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A Calming Presence
The moment was easy to miss. Halfway through the third period in an early January game that Harvard would soon put out of reach, Colgate defenseman Nicole Gass skated into the zone and, from the top of the right-hand faceoff circle, snapped a hard shot …
Issue: March-April 2016
Discourse and Discipline
An initiative to promote effective discourse and a separate proposal to broaden approaches to student discipline were advanced at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) meeting on December 5. Although not signaled in advance, it was hardly surprising, in …
Harvard Initiates Anti-Bullying Policy
The Office of the Provost today announced the first University-wide policies against bullying and updated its policies on non-discrimination, effective September 1. “There are very few University-wide policies,” said Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer …
New Vice President for Harvard Library
Amid continuing leadership changes at the Harvard Library during a period of major reorganization, Provost Alan Garber announced on May 20 that Sarah Thomas, who currently directs the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries, will be shifting her office …
Academic Freedom—for All
More than 100 Harvard faculty members have signed an open letter criticizing President Claudine Gay’s condemnation of the pro-Palestinian phrase “from the river to the sea” and what they identified as an eroding commitment to freedom of expression on …
“This Is a Gift”
“We wanted to make something.” Two months ago, as Sharmila Sen and her colleagues at Harvard University Press (HUP), all working from home, followed the news of demonstrations spreading around the country—and around the globe—to protest racism and police …
Kevin Beasley at the ICA/Boston
Artist Kevin Beasley’s sculptures resonate with what’s not there. He typically uses found objects, from Air Jordans and T-shirts to feathers and amplifiers, and molds them into eerily inhabited shapes or spaces using resin or polyurethane foam. “His work …
Issue: July-August 2018
Kathleen McCartney Appointed Smith College President
Kathleen McCartney, who became acting dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) in 2005 and dean in 2006, has been named president of Smith College, effective July 1 . During her tenure, she led the creation of a new doctor of education …
Retooling Tech Transfer
When physicist Eric Mazur’s research group created a new material called black silicon one day in 1998, he knew right away they were on to something. The material absorbs 50 percent more visible light than regular silicon, making possible uses easy to …
Issue: January-February 2008
Harvard Will Guarantee Staff Pay and Benefits Past June 28
Harvard will guarantee pay and benefits to staff members whose work has been idled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as dining and custodial workers, beyond its previously set date of June 28, executive vice president Katie Lapp announced in an email …
Lessons from Libya?
In the spring of 2007, this magazine published a brief news item observing that "Lawrence University Professor Michael Porter, perhaps the world's preeminent corporate strategist, is advising the government of Libya on economic reform." It went on to say …
Alumni Awards
The HAA Clubs and SIGs [Shared Interest Groups] Committee Awards honor individuals who provide exemplary service to a Harvard club or SIG, and recognize clubs and SIGs that have organized exceptional programming. Awards were to be presented to the …
Issue: March-April 2012
Historic Threads
By the time the talented and shrewd Samuel Slater arrived in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1790, the race to mechanize was on. Groups of carpenters and mechanics, funded by businessmen, were urgently trying to move beyond hand- and animal-power —to catch up …
Issue: May-June 2020
Rebooting Online Education
Editor’s note: This article was reported before students left campus and the University pivoted to remote teaching , effective with the end of spring recess on March 23 ( a huge effort highlighted by President Lawrence S. Bacow: see his letter , here). …
Issue: May-June 2020
“Here and Then Gone”
In playwright Bess Wohl’s work—sweet and sharp and sad, and often darkly funny—something important is usually missing. In American Hero, it is the owner of a new sandwich franchise who mysteriously disappears, leaving his employees to drift between …
Issue: January-February 2019