Nobelists
Gary Ruvkun, Ph.D. ’82, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Victor Ambros, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (a Harvard faculty member from 1984 to 1992), for their work on microRNA, a key to regulating gene activity and shaping organisms’ development and function. Learn more at harvardmag.com/ruvkun-nobel-24. David Baker ’84, a biochemistry professor at the University of Washington, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two Google Deep Mind scientists; he was honored for pioneering techniques for creating new classes of proteins—work he has traced to his experience as an undergraduate biology concentrator (see harvardmag.com/chemistry-nobel-24). James A. Robinson, of the University of Chicago, shared the economics prize with two MIT professors; he was a Harvard faculty member from 2004 to 2015.
A Lowered Voice…
Guidance issued by the provost’s office in late September makes the University’s policy on “institutional voice”—that the University and its leaders should not make official statements about public matters that do not directly affect core academic functions—more tangible. In brief, the principles of institutional neutrality are intended to be widely applicable, across Harvard and a broad range of statements and actions. The principles apply to “anyone who serves in an administrative or academic leadership role” representing the University or its units—including department chairs, program and center leaders, and others. They apply to any official statements (but not to academicians offering “their substantive views in their area of academic expertise,” speaking as individuals, not in their official capacity). Read a fuller account of when Harvard affiliates in official capacities can and cannot hold forth at harvardmag.com/harvard-neutrality-24.
…and Civil Discourse
The University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue working group reported on October 1 that 45 percent of surveyed students are “reluctant to share their views about charged topics in class.” They cited the risk of adverse judgment from peers, criticism on social media, reputational damage, and bullying. Faculty and instructors (especially those without tenure) are also hesitant to discuss controversial topics: although 59 percent said they would research such issues, only 49 percent feel comfortable leading a related classroom discussion, and just 32 percent feel comfortable talking about such issues outside the classroom. Many feared negative course reviews, contract nonrenewal, social media criticism, and formal complaints about bullying. The problem is not Harvard’s alone; according to the report, “extreme political polarization, enduring social divisions, and the impacts of social media on human behavior” influence campus conditions. It advocates training in constructive disagreement, perhaps through the College’s first-year Expository Writing courses, and wider use of the Chatham House Rule, permitting students to share what was said in a class so long as they do not reveal who said it—a practice in use at several of the professional schools. The report also advocates constraints on classroom use of social media. Read more at harvardmag.com/civil-discourse-24.
Legacy of Slavery Reboot
As reported, important participants in work to implement the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery report resigned during the summer (News in Brief, September-October, page 22). On September 12, the University announced a regrouping. First, Brenda Tindal, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences chief campus curator and senior adviser on academic community engagement, and Eric Höweler, professor of architecture, now cochair the committee creating a memorial to enslaved people whose work helped build Harvard. They succeed Tracy K. Smith, professor of English and of African and African American studies, and Dan Byers, Robinson Family director of the Carpenter Center. Second, a six-member advisory council (including University Professors Henry Louis Gates Jr., Annette Gordon-Reed, and Martha Minow) now oversees the program in its entirety.
National Academicians
A dozen faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine: Paola Arlotta, Golub Family professor of stem cell and regenerative biology (featured in “This Beautiful Machine,” July-August 2023, page 40); Jonathan F. Bean, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation; Bob S. Carter, Sweet professor of neurosurgery; I. Glenn Cohen, Attwood and Williams professor of law (see “Psychedelics for Healing” at harvardmag.com/psychedelics-in-medicine-24); Leemore Sharon Dafny, Rauner professor of business administration and professor of public policy (see “How Coupons Keep Drugs Costly,” January-February 2023, page 9); Patricia C. Dykes, professor of medicine; Marcia C. Haigis, professor of cell biology; Massimo Loda, professor of pathology emeritus; Nicole Maestas, MacArthur professor of health care policy; David S. Pellman, Dyson professor of pediatric oncology; Olivier Pourquié, Mallory professor of pathology; and Hao Wu, Springer professor of structural biology.
Toward Sustainability
Harvard’s annual sustainability report, released October 4, details University efforts to prepare for two fast-approaching goals: to be fossil-fuel neutral by 2026, and fossil-fuel-free by 2050. Although greenhouse gas emissions are down 30 percent since 2006, and President Alan M. Garber has tripled, to $37 million, a revolving fund to finance projects that reduce energy use, cutting emissions to zero will require campus-wide electrification—an effort already underway in every major building renovation, upgrade, or new construction. That implies a sustained program of capital spending looming large in Harvard’s future finances. Read a full report at harvardmag.com/sustainability-2024. On November 20, Harvard and partners announced they would buy the output from solar and wind energy facilities in Texas and North Dakota, offsetting the use of fossil fuels to power campus; see harvardmag.com/virtual-power-purchase-24.
Admissions Notes
California has enacted a sweeping statewide ban on legacy and donor-affiliated admissions to private and public institutions of higher education, effective next September; it follows Maryland, the first state to ban such preferences at public and private schools.…Notre Dame has become need-blind for domestic and international admissions, one of only nine selective institutions with such universal financial aid coverage.…A $132-million gift to Washington and Lee University has enabled it to shift to need-blind admissions as well.…The Yale Daily News has focused attention on that college’s use of the Opportunity Atlas—a tool created by Harvard’s Ackman professor of economics Raj Chetty and others to trace children’s socioeconomic circumstances and life chances—to help identify candidates for undergraduate admission from under-resourced schools and communities. Yale reported better success in admitting a diverse class of 2028 than other institutions, like Harvard, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending consideration of race in admissions reviews.
Rhodes Roster
Eight College seniors have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships. The U.S. winners were: Lena R. Ashooh, of Shelburne, Vermont; Thomas Barone, of Little Falls, New Jersey; Sofia L. Corona, of Delray Beach, Florida; Aneesh Muppidi, of Schenectady, New York; and Ayush Noori, of Bellevue, Washington. Matthew Anzarouth, of Quebec; Shahmir Aziz, of Lahore; and Laura Wegner, of Walsrode, Germany, won Canadian, Pakistani, and German Rhodes Scholarships, respectively. Stanford and the U.S. Military Academy were each represented by four Rhodes recipients.
Sexual Harassment Survey
The 2024 iteration of a survey on sexual misconduct and awareness, administered to 10 universities including Harvard and updating 2015 and 2019 editions, revealed a much-reduced incidence of misconduct compared to five years ago. But across the 10 institutions, students reported lower awareness of campus resources for dealing with such incidents; accompanying the latter finding, the share of students who said they were confident that university officials would take a report of assault or similar sexual misconduct seriously also declined. The underlying reports are available at https://hesma.harvard.edu.
Additional Honorands
Dorothy Roberts, J.D. ’80, a legal scholar and public policy researcher who studies racial inequality in health and social service systems, and evolutionary biologist Martha Muñoz, Ph.D. ’14, who explores the factors that affect rates and patterns of evolution, are among the 2024 cohort of MacArthur Fellows. Roberts is a professor of law and of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Muñoz is an assistant professor at Yale. Learn more at harvardmag.com/macarthur-fellowships-24….Professor of Medicine Joel F. Habener has been named co-winner of the 2024 Lasker Award, often considered a forecast of future Nobel laurels, for work on the discovery of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), the molecule on which current obesity and diabetes therapies like Wegovy are based.
On Other Campuses
The University of Chicago has received a $100-million anonymous donation for free speech activities, including support for events by its Forum for Free Inquiry, plus fellowship and research programs.…Continuing heavy investments in engineering and sciences, Yale has unveiled a plan for half of its Science Hill district, including a 320,000-square-foot physical sciences and engineering laboratory, a center to develop advanced instrumentation and measurement devices, and geothermal heating and cooling facilities, all scheduled for completion by 2030.…Comp Sci 50, taught by Mc-Kay professor of the practice of computer science David J. Malan, which was previously cloned at Yale, is now being offered at Oxford University, too.…Both Brown and Wesleyan, which agreed to let student advocates discuss with trustees proposals to divest endowment holdings they argued were supportive of Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank, have rejected those suggestions.
Headlines
The Bright-Landry Hockey Center has been brightened up this season with a central high-definition video scoreboard, ribbon boards, and new lighting throughout, and a safer form of glass around the rink perimeter.…After negotiations with the Commonwealth associated with the renovation of Newell and Weld boathouses (see harvardmag.com/boat-houses-renovates-22), Harvard has been allowed to keep access to its Charles River-front parcels private, in return for financing public access via a floating dock in Brighton.…As part of their thirtieth reunion gift, Alfred Lin ’94 and Rebecca Lin ’94 have endowed an artificial intelligence professorship in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and two five-year professorships in civil discourse for current faculty members. The latter recognize professors who have made significant contributions through teaching, advising, or mentoring to students’ ability to engage in significant dialogue, and to research in those and related fields, respectively.…The department of statistics, which has grown in faculty and enrollment along with other quantitative and applied fields (see “Here Come the Quants!” January-February 2017, page 20), is moving in 2026 from the Science Center to Maxwell Dworkin, whose computer scientists now toil in the engineering and applied sciences complex in Allston.
Newsmakers
Friends of the late Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Pusey minister in the Memorial Church and Plummer professor of Christian morals, celebrated his life and service there on November 3 and affixed a panel to its pulpit, reading “In loving memory/Peter John Gomes, D.D./Pusey Minister/1974-2011/Faithful Servant of God.”…Audrey Sands has been appointed the Harvard Art Museums’ Menschel associate curator of photography; she has been a postdoctoral curatorial fellow at the National Gallery of Art.…David A. Rubin, M.L.A. ’90, and his eponymous Land Collective firm have been appointed lead designers of the plans for a reimagined Pennsylvania Avenue, in the nation’s capital.…Professor of organismic and evolutionary biology Jeannine Cavender-Bares has been appointed director of the Harvard University Herbaria; read more about the University’s research plant collections at harvardmag.com/farlow-at-100-24.
