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Advice for an Imperfect World
University president Lawrence S. Bacow arrived in Cambridge to begin his first year as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 50 years ago this fall. Now, as president of Harvard, he began his speech at this year’s Convocation …
Here Comes the Sun
The sun is shining, temps are rising, and normalcy seems almost on the horizon. It’s the perfect time to get out and explore—safely—at al fresco venues beyond the city limits . If you’re seeking thrills, head an hour north to Salisbury Beach State …
Issue: July-August 2021
The Context: Affirmative Action and Harvard
This is the seventh post of "The Context"—a biweekly series of archival stories—offering our readers a useful background to some of the most important subjects in the news today. We hope you enjoy it. “Can Affirmative Action Survive?” That’s the …
Wheat and War in Ukraine
In 1933, Joseph Stalin engineered a genocide that led to the death by starvation of an estimated four million Ukrainians. Stalin set unreachable grain production quotas on farmers, and then, when the quotas were not met, confiscated all the grain to feed …
President Garber, Provost Manning
Having shed the “interim” title on August 2, President Alan M. Garber —now expected to serve through June 30, 2027—today solidified his administration by ending the interim status of his designated successor as provost, former Harvard Law School dean John …
Fond Farewell
In 1966, John T. Bethell ’54 became the editor of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin —then a competent, if staid, small-circulation magazine published 17 times annually. In an efflorescence of editorial vision and talent, he and a small cohort of superb …
Issue: May-June 2025
News Briefs
Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker ’81, a member of the Harvard Corporation since 2018, has been elected senior fellow, succeeding William F. Lee ’72, effective July 1. She will be the first woman leader of the University’s fiduciary governing board. Penny …
Issue: May-June 2022
The End of Shopping Week
During their last regular meeting of the academic year, on May 3, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted by a 3:2 margin to replace the “shopping” period—the beginning-of-term week in which students sample courses before making their selections—with a …
Issue: July-August 2022
Fraught Finances
Amid an historic expansion, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) must now come to terms with the costs of its growth. An anticipated deficit of $40 million-plus in the fiscal year ending this June 30 was disclosed at the January 10 faculty meeting; that …
Issue: March-April 2006
Carrying a “Heavy Pack”
… concentrated in government and East Asian studies, and in 2025 she will report to Goodfellow Air Force Base as an …
An Academic Agenda
Over a coffee in Harvard Square on a damp August morning—the lull before what he feared might be another stormy academic year—a senior administrator outlined three priorities for restoring the University’s moorings. First came refocusing on the academic …
Issue: November-December 2024
Both Sides Now
Tomiko Brown-Nagin is a legal historian of what she calls “one of the most celebrated social movements of all time—the black freedom struggle.” Two photographs sit on a bookcase behind her desk at Greenleaf House, the residence of the Harvard Radcliffe …
Issue: January-February 2022
Portraying Lawrence H. Summers
Last Friday afternoon , September 23, the official portrait of Lawrence H. Summers was unveiled during a celebratory tribute in the Widener Library rotunda, 16-plus years after his departure from Massachusetts Hall. (This and future presidential portraits …
Can Multivitamins Reduce Cancer Risk and Slow Memory Loss?
Multivitamins have ballooned into a $40 billion industry in the United States. In a world captivated by quick fixes, there’s a seductive call in the idea that vitamin supplement might help to prevent age-related health decline. But does this promise hold …
Justice Ajogbor Holds Court
Last December, with just under four minutes remaining in the second half, the Harvard men’s basketball team trailed fourth-ranked Kansas by just nine points when Jayhawks guard Bobby Pettiford exploded toward the hoop. Crimson forward Justice Ajogbor ’24 …