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Contents for September 28, 2000
News and Features
- Sophomore skips orientation to free 4,000 slaves in Sudan
As Harvard sophomore Jay Williams passed through customs and trudged toward the exits at Terminal E in Logan Airport two weeks ago, the colorful images reflecting off his sunglasses proclaimed the enormity of the moment. Just seconds after emerging from the international gates, the 19-year-old religion and pre-med concentrator was surrounded by reporters, photographers, fellow students, and supporters -- all anxious to hear his dramatic story.
- Fight over Huck Finn continues: Ed School professor wages battle for Twain classic
Mark Twain knew darn well what he was doing when he wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn": he was pokin' at a beehive.
- Mayman to step down as director of Office for the Arts
Myra Mayman, the founding director of Harvard's Office for the Arts (OFA), has announced that she will step down at the end of June. In letters and phone calls to dozens of staff members, alumni/ae, advisers, students, and other friends of the OFA this week, Mayman demonstrated the personal touch for which she is known and explained the reasons for her decision.
- System tracks gun deaths: Details are being collected on murders, suicides in the U.S.
Recent accounts of young school students shooting each other has sent a shiver through the nation; journalists call the killings an "epidemic" and legislators have begun debates on new gun control laws. As tragic as these homicides are, however, they represent only the tip of an iceberg of gun deaths in the United States. Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot to death in murders, suicides, and accidents. Another 65,000 suffer from gun injuries.
- Endowment tops out at $19.2 billion
Harvard University's endowment posted its highest return since 1983 in the year ending June 30, 2000, increasing to approximately $19.2 billion on a 32.2 percent return despite an unremarkable year in the broader markets that saw the S&P 500 increase only 7.3 percent.
- Medical School students see if kids measure up
For a week in August, incoming Harvard Medical School students ignored the siren call of sun and sand for a chance to spend a week weighing and measuring preschoolers at the Dimock Early Head Start Program in Roxbury.
- New brochure offers mental health help
College can be a difficult place. Students, especially at schools like Harvard, often have the pressure to succeed continually bearing down on them. Most are living away from home for the first time. Relationships with others may be hard to start and harder to maintain.
- Paul Revere ROTC Unit is honored with national award
The Paul Revere battalion, which includes students from Harvard, Tufts, Wellesley, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been named the "Most Outstanding" by the U.S. Army, among more than 270 ROTC units nationwide. Cadet Battalion Commander Danielle Boudreau '01, who is the first female battalion commander in Paul Revere's history, accepted the award on behalf of the battalion during a ceremony at M.I.T.
- Singer, scholar, rabbi is a man of many parts
One of Norman Janis' earliest memories is standing on the beach at Coney Island at the age of 6 and singing "HMS Pinafore" to his parents and their friends.
- Literacy programs at Harvard
Bridge to a brighter future: Program offers literacy, ESL, and GED courses to employees
Humberto Cuartas keeps his eyes on the prize
. Humberto Cuartas and his 9-year-old son are homesick. Even so, they aren't quite ready to pack up and go back to their home in Medellin, Colombia.
Be a volunteer: Help employees learn basic language skills and/or prepare for the GED.
University adopts committee recommendations:
The guidelines were a result of a yearlong study of work force issues on campus and recommend greatly expanded benefits for entry-level, part-time, and service workers.
- Homework wars provoke debate: Experts face off over importance of after-school assignments
The gauntlet hit the floor with a bang during last week's Askwith Education Forum on "The Homework Wars" sponsored by the Graduate School of Education (GSE) and moderated by Emily Rooney, host of "Greater Boston" on WGBH Television.
- Law School honors black alumni
With one collective eye focused on a controversial and colorful past and the other gazing ahead toward an uncertain future, some 600 African-American graduates of Harvard Law School (HLS), joined by their families and faculty members, gathered at the Law School last weekend to honor their rich history and to chart a course for those who will follow in their footsteps.
- Ig Nobel seeks smartest person in the world
The "10th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony" will be held Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Sanders Theatre.
- 'Building the American Dream': Speaker for second Dunlop Lecture announced
The Joint Center for Housing Studies will hold the second annual John T. Dunlop Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Graduate School of Design.
- Divinity School establishes new Islamic studies chair
Harvard Divinity School has announced the establishment of the Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Professorship in Islamic Religious Studies. The new chair, whose title honors the family of His Highness Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is intended as the cornerstone for an expanded program in the study of Islam at Harvard, promoting a deeper understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim peoples.
- Committee on Honorary Degrees to consider 2002 nominees
The Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees will be meeting during the fall and spring to consider nominees for honorary degrees in 2002. Members of the Harvard community are invited to submit names of likely honorary degree candidates.
Arts & Museums
- Before (and after) the end of time
Christine Smith points to a small limestone capital, a fragment of a French medieval abbey. It is mounted high on the wall of an exhibition room at the Fogg Museum. Below it, a white stripe connecting it with the floor suggests in a subtle, minimalist way that the pocked, weatherworn carving is resting on the ghost of a column.
- Beauty on the wing: The Double Lives of Butterflies
Starting Sept. 29, the Museum of Natural History will give visitors a chance to bask in the beauty of a thousand butterflies. Specimens of every size, shape, and color from around the world will be on display.
- Golden ceiling: restoration at Memorial Church
Faculty
- Making it all compute: Blackbelt, professor, mom, Seltzer integrates career and family
When I knocked on her office door, Margo Seltzer, newly tenured professor of computer science, was changing her daughter's diaper.
- David Fithian appointed assistant dean of Harvard College
David Fithian has been named Assistant Dean of Harvard College, effective immediately. Fithian, who was appointed by Dean of Harvard College Harry L. Lewis, will work on a variety of administrative and policy matters affecting the College and will serve as Secretary of the Administrative Board of Harvard College. He has served as Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Adams House since 1988 and also has been a lecturer in the department of Sociology and on Social Studies, and Assistant Dean of Freshmen. He will continue as Senior Tutor in Adams House for the remainder of the current academic year.
Fellows
- Institute of Politics announces fall fellows
Two former world leaders, a prominent health care policy-maker, and the national campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid are among the fellowship selections at the Institute of Politics (IOP) this fall.
- Hauser Center names new fellows
The Hauser Center is a University-wide, interdisciplinary research center that seeks to expand understanding and accelerate critical thinking about civil society among scholars, practitioners, policy makers and the general public. Now in its third year, the Hauser Center awards up to five two-year residential doctoral fellowships per year to outstanding students registered in any program at Harvard.
- HLS awards Kaufman public interest fellowships
Harvard Law School has awarded Irving R. Kaufman Public Interest Fellowships to 22 graduating students and recent graduates. These fellowships are awarded in recognition and support of individuals who have shown truly exceptional promise for careers in public interest law. The Kaufman Fellowships are managed by the School's Office of Public Interest Advising, which is directed by Alexa Shabecoff.
- U.S.-Japan Relations announces associates
The Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard has selected 15 associates for research projects in 2000-01. Founded in 1980, the program enables outstanding scholars and practitioners from the United States and Japan to come together at Harvard University to conduct independent research and participate in an ongoing dialogue with other members of the Harvard and Greater Boston communities.
Sports
Police
Memorial
- Memorial service for Masatoshi Nagatomi
A memorial service will be held for Masatoshi Nagatomi, professor of Buddhist studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2 p.m., at the Memorial Church.
Notes
NewsMakers
Copyright 2000 President and Fellows of Harvard College
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