Harvard Community

Explore Harvard community news, alumni, faculty, students, and campus life. Curated stories and perspectives from Harvard Magazine.

A red brick building featuring a large white door with an arched window, flanked by lamps.

Judge Dismisses Case Demanding Harvard Admissions Data

The government failed to meet procedural requirements before suing the University.

by Jonathan Shaw

In Nairobi’s Kibera slum last August, Elizabeth Nowak ’10 worked with residents to build prototypes of VertiGrow, a vertical planter she designed with classmates in a Harvard course.

Elizabeth Nowak brings vertical agriculture to Nairobi's Kibera slum

Working with local residents to bring vertical agriculture to Nairobi’s Kibera slum

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Children from New Hope orphanage in Busia, Uganda, make their nightly walk to get water for drinking and washing. They handle all the chores themselves—an important part of director Ken Mulago’s strategy for running the orphanage. “We want our children to behave as responsible adults,” he says. “We don’t want to raise them up just to think about themselves.”

Harvard students volunteer in Africa

Students and service at a new frontier

by Elizabeth Gudrais

A woman in a white shirt is pounding rice on a patterned cloth outside.

Grace Ryan films a documentary on mental-health care in Ghana

Grace Ryan ’10 films a documentary on mental-health care, and the debate over reform, in Accra, Ghana.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

The Harvard team: Darryl Finkton ’10, Sangu Delle ’10, and Ndu Okereke ’10

Sangu Delle brings clean water to the village of Agyementi, Ghana

In Agyementi, Ghana, Sangu Delle ’10 brings clean water to a village.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Megan Shutzer ’10 first traveled to Africa during her junior year; she spent a semester traveling around Tanzania on a program learning about wildlife ecology and the conservation industry. Here, she is shown near Lake Natron in northern Tanzania, where she did a homestay with a Masai family (including some of the children shown).

Megan Shutzer interviews those who fled election violence in Kenya

In a refugee camp near Nakuru, Kenya, Megan Shutzer ’10 learns that fallout from the 2007 election violence persists.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Courtesy of Elisa Nabel

Elisa Nabel makes a film about childhood and innocence in Rwanda

In Rwinkwavu, Rwanda, Elisa Nabel ’11 makes a film about childhood and innocence.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Rashmi Jasrasaria ’10 investigated several topics, including some research that involved visiting partner organizations of the Arusha Project, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) that was hosting her as a researcher. Here, she is shown with two children who attend the Baraa Orphanage and Nursery School, whose directors are both HIV-positive.

Rashmi Jasrasaria focuses on HIV prevention and women's empowerment in Tanzania

Rashmi Jasrasaria ’10 focuses on HIV prevention, sexual health, and women's empowerment in Arusha, Tanzania.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

The University of Ghana campus

At the University of Ghana, Audrey White studies the history of the slave trade

At "slave castles" and the University of Ghana, Audrey White ’10 researches the slave trade.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Illustration by Susan Gal

Loss and gain in dropping pre-med

A senior assesses life at—and after—college without the pre-med track.

by Melanie E. Long

Richard Wrangham

How cooking made us human

A Harvard anthropologist argues that cooking, a cultural practice, crucially shaped human evolution.

by Jonathan Shaw