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

Gram Parsons stands in front of a bus in Harvard Square

Sound as Ever

Gram Parsons and Harvard’s hand in country rock

by Nancy Walecki

Ursula Bailey working in a Harvard geology laboratory, 1945

Trailblazer in Space Science: The Legacy of Harvard's Ursula B. Marvin

Brief life of a pioneering planetary geologist: 1921-2018

by David A. Kring

A live sketch from Lori Vallow Daybell’s murder trial. Daybell is in the middle between two men, all looking somber.

Something from Nothing

Painter, animator, illustrator, and silhouettist Susan Bin

by Max J. Krupnick

A formal portrait or José Olivarez in a gold chain and velvet suit jacket, standing amid red drapes and palm plants.

For the Homies

In José Olivarez’s poetry, the political is personal.

by Josie Abugov

Impatience Is a Virtue

Violinist-multitasker Sumire Hirotsuru

by Jacob Sweet

Portrait image of Walter Kim standing on a street with arms folded across his chest

A New Face of American Evangelicalism

Walter Kim aims for “a way forward even within difference.”

by Nell Porter-Brown

Portrait of Debby Smullyan, retiring obituaries editor

In Service

Editing obituaries and class notes

Two students pose in Harvard Stadium. One holds a basketball and the other holds a soccer ball.

Striving for the Straus Cup

The students who keep competition friendly

by Max J. Krupnick

A drawing of a workplace where parents and their children are working together

Nepotism’s Impact in the Job Market

How connections in blue-collar work disadvantage women and blacks

by Max J. Krupnick

An illustration of a young woman at an easel, holding a paintbrush and tracing a path while looking out across a landscape of other people following their own path

Uncharted Territory

A recent graduate thinks about what is means to take unconventional paths after Harvard.

by Josie Abugov