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

A black-and-white portrait of a smiling person with wavy hair, wearing a beaded necklace.

Defeating the Darkness

After decades of mystery, a family reunion

by Brian Palmer

Toussaint Miller in a dark sweater plays the trumpet on stage with eyes closed.

Music and Medicine

Toussaint Miller explores the healing power of art.


by Lydialyle Gibson

Graduates in caps and gowns hold inflatable globes at an outdoor ceremony with red banners in the background.

Harvard University’s 373rd Commencement Excercises

Commencement and Alumni Day schedules

A condemned inmate returns to his cell in the east block of death row at California’s San Quentin State Prison

The Supreme Court and Mass Incarceration

A legal scholar’s harsh assessment of the Supreme Court’s rulings on crime

by Lincoln Caplan

A violinist in a green shirt plays on stage, smiling, with microphones and stage lighting in the background.

Works by Archaic Greek Poets Set to Music

Millennia-old Greek lyrics ring out again in twenty-first-century pop music.

by Craig Lambert

A person with long brown hair wears a sleeveless green dress with a kiwi fruit pattern, sitting in a vintage-style café.

Leslie Jamison on Isolation, Empathy, and Selfhood

The essayist on isolation, empathy, and selfhood

by Nina Pasquini

Tom Kane smiles in a navy blazer and sits at a table in a modern room with empty chairs and tables behind him.

Harvard's Tom Kane on Effective School Reforms

Tom Kane deploys data to help improve education.

by Nina Pasquini

Wooden pillars with curved metal hooks arranged in an outdoor installation.

Harvard Sculptor Justin Peyser on Finding Sanctuary

Probing the concepts of territory and sanctuary.

by Lydialyle Gibson

President Alan M. Garber sitting in historic Holyoke Chair during his installation

Brief News Summary Harvard Spring 2025

President Garber’s private installation, settling antisemitism suits, challenging institutional neutrality, and more

Illustration showing an outline of Texas as a state with wind power and other clean sources of energy

Renewable Energy in Texas

Cheap renewable energy could position Texas to become a major producer of clean hydrogen fuel.

by Jonathan Shaw