Alumni Profiles

Spotlight stories on alumni who are leading, innovating, and making a difference.

Preserving the History of Jim Crow Era Safe Havens

Architectural historian Catherine Zipf is building a database of Green Book sites.  

by Lydialyle Gibson

Harvard alumna Sarah Alcorn reflects on her life as a private investigator

Boston-based private investigator Sarah Alcorn is “a bit of an oddball in this business.”

by Nell Porter-Brown

Profile of Martin J. Grasso Jr., Harvard Alumni Association president

President Martin J. Grasso boosts alumni volunteerism.

by Nell Porter-Brown

Novelist Colson Whitehead, profiled by Jesse McCarthy

Colson Whitehead ’91 plays for higher stakes in his new novel.

by Jesse McCarthy

Harvard hockey player Bill Keenan writes a memoir

The post-Harvard hockey tales of Bill Keenan

by Bailey Trela

Megan White Mukuria and ZanaAfrica Foundation aid Kenyan girls

An alumna’s novel approach to helping Kenyan tweens

by Olivia Campbell

Brief life of mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch

Brief life of a mathematician and businessman: 1773-1839

by Tamara Plakins ...

How Franklin Leonard became screenwriters' most effective “hype man”

Turning the Black List into a business, to modernize Hollywood’s dream machine

by Sophia Nguyen

Gloucester fisherman Russell Sherman is profiled

How Gloucester’s Russell Sherman got hooked

by Nell Porter-Brown

Houston mayor Sylvester Turner promises "transformative" tenure

Houston’s new mayor, HLS alumnus Sylvester Turner, promises a “transformative” tenure.

by Michael Hardy

Larry Summers Reflects

On recovering from the Great Recession, higher education, and current economic circumstances