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“One Community, One Harvard”
Standing alone on a Nantucket beach during a spectacular sunrise, Harvard Alumni Association president John West, M.B.A. ’95, tilted his iPhone camera to share the stretch of golden sand and blue Atlantic Ocean with viewers of his Class Day speech to …
Issue: September-October 2020
Making Music Out of DNA Loops
There is music in DNA loops. The genome, which otherwise would be the height of a refrigerator, folds into a microscopic bundle inside the nucleus of a cell, knitting itself into “loops” of genetic information. Four years ago, composer and scientist Amir …
Issue: September-October 2023
Brevia
Professorship Undone A $2.5-million gift to Harvard Divinity School by United Arab Emirates president Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan , made in 2000 in support of a professorship of Islamic religious studies, has been returned. Students and others had …
Issue: November-December 2004
Finding Harvard’s Voice
In late March , Danielle Allen , Harvard’s Conant University Professor, spoke at Brigham Young University (BYU) on how to be a “confident pluralist.” The crowd was so large that the event took place in the basketball arena. Students surely were excited to …
Harvard Discloses Top Earners
The University’s annual tax filings covering the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, and the accompanying disclosures released today, include the earnings of the most highly compensated Harvard administrators and those at Harvard Management Company (HMC), …
Cornering COVID-19
Only immunity can bring an end to the current pandemic—whether through vaccination or the potentially deadly ordeal of infection. Unfortunately, it’s not a given that either a bout of COVID-19, or any of the experimental vaccines now in development, will …
Issue: July-August 2020
“To Heal and to Help”
Perhaps more than any other group of graduates on Thursday, the new doctors receiving their degrees from Harvard Medical School (HMS) stand at the edge of a precipice. They will enter their profession in the midst of a global pandemic, for which there is …
Surplus Surprise…and the Endowment’s Evolution
The University’s financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018, published on October 25, revealed a fifth consecutive budget surplus—nearly $200 million—in part reflecting continued U.S. economic growth and the benefits accruing from the …
Issue: January-February 2019
Christina Gao: No Regrets
Christina Gao ’16-17 used to be a skater first, a student second. Ever since her parents signed her up for figure-skating lessons at age seven, her life has been as much of a balancing act as the sport itself. Growing up, the slender girl from Cincinnati …
The Tiger Daughter, Intact
Lulu Chua-Rubenfeld ’18 was once considered one of the most abused children in the Western world. A main character in her mother’s bestselling parenting memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother , Lulu starred in many anecdotes that drew slings and arrows …
Being Black at Work
Diversity, equity, inclusion: these are the watchwords for companies hoping to foster the best talent, regardless of race. But do their efforts, like anti-bias workshops meant to train employees to recognize their own prejudices, really help minorities …
Issue: March-April 2022
Endowment Value Rises to $32.7 Billion
HIGHLIGHTS: Endowment valued at $32.7 billion as of June 30, up $2.0 billion (6.5 percent) from $30.7 billion a year earlier. Harvard Management Company records 11.3 percent investment return on endowment assets during fiscal year 2013, after negative …
“Authentic” Versus “Constrained” Choices in the Classroom
A professor in an introductory science course discovers that some students are falling behind in their work, apparently because they haven’t bought the textbook. “Buy the book, don’t be cheap,” he exhorts. For students who have a parental credit card, or …
Christine Heenan to Depart
Updated 10-1-124, 10:00 p.m. Christine Heenan, vice president for public affairs and communications, will step down from that post on January 31 and move to part-time, advisory status through the end of the academic year as she begins a transition into …
Peter Thiel on Why Monopolies Matter
In conversations about the economy, monopoly can often be a dirty word. But entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel shared his far more iconoclastic view of the business world at an event at Harvard Business School (HBS) on Thursday, arguing that …