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The Burst of the South Sea Bubble
In the north lobby of Harvard Business School’s Baker Library, beneath portraits of deans dating back to the school’s founding, glass cases adorned by glowing sky-blue signs capture the curiosity of passersby and disrupt the flow of foot traffic. …
100 Years of HSPH
Courtesy of the Harvard School of Public Health Julio Frenk The launch of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) capital campaign coincides with the school’s centennial celebration. Since opening in September 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School for Health …
A New Portrait of “Jackie”
It might be impossible to make original art about the Kennedys. A writer could be intimidated by the speculative accounts of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination as penned by Norman Mailer, Don DeLillo, and Stephen King. A movie director may feel …
“Getting Out of the Way of the Work”
There’s a line out the Cooper Gallery’s doors, wrapping back around Peet’s. We’re queuing between those old-style red-velvet aisle markers, printed tickets in hand. When we finally make it inside, they make it worth our while: I sample some kind of …
The Power of Plants
Often overlooked, plants are arguably the most indispensable inhabitants of the planet. They absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen that supports life. They provide basic human necessities, including food, clothing, and shelter. And in communion with …
Dining-hall Workers’ Strike Begins
Streams of dining-hall workers , students, and supporters gathered in the Yard this morning as Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) commenced a long-threatened strike . Workers have set up pickets outside undergraduate dining halls, planning to …
A Moral Conscience for Economics
Much of the public is interested in fixing America’s gaping level of wealth inequality, but few people feel responsible for paying for it. The new dean of the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), Douglas Elmendorf, makes no secret of where the money should come …
Issue: September-October 2016
Harvard’s Stake in the Fisher v. Texas Affirmative Action Case
Relieving fears at Harvard and elsewhere that it might strike down the use of race in admissions, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s affirmative action program in the case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin . …
Steven Spielberg and Drew Faust Address Harvard Commencement
Seats in the shade were in high demand in Tercentenary Theatre on the afternoon of the 365th Commencement Day. Graduates, trailing well-coiffed relatives, wandered the sea of off-white folding chairs, looking hopeful, then grim, then disconsolate. The …
“When You Hear These Lectures, They're All Me”
“These lectures are hard for me,” Toni Morrison, Litt.D. ’89, told her Sanders Theatre audience at her penultimate Norton Lecture . Years ago when she gave the Tanner Lectures at Harvard, she explained, the persistent questions from her literature …
Programmed for Success?
In December 1978 , former Harvard men’s basketball player Thomas Mannix ’81 recalls, the team arrived in Hawaii for the Rainbow Classic amid a year of transition. That season, Ivy League freshmen had become eligible to play varsity basketball, and an …
Lost in Ideas
When an idea keeps him up at night—nudges him awake to lie there, eyes wide and mind working—that’s when television writer and producer Carlton Cuse ’81 knows it’s good. An epidemic of vampirism in New York City that, chillingly, sends the infected …
Issue: January-February 2016
Finishing with a Flourish
It’s the 135th playing of The Game, Fenway Park, midway through the third quarter. Yale has scored 10 unanswered points to take the lead for the first time, 24-21. Nevertheless, the Harvard sideline exudes confidence. “There was no ‘woe-is-me,’” Crimson …
Issue: January-February 2019
A Case For Women
When Nitin Nohria became Harvard Business School (HBS) dean in mid 2010, he detailed five priorities, ranging from innovation in education and internationalization to inclusion. In setting out the latter goal, he said in a recent conversation, he aimed …
Issue: September-October 2015
Surgery for All
“Global health” typically brings to mind issues such as vaccination, maternal care, sanitation, and malaria control. It’s not usually associated with surgery. But consider the woman who dies in childbirth because she can’t reach a clinic that performs …
Issue: July-August 2015