May 20, 1999

The Long Voyage Home
Peabody returns Native American Remains to Pecos Pueblo

Scientists Find Evidence for A Sixth Sense in Humans
The ancestors of humans may have communicated by a sixth sense, by detecting chemical signals given off by each other. They received these signals through a specialized organ in the nose, vestiges of which still exist. Some researchers think the organ still functions and influences our behavior; others believe it is extinct.

Whiting, Expert in Child Development, Dies at Age 90
John Wesley Mayhew Whiting, Professor of Social Anthropology Emeritus, died on May 13 in Chilmark, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard, where he was born in 1908.

Robert Bergman Dies
Joan Morthland Hutchins '61 has been elected president of the Board of Overseers for 1999-2000. She will assume the post after Commencement, succeeding Charlotte P. Armstrong '49, LLB '53.

Ernest G. Peralta, Professor of Molecular, Cellular Biology, Dies at 40
A funeral Mass for Ernest G. Peralta, professor of molecular and cellular biology, will take place at 11 a.m. on Sat., May 22, at St. Peter's Parish in Cambridge (96 Concord Ave.). Interment will follow at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The 40-year-old scientist died in his Cambridge home on May 17 after a three-year battle with brain cancer.

Statement on Resignation of Dean Thiemann
The University released the following statement: "Last fall, information was brought to President Rudenstine's attention bearing on Dean Thiemann's continued capacity to serve as Dean

F. Hammon, Formerly of Kirkland House, Dies
Florence Pierson Hammond, a counselor to many Harvard students, died on May 10 in her Cambridge home of heart failure. She was 90. Hammond attended Radcliffe College as one of the earliest women to pursue a graduate education.

The Beginning of the End of Smallpox
Today, smallpox is the only disease that mankind has eliminated from nature. A case has not been reported in two decades, and frozen specimens kept in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Laboratories and at a high-security facility in Russia are the last known samples. The World Health Organization has recommended the stocks be eliminated by June 30.

'Unprecedented Assembly' Ushers in the Future
Technology is changing the way teachers teach and the way students learn. That was the message of a novel gathering that took place Friday, May 14, at the Business School. "The Faculty Workshop on the Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning" was attended by approximately 140 faculty and administrators from across the University.

Weatherhead Center Names 1999-2000 Undergraduate Associates
The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs has announced that 15 Harvard College juniors will be 1999-2000 Undergraduate Associates of the Center.

Overseas Travel Fellowships Awarded to Seven Graduating Seniors
Seven graduating seniors have been awarded Shaw, Sheldon, and Trustman fellowships for the pursuit of purposeful and personally significant travel in the year after graduation.

Inner-City Volunteers Feted
One of the world's longest studies of normal men celebrated its 60th anniversary last week. Scientists have plied them with questions, interviews, and physical exams for all that time, not to learn about disease or antisocial behavior, but to determine how healthy, law-abiding men can overcome poverty and low social status.

Tomassoni Resigns as Men's Hockey Head Coach
Ronn Tomassoni, whose association with Harvard men's hockey has spanned 17 years, including the last nine as the Crimson's head coach, has announced he is stepping down from his post. Previously, he had spent eight years as assistant, and, later, associate coach under his mentor, Bill Cleary.

Crimson Baseball Executes Unusual Double Play
Senior second baseman Peter Woodfork has been named the Ivy League Baseball Player of the Week, while freshman second baseman/DH Faiz Shakir has been named the Ivy League Baseball Rookie of the Week.

Captain of Men's Basketball Chosen; MVP Selected
Junior Damian Long, a regular in the Crimson line-up both at shooting guard and small forward the past two seasons, has been elected captain of the 1999-2000 Harvard mens basketball team. Meanwhile, senior Tim Hill, Harvard's leading scorer who also became the school's career assist leader, received the Ray Lavietes '36 Award as the Most Valuable Player of this year's squad.

Getting Along in America's New Religious Neighborhood
A microcosm of the nation's religious diversity visited the Barker Center on Monday, May 17, to wrestle with these and other issues of religious tolerance, discrimination, and accommodation. The discussion of religion and schools was the liveliest, capping a daylong meeting of about two dozen social and religious leaders from around the country.

Middle Schoolers Urged To 'Think College Now!'
"Think College Now!" began in the spring of 1998 as a result of discussions between Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and President Neil L. Rudenstine. It was launched as an initiative of the Boston Higher Education Partnership, of which Harvard is a member.

The Harvard Globetrotters
With current worldwide sales reaching 1 million copies, the oldest budget travel guide in the business, Let's Go, will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2000.

Harvard Students Have Computers, Will Travel -- and Teach
Amid recent academic discussions about the growing gap between technological haves and have-nots, a group of Harvard students are making a difference.

Getting the 'Inside' Story of Women in Prison
Browne, a senior research scientist at the School of Public Health's Injury Control Research Center, has been going in and out of prison for 20 years. For the past 10 years, she has held the position of consulting psychologist at Bedford Hills, New York state's maximum security facility for women, in Westchester County.