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A Dogged Observer
Daniel Mason ’98 got his idea for his 2023 novel North Woods while walking in a frozen forest, wondering what his dog was sniffing. During a yearlong retreat to Western Massachusetts, he’d wandered the woods, visually researching his book. At first, he …
Issue: March-April 2024
Scholars Galore
What a difference a year makes! In 2005, Harvard affiliates earned one Marshall Scholarship and two Rhodes Scholarships. In 2006, those numbers doubled and quadrupled, respectively. Harvard had more Rhodes picks than any other school, including winners …
Issue: March-April 2007
“Big, Fat, and Sick” Institutions—Can Digital Healthcare Help?
The U.S. healthcare system is “Big, fat, and sick.” So said professor of medicine Jag Singh , speaking at a recent conference in Boston—where his efforts to champion innovations in digital healthcare took center stage. Singh, a former clinical director of …
On Commencements
Harvard’s Commencement guest speakers have delivered some memorable addresses, (and forgettable ones). But the oration at the Phi Beta Kappa literary exercises, on the Tuesday morning before degrees are conferred on Thursday, sets an intellectual tone for …
Issue: May-June 2022
New Digs
New digs: Claudine Gay settles in at Massachusetts Hall—just across the Old Yard from her former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean’s office in University Hall—on July 5, the first (post-holiday) workday in the thirtieth president’s new administration. A …
Issue: September-October 2023
A Call to Service
Near the start of his address, journalist Jim Lehrer, who collects bus memorabilia, gave a splendid rendition of a Trailways boarding call, which can be heard with RealPlayer [ link to archived video of the afternoon exercises ]. Then he got serious. I …
Issue: July-August 2006
How Deforestation Damages Even the Rainforests That Survive It
Last summer —seemingly a lifetime ago—the news was dominated by reports of the escalation of human-created fires in the Amazon rainforest. For many readers, the Amazon fires brought awareness not just of the immense suffering deforestation inflicts on …
Harvard Great Performances: Carl Morris ’03
If these were ordinary times the Harvard football team would be back on the road and back to Ivy play this Saturday at Cornell. Instead, we’ll make another trip to yesteryear with a look at the Crimson’s most prolific pass-catcher. For a program whose …
Update: Harvard Encampment Ends
UPDATE: May 20, 11:45 A.M. On Friday , May 17, Harvard College placed 23 students on multi-semester probation and suspended five students for their involvement in the Yard encampment , according to Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP). The group says …
“Something Is Very Broken”
Telling the broccoli story, even now, makes Usha Thakrar burn. It was nearly dark, she recalls, when a 53-foot tractor trailer packed with the fresh produce rolled into Stonefield Farm, headquarters of the Boston Area Gleaners, in exurban Acton. As …
Issue: May-June 2023
“A Grinding War”
During a discussion on campus Thursday evening, Marie Yovanovitch, the American ambassador to Ukraine from 2016 to 2019, advocated strongly for continued U.S. military assistance in the Ukrainian war effort and said that in retrospect, the United States …
Spring, Fevered
Amid the Divest Harvard protestors’ late-April blockade of the president’s office (see “The Divestment Debate,” ) and the debate about sexual assault (see “Addressing Sexual Assaults” ), other issues roiled the end of the semester; several are summarized …
Issue: July-August 2014
Richard Evans Schultes
Born into humble circumstances in East Boston in 1915, Richard Evans Schultes ’37, Ph.D. ’41, was a most unlikely candidate to become the archetypal Amazon explorer, the leading authority on mind-altering plants and fungi, and a “founding father” of …
Issue: July-August 2022
Demographic Subplots
First-time timing: Ages at first marriage range widely around the world. In India the median age at first marriage for brides is just under 19 and for grooms just over 23; in Jamaica, it is much higher for both men and women, at 31. In the United States, …
Issue: November-December 2004
Harvard Launches Sustainability Plan
The University has unveiled an ambitious five-year Sustainability Plan —the first of its kind for Harvard—detailing a strategy to build on existing greenhouse gas reduction goals and setting priorities in five core areas: energy and emissions, campus …