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Erin McDermott Announced as Harvard’s First Woman Athletic Director
Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Claudine Gay announced this afternoon that Erin McDermott will become the University’s new Nichols Family Athletic Director, the first woman to fill the role in Harvard history. McDermott will begin at Harvard on July 1, …
Makeda Best: What Does Landscape Photography Say About Our Politics?
WHAT DOES LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY SAY ABOUT OUR POLITICS? Makeda Best, curator of photography at the Harvard Art Museums and a visiting professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, shares her insights on landscape photographers, as well as …
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
Sunil Amrith, Kate Orff, and Damon Rich Awarded MacArthur Grants
Sunil Amrith , Mehra Family professor of South Asian studies and professor of history, has been awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (better known as the “genius grant”), a no-strings-attached award of $625,000 paid out over five years. The …
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
A Letter to Our Readers
Dear Readers, This morning—after undergraduates who were able to leave departed campus by the College’s Sunday, 5:00 p.m. target—Harvard faculties and the administration began piloting remote work, away from campus, for as many employees as possible. …
John S. Rosenberg , Irina Kuksin
Off the Shelf
Prayer: A History, by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski, Ph.D. ’84 (Houghton Mifflin, $29.95). He is a senior editor at Parabola, she is a professor of religion at Smith, and this is an epic—well written, packed with interesting information, often …
Issue: March-April 2006
Updike's Literary Archive: Sneak Preview
Harvard's Houghton Library has purchased the papers of the late author John Updike '54, Litt.D. ’92 (as previously reported), and the New York Times recently published several pieces germane to Updike and his archive. Although the materials, which now …
Jimmy Vesey Looks Back
More than anything else , he will miss his teammates, the guys he’s shared a rink and a bus and a bunk with for four years—and the coaches and trainers and everybody else behind the bench and on the ice (and piloting the Zamboni) at Bright-Landry Hockey …
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
Court Sparks
Brogan Berry The point guard —the #1 position—is the quarterback of a basketball team. She’s the floor leader, starting the attack and shouting defensive signals. Much of the team’s success or failure hinges on her performance—and luckily, the Harvard …
Issue: November-December 2011
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 …
Mike Schur on the Good Life
Mike Schur ’97 just loves philosophy. He favors Aristotle, but will also turn to utilitarianism, Kant, ubuntu, and existentialism. “I take a jambalaya approach,” he says. “I don’t know why anyone would decline any school of thought if it has something …
Issue: March-April 2022
“Social Justice in Linguistics”
Kathryn davidson’s role in bringing an ASL class to Harvard, on one level, was incidental. The students calling for the class needed a faculty member’s signature, and an ASL researcher happened to arrive at the right moment. On another level, it mirrors …
Issue: May-June 2017