Alumni & People

curation of alumni people, faculty and student profiles

Conan O’Brien in a dark suit and light shirt, smiling and posing with hands clasped.

Conan O’Brien Named Harvard’s 2026 Commencement Speaker

The comedian, host, and 1985 graduate will deliver remarks at the May 28 ceremony. 

by Schuyler Velasco

Photograph of Roxanne Guenette

Harvard Portrait: Roxanne Guenette

Seeking answers to science’s biggest questions

by Jonathan Shaw

Higher-profile Board of Overseers Election

Prospective candidates and their diverse views of Harvard’s future and the Board’s role

by John S. Rosenberg

Mark Steele illustration of Lowell House’s bells being rung for the first time by a giant hand stretching from a cloud to swing the detached belfry.

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Photograph of Patrick Chung

The Xfund’s liberal-arts entrepreneurs

The Xfund helps young entrepreneurs launch companies and careers.

by Jonathan Shaw

Photograph of posters displaying coronavirus rules at the entrance to Adams House dining hall.

A pandemic spring semester, policing reform, and more

Reports on the pandemic spring semester, policing reform, Allston enlargement, and cell-manufacturing

Photograph of the Tucson, Arizona, skyline and downtown taken at sunset.

The Undergraduate balances childhood and maturity

The Undergraduate balances childhood and maturity.

by Meena Venkataramanan

Portrait of Jeannie Suk Gersen, an elegantly dressed Korean American woman leaning against a stone archway.

Jeannie Suk Gersen of Harvard Law School, profiled by Lydialyle Gibson

Jeannie Suk Gersen on the law, trauma, and “the rhetoric of believing”

by Lydialyle Gibson

Photograph of a stout middle-aged woman seated at her desk, writing

Elizabeth Bangs Bryant

Brief life of an underappreciated arachnologist

by Reed Gochberg

Purple spruce cones

An organismic biologist praises reawakening to the natural world

Re-engaging with nature alongside the director of the Arnold Arboretum

by William Friedman

Head and torso of a man painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

A monumental book reveals a monumental work of art

Nicholas Callaway publishes the Sistine Chapel in closeup.

by Lydialyle Gibson