Lydialyle Gibson

Lydialyle Gibson has been an associate editor at Harvard Magazine since 2015. She edits the Montage profiles, about alumni in the arts, and writes about a variety of topics, including arts and medicine—especially where the two intersect, as in her features about Harvard physician-writers Rafael Campo and Stuart Harris. In the January-February 2025 issue, she wrote “Caring for the Caregivers,” about the experiences of people caring for loved ones with dementia—read her Behind the Scenes about that story. She also covers politics and history, with a special emphasis on African American history, and since 2022 has reported on the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative. Before coming to Harvard, she was an editor and writer at the University of Chicago Magazine. Her writing has won numerous awards, including several national awards from CASE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Carrying a “Heavy Pack”

The largest Harvard ROTC cohort in 30 years is commissioned into the armed services.

The “Dangers and Duties that Lie Ahead”

Drew Giplin Faust and Tracy K. Smith at the Phi Beta Kappa Exercises

An Interfaith Answer to Harvard Campus Tensions

Discussing religious pluralism at Harvard Divinity School 

The Picture of Freedom

A Boston Athenaeum exhibit explores an abolitionist with Harvard ties.

A New Chapter for Harvard Arts

The Office for the Arts turns 50, and its longtime director steps down.

Academia’s Absence from Homelessness

“The lack of dedicated research funding in this area is a major, major problem.”

The Dark History Behind Chocolate

A Harvard course on the politics and culture of food

Harvard Portraitist Nina Skov Jensen Paints Celebrities and Princesses

Nina Skov Jensen ’25, portraitist for collectors and the princess of Denmark. 

Poet Cynthia Zarin's Debut Novel "Inverno"

Poet Cynthia Zarin ’81’s first novel Inverno, a study in yearning and desire.

How Homelessness is a Public Health Crisis

Homelessness has surged in the United States, with devastating effects on the public health system.

Reparations as Public Health

A Harvard forum on the racial health gap

Unionizing Harvard Academic Workers

Pay, child care, workplace protections at issue