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

Philanthropist Edwin Binney with Helen Willard, curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection

Edwin Binney, 3rd

Brief life of a philanthropic art collector: 1925-1986

by Madison U. Sowell

An illustration by James Steinberg shows a heavenly hand extending down to the U.S. Capitol and attempting to influence members of Congress

Benjamin Friedman on faith and American socioeconomic policy

How faith shapes economic and social policy

Formal portrait of the Board of Editors for volume 70 of the “Harvard Law Review” (1956-1957), photographed on the steps of Austin Hall. The author, only the third woman admitted to Review membership, stands in the fourth row, at upper left.

The third woman to make the “Harvard Law Review” looks back

An alumna looks back.

by Nancy Boxley Tepper

Shelby Meyerhoff's photographic self-portrait of her head and shoulders transformed with body paints into a blue-ringed octopus

Profile of body-paint artist Shelby Meyerhoff

Shelby Meyerhoff’s liminal, liberating body painting

by Lydialyle Gibson

Archival photograph of John F. Kennedy as an undergraduate, circa 1939, studying papers

Fredrik Logevall, “JFK: Coming of Age…” excerpt

An unusual senior thesis

Producer Jeff Schaffer sits between star Larry David (left) and another cast member on the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” set.

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer talks shop

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer on how to be funny

by Stuart Miller

Photograph of Harvard president Lawrence S. Bacow

President Bacow on innovation in Allston

As SEAS moves to Allston, President Bacow highlights the University’s newest innovation hub.

by Lawrence S. Bacow

David Roberts seated outdoors on a stone wall by the Charles River

Adventure writer Dave Roberts

David Roberts: A lifetime of adventures, risks, and rewards

by Nell Porter-Brown

Image shows a dendritic cell (shown in yellow) attached to a man-made polymer lattice inside a pill-sized implantable device.

Inducing immunity to cancer

An implantable cancer vaccine shows promise in training the immune system to attack tumors.

by Erin O’Donnell

Cracks appear in a balloon decorated like a $100 bill as Uncle Sam fills it with a bicycle pump

Asset bubbles and credit growth precede financial crises.

Contrary to expert belief, some financial crises can be predicted—and perhaps averted.

by Jonathan Shaw