived experiences of alumnae.

Head shots of the four Centennial Medalists: Lotte Bailyn, John Hutchinson, Marvin Kalb, and Margaret McIntosh

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences honorands, clockwise from top left: Lotte Bailyn, John Hutchinson, Marvin Kalb, and Margaret McIntosh

Courtesy of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

For graduate studies that contributed to society

Four win scholarships for study in England.

Harvard Forward gains a fourth seat on the Board of Overseers.

Three headshots, of Harvard Medalists Walter K. Clair, Nancy-Beth Gordon Sheerr, Preston N. Williams

From left to right: Walter K. Clair, Nancy-Beth Gordon Sheerr, Preston N. Williams

Photographs courtesy of HAA.

Harvard alumni honored for extraordinary service to the University

The College Pump

Portrait photograph of Sidney Verba

Sidney Verba

Photograph by Justin Ide/HPAC

Harvard’s mensch, and a record-setting recorder of Crimson lives

Treasure

The front and back of a die-cut trade card shaped like a donkey that was used to advertise coffee. When the card is flipped over, the viewer can see that there is a boy riding on the donkey's back.

Click on image to see full trade cards

Trade cards courtesy of the Baker Library Historical Collections/Harvard Business School

A nineteenth-century advertising medium traces the rise of consumer culture.