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School for Scholars
In what must have been Harvard's highest-level continuing-education course on higher education, presidents of seven universities in the People's Republic of China came to Cambridge to learn about the research university, American style, on October 29 and …
Fixing Medieval Wine
Every year, French wholesalers airlift cases of Beaujolais Nouveau worldwide so that wine shops can start selling bottles to the public on the third Thursday in November. In the unlikely event that the contents have not traveled well, a customer merely …
Educating Educators
Bridget Terry Long had the good timing to become dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) on July 1, 2018—the same day that the education-minded Lawrence S. Bacow assumed the University presidency, making for a powerful potential …
Issue: July-August 2019
Harvard Finances: Strengths and Warning Signs
The University’s financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017 , released this morning, was full of the sorts of results that make budget officers happy: Revenue increased $222 million to nearly $5 billion (growth of 4.6 percent)—largely …
Harvard’s Undergraduate Council Kerfuffle
After 40 years, the Undergraduate Council (UC)—the Harvard College student government—is dead. During a four-day referendum voting period that concluded in late March, 76 percent of nearly 4,000 voting students decided to dismantle their current …
Weezer Releases New EP, "SZNZ: Spring"
Whether you love or hate Weezer’s new EP, SZNZ: Spring , might come down to whether drinking three cups of coffee and then taking some Benadryl sounds like a ball or a nightmare. If it seems fun, you might agree with AV Club’s Tatiana Tenreyro that …
Urban Enchantment
Twinkling lights, decorated storefronts, snowy sidewalks, candlelit brownstones: There’s nowhere quite like Boston for the holidays. In Cambridge, Harvard Square’s Charles Hotel ( charleshotel.com ) officially marks the season with their annual tree …
Issue: November-December 2024
Why Ivy Athletes Score in Careers
What role should athletics play in Ivy League college admissions? Do athletes merely take spots from more academically qualified applicants? Or does participation in sports build a special kind of human capital that isn’t taught in classrooms, one that …
Issue: November-December 2024
Place-Making with Plastic Tubes
To the passing observer , Autumn (...Nothing Personal) is merely a cluster of tall plastic yellow and orange tubes mounted on simple wooden benches in the middle of Harvard’s Tercentenary Theatre. Artist Teresita Fern á ndez, a first-generation Cuban …
Kathy Delaney-Smith’s Final Act
In November , after her team thrashed Northern Illinois 70-53 in its home opener, Friends coach Kathy Delaney-Smith was asked about her recently announced plans to retire after the season, her fortieth at Harvard. “I’m not thinking about that,” the coach …
Court Filings Allege Discrimination Against Asian-Americans in Admissions
Hundreds of pages of analysis of Harvard’s admissions practices became public Friday in the latest development of a lawsuit alleging the University discriminates against Asian-American applicants in its admissions process. The suit, filed in 2014 by the …
A Love Affair with Haiti
It was probably Graham Greene’s The Comedians that sealed the fate of Amy Wilentz ’76. Set in midcentury Haiti, the 1966 novel paints a scorching portrait of the dictatorial regime of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his secret police, the Tonton …
Issue: January-February 2015
“A Profession Based on Honor and Trust”
In the past decade, President Drew Faust has honored 74 Harvard students as they took their oaths of office during Commencement week’s annual Reserve Officers’ Training Corps commissioning ceremony—six of them on Wednesday morning, in the last such …
Simple Headlines Are Better
A study released today has found empirical evidence behind an old rule for effective writing—the simpler, the better. Weatherhead professor of public policy Todd Rogers , with fellow researchers Hillary Shulman and David Markowitz, looked at how readers …
A Progress Report on Faculty Diversity
Just last year, the statistics department hired its first tenured female professor, Susan Murphy. Lauren Williams ’00 will join the math department next fall, the second tenured woman in that department’s history. Their hires reflect Harvard’s growing …