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Money-Manager Transition
The University announced on January 11 that Jack R. Meyer, M.B.A. '69, president and chief executive officer of Harvard Management Company (HMC), would "conclude his service" sometime after the close of the fiscal year in June. Meyer has been at HMC's …
Issue: March-April 2005
Comic License
In the television show Master of None , two Asian-American friends treat their parents to dinner. Awkwardly, one announces the purpose of the meal: “We wanted to learn more about you and how you got here.” But when prompted to share a story, his father is …
Issue: July-August 2017
“The Value of Noticing”
“You have stood up and stood out,” President Drew Faust told the graduating seniors of 2017 in the opening frame of her May 23 Baccalaureate address. “The value of being noticed, especially on social media, has been a powerful force in your lives.” …
A Certain Slant of Light
Next fall , Houghton Library will publish a gift-book edition of some lesser-known lines by Emily Dickinson: her recipe for black cake, brief on the page but epic in scale. The librarians have twice undertaken making this dessert, which calls for, among …
Reading the Winds
When Sophia Montgomery first sailed, she hated it. Then eight years old, she disliked the waves and felt seasick. She kept getting hit by the boom—the long metal pole at the bottom of the sail. And she didn’t even know how to turn her boat around, so she …
Harvard Corporation Rules Thirteen Students Cannot Graduate
On Monday, during the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ meeting on students’ eligibility to receive their degrees, members voted that 13 students found by the College’s Administrative Board to have violated University policies during their pro-Palestinian …
“Old” Food Reduces Lifespan
What causes aging ? “Scientists have been thinking about this question for centuries,” says Harvard professor of medicine Vadim Gladyshev. It sounds almost simple, but in fact it’s thorny and complicated, and although several theories have emerged—that …
A Collage of Colleges
“Why should all of the creative and liberating ideas for liberal education be left to the small residential liberal arts colleges?” That is the question, posed by Plummer professor of Christian morals Peter J. Gomes, with which the curriculum-review …
Issue: January-February 2006
A Rudenstine Retrospective
Only 10 years ago, at the end of the 1990-1991 academic year, Harvard and the higher-education universe were very far from their current robust prosperity. The annual financial statements showed a $42-million deficit--$5 million worse than in the prior …
Harmonic Progression
There are so many places to begin with composer Robert Kyr. Like here: “I grew up in a family where the scars of war were very much with us,” he says. His father had served in the South Pacific in World War II; his uncle had lost a leg in the Italian …
Issue: March-April 2017
Off the Shelf
Someone is going to be president; the winner might consult We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative , by George J. Borjas, Scrivner professor of economics and social policy (W.W. Norton, $26.95), to concur with or rebut his findings that …
Issue: November-December 2016
Lines of Friendship
Have you ever been to AWP?” Jean Valentine ’56, RI ’68, asks, almost out of the blue. “Oh, it’s wonderful!” This comes toward the end of an interview about the peaks and valleys of a literary career. Hers encompasses 13 books of poetry—the first, Dream …
Issue: November-December 2016
Super Drugs for Super Bugs
Last spring brought alarming reports of the first known case of a germ resistant to colistin, considered an antibiotic of last resort. The bug, a strain of E. coli , was found in a culture taken from a Pennsylvania woman with a urinary tract infection. …
Issue: November-December 2016
Open Roads and Dead Ends on a Native American Reservation
The Seventh Fire opens with an image of a road in the dark, pulling the audience into a harsh and little-seen world: the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. The documentary’s 71 minutes are largely confined to the town of Pine Point, and its …
Loneliness—Bad for Body and Mind
Few people would consider loneliness a positive condition. Many come to know its unfortunate mental toll at some time or other during the course of their lives—but medicine is increasingly recognizing the physical toll it takes, too, especially when it …