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After Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court, in a decision announced June 29, banned race-conscious admissions at both public and private institutions of higher education, ruling the practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) unconstitutional and overturning …
Jonathan Shaw , Lincoln Caplan
Issue: September-October 2023
Faust Names Grosz Radcliffe Institute Interim Dean
Harvard president-elect Drew Gilpin Faust made her first decanal appointment today, naming computer scientist Barbara J. Grosz, Higgins professor of natural sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, interim …
Who Teaches?
Tucked within the November Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) faculty trends report was a short section on professors of the practice, lecturers, and preceptors: teachers who are not among the “ladder” ranks of professors and tenure-track assistant and …
Issue: March-April 2023
Defying the Doldrums
Jon Schaefer grew up in Charlemont, a community of nearly 1,300 that lies between Williamstown and Interstate 91. His family owns the local Berkshire East Mountain Resort, where he and his siblings, and most everyone in the hill-towns region, learned to …
Issue: January-February 2021
The Interim Agenda
Derek Bok, Harvard’s president from 1971 to 1991, resumes those duties on July 1 on an interim basis until a permanent successor to Lawrence H. Summers takes office. In late March, shortly before his second visit to campus in preparation for his return to …
Issue: May-June 2006
A New Challenge for Antitrust
In the last few years, a new type of financial consolidation has caught the attention of antitrust regulators. Institutional investors—big companies like Fidelity and BlackRock—today own 70 percent of publicly traded stocks, according to some estimates, …
Issue: January-February 2018
Blue, Yellow, Crimson
When he was president of Harvard, Neil L. Rudenstine made the case for universities’ role as custodians of human histories, cultures, and languages by telling a story from his service as provost at Princeton. In 1979, following the Islamic Revolution and …
Issue: May-June 2022
Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement
In an email sent this afternoon to faculty members, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in the departments of mathematics and organismic and evolutionary biology, and the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) dean …
Curiosities: The Art of Childhood
Jordan Casteel ’s 2018 painting Twins (Subway) is a sidelong look at sisters bundled in winter hats and coats, blissfully asleep under the protective arm of a caregiver. It’s a domestic scene laid bare in public: a reflection of children’s trusting …
Issue: November-December 2022
Ruth J. Simmons’s Harvard Graduation Address
A Time for Justice - A Time for Commitment Good day and congratulations to the Harvard University Class of 2021. It is a singular honor to be invited to address you on this important milestone occasion. To all completing their studies today, I offer my …
Fishing for Answers
Photograph by Ralf-Finn Hestoft Neil Shubin and Tiktaalik In 2005, parents and school officials in Dover, Pennsylvania, were locked in a courtroom debate over a school-board mandate that intelligent design be presented as an alternative to evolution in …
Issue: May-June 2008
The Fiscal Crunch
With no relief since the University’s early-December announcement that the endowment’s value had declined sharply (see “ Harder Times ,” January-February, page 47), Harvard faces significant spending reductions—likely to affect both employees and perhaps …
Issue: March-April 2009
Can New Drugs Help Millions of Americans with Obesity?
More than 100 million Americans struggle with obesity, but one drug is poised to change the weight-loss landscape—not only by shrinking waistlines, but reshaping how physicians approach chronic disease. Ozempic (semaglutide) and other GLP-1s agonists are …
“We Must Cross Over”
In his Commencement address, President Summers reviewed his priorities. A detailed report on his tenure will appear in the next issue. Today, I speak from this podium a final time as your president. As I depart, I want to thank all of you—students, …
Issue: July-August 2006
Yesterday's News
1925 The Associated Harvard Clubs’ Committee on Service to the University suggests that descendants of Harvard graduates be given preference in the admission process; the Bulletin’ s editors write, “Inbreeding within the student body would be quite as …
Issue: May-June 2005