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Divinity Dean Steps Down
With the Divinity School having achieved its $45-million goal in the University Campaign, Dean Ronald F. Thiemann announced on November 13 that he would relinquish the administrative duties he has performed since 1986. In a letter to the Divinity School community, he reviewed a decanal tenure during which more than 20 new appointments were made to the senior faculty ranks; the school increased the selectivity of its admissions "substantially"; and the endowment nearly quadrupled, to $245 million as of last June--making possible the planned renovation of the library and conversion of Divinity Hall to academic uses (see "Brevia," July-August 1998).
An ordained Lutheran minister and author, most recently of Religion in Public Life, Thiemann is O'Brian professor of divinity. After a year's sabbatical, he will return to the school to resume teaching and research. President Neil L. Rudenstine, who noted that "the high caliber of the [Divinity School's] programs has been sustained and enhanced" under Thiemann, will appoint an acting dean and launch a full search for Thiemann's successor.
Dean of Students Will Follow Suit
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Archie C. Epps III, B.D. '61, G '64--to many undergraduates, the familiar face of Harvard College--is stepping down as dean of students, a post he has held since 1970. In a full-page notice in the November 23 Crimson, Epps announced that he would become senior associate dean effective July 1. In that half-time capacity, he intends to be "ombudsman, mediator, coordinator of race relations work," and dean for the senior class. He also plans seminars on the transition from college to work. Harry R. Lewis, dean of the College, who will determine how Epps's present responsibilities will be reallocated, hailed him as "uniquely Harvard."
Master Mathematician
Barry Mazur, Jf '62, has been named the Gade University Professor, making him the nineteenth current holder of one of the elite professorships, which recognize faculty members whose broad scholarship has applications across Harvard. Calling his influence "tremendous," department chairman Yum-Tong Siu cited Mazur's work
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Microsubpoena
In October, preparing for its trial on antitrust charges, Microsoft Corporation sought access to research by David B. Yoffie, Starr professor of international business admin-istration, and Michael A. Cusumano, Ph.D. '84, of MIT's Sloan School of Management. The two business scholars collaborated on a book about Netscape Communications Corporation, whose battles with Microsoft over Internet browsing software are at the heart of the federal trial. The deep involvement of other Harvard personnel on all sides of the litigation has been chronicled here previously (Brevia, September-October 1998; May-June; March-April). The new motion was heard by yet another Harvard graduate, U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns, J.D. '76, and the University itself became involved, going to court with MIT to preserve the confidentiality of the scholars' interview notes and tapes. Stearns ruled in the professors' favor, and, with the trial under way, Microsoft appealed in November. In keeping with the intramural character of the litigation, the appellate panel includes Judges Frank M. Coffin, LL.B. '43, and Bruce M. Selya '55, J.D. '58. Stay tuned...
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Nota Bene
Strange brew. Among the beverages served at the new Café Gaia juice bar in Loker Commons is the "Cape Crimson" smoothie, a concoction containing cranberry, strawberry, and grape juices and honey--$3.25 for 16 ounces, $3.95 for 20 ounces, and 50 cents each for "boosters" such as calcium, garlic, ginger, gingko biloba, or ginseng.
Policy pro. Clayton Spencer, A.M. '82, has been named associate vice president for higher education policy, a new position. Former chief education counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, since early 1997 Spencer has worked with Harvard administrators on student aid, federal education legislation, and the University's response to a Congressional study of higher-education costs. She also teaches a course on federal education policy at the Graduate School of Education.
By the numbers. The University's new director of internal audit is Deloris Pettis-Donaldson. A Tulane M.B.A., she most recently oversaw audits for much of Digital Equipment Corporation's international business.
Honor roll. This year's recipients of the National Humanities Medal include Diana L. Eck, Ph.D. '76, professor of comparative religion and Indian studies and master of Lowell House; Henry Louis Gates Jr., Du Bois professor of the humanities and chairman of Afro-American studies; and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. '38. The trio, nominated by the National Endowment for the Humanities and selected by President Clinton, were recognized on November 5 in a ceremony at the White House.
A pair of plaques. In ceremonies November 6, the Widener Library reading room was named in honor of Katherine Bogdanovich Loker, whose most recent gift to Harvard supports the forthcoming renovation of Widener's stacks; for more on the dedication, see "The College Pump." A new plaque at Dudley House commemorates the commuter students of the 1930s whose efforts led to the founding of a nonresident student center. Among those honored were Eliot Canter '35, Herbert Tobin '35, L '38, Joseph Golden '37, and the late Peregrine White '33, LL.B. '38.
Security spoof. In an October Harvard Lampoon satire that Stanford student Chelsea Clinton might particularly appreciate, Kristin C. Gore '99, daughter of Vice President Al Gore '69, LL.D. '94, imagines the life of a would-be Secret Service agent whose baby pictures "depicted a gurgling young maverick clad in dark sunglasses and an unwieldy earpiece."
Coop cash. With its book operations turned over to Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, and its selling space on the Square downsized, the Harvard Cooperative Society continues its recovery from financial hardship, declaring a 4.5- percent rebate to all members for fiscal year 1998.
Lukas's legacy. The high reporting and writing standards established by the late J. Anthony Lukas '55, Nf '69, IOP '77 ("No Mere Journalist," September-October 1997) will be remembered and sustained by three new annual prizes to be awarded by the Nieman Foundation and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. The prizes--$10,000 each for a nonfiction book and a narrative history, and a $45,000 grant for a work in progress--are sponsored by the family of the late Mark Lynton, including his son Michael Lynton '82, M.B.A. '87, chairman and chief executive of Penguin Group.
Cyber blues. Computer users know that hard drives may be given pet names. A Harvard Magazine mole inside Cambridge city government discloses that the hard drive in the Management Information Systems office, which handles e-mail for all city employees, is named "Bulldog." The head of that office is Robert K. Coe, Yale '59.
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