News+

  • News+

    At HDS, Buddhist Ministry Initiative fellow seeks a different path

    As a child, Venerable Dorjey Dolma was mesmerized by how her aunt, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, wore the maroon monastic robe. It was her admiration for her aunt, and appreciation for the robes, that made her decide when she was 6 years old that she would become a Buddhist nun, too. “I got inspired by…

  • News+

    Following Hurricane Ian, Mass. medical team brings emergency dept. to hospital parking lot

    In the wake of Hurricane Ian, with some Florida hospitals closed or damaged and their health care staff exhausted, a team of 37 Massachusetts doctors, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and paramedics traveled near Sarasota — north of the state’s most-damaged areas — to run an emergency department in tents outside of a local hospital. During their weeklong clinical…

  • News+

    Jay O. Light, former dean of Harvard Business School, dies at 81

    Jay O. Light, dean of Harvard Business School from 2005 to 2010, died on  Oct. 15 at his home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, of cancer. He was 81 years old. Light served on the HBS faculty for more than four decades. He loved being in the classroom and engaging with his students (including after they…

  • News+

    FAS Dean Gay announces cluster search to expand faculty focused on climate

    At the first in-person faculty meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences since February 2020, Edgerley Family Dean of the FAS Claudine Gay announced a cluster hire of three scholars specializing in the environment, climate, and sustainability. The hiring effort marks initial steps in advancing FAS research and teaching efforts focused on the climate…

    Harvard Yard in autumn,
  • News+

    Harvard Business School launches Race, Gender, and Equity Initiative

    Harvard Business School (HBS) announced today the formation of the Race, Gender, and Equity Initiative, which is both a renaming of the Gender Initiative and a reflection of work it has done and will do to understand and advance equality, including racial equality, in organizations and business. The role of the initiative, much like the Gender Initiative…

    Harvard University from Esteves at Harvard Business School with The Charles River to the left.
  • News+

    Harvard Chan School welcomes new faculty

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has welcomed six new primary faculty members over the past few months: Irini Albanti is a lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the executive director of Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). Her research interests are in capacity building in resource-limited settings, impact strategy, storytelling, and the role of corporate philanthropy…

  • News+

    75th anniversary of groundbreaking moment in Harvard history

    When Chester Pierce ’48, M.D. ’52, took the field at the University of Virginia on Oct. 11, 1947 as a member of the Harvard football team, it was recognized as the first time a Black student-athlete played college football at an all-white university south of the Mason-Dixon line. The practice at the time was for…

  • News+

    Grad Fest returns for the fifth year

    More than 700 graduate and professional school students convened at the Smith Campus Center  on Sept. 29 for the fifth annual Harvard Grad Fest.  Hosted by the Graduate Student Affairs Circle, Grad Fest brings graduate students and their families together early in the academic year to increase networks and support systems. The event was supported…

    Grad Fest.
  • News+

    Learning how to climb to the top, safely

    The Arnold Arboretum is celebrating its Sesquicentennial and this year it served as the backdrop for a unique training program aimed at keeping Harvard’s workers safe and its trees healthy. During October, Harvard Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) brought together a collection of arborists, landscapers, and safety experts to ensure that employees have the knowledge…

    AJ Tataronis from the Arnold Arboretum helps Lucas Griffith from the Harvard Forest
  • News+

    Xiaowei Zhuang wins 2022 Heinrich Wieland Prize

    Xiaowei Zhuang, David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science, has won the 2022 Heinrich Wieland Prize of the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation for making seminal discoveries in cell and neurobiology with the ingenious imaging technologies she developed.  This international award honors outstanding research on biologically active molecules and systems in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, and…

    Xiaowei Zhuang.
  • News+

    Faculty Council meeting — Oct. 12, 2022

    On Oct. 12 the Faculty Council voted to approve a revised description for the Standing Committee on Women and heard the Dean’s Annual Report to the Faculty.  In addition, the elected members of the Faculty Council met in camera with a member of the Presidential Search Committee as part of the committee’s university-wide outreach process.…

  • News+

    Harvard Business School announces 2022-2023 Kaplan Fellows

    Harvard Business School has announced this year’s recipients of the Robert S. Kaplan (M.B.A. 1983) Life Sciences Fellowship. Established in 2008, the fellowship was created by Robert S. Kaplan, who served as president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and was the…

    Harvard Business School.
  • News+

    Confronting the challenges of long COVID

    When Jessica Lovett developed long COVID, her fatigue was so severe that she could not move her body. “I was a first-time mom, and I had a 2-year-old son,” she said. “I wanted to be able to pick him up, but I couldn’t even stand up.” Lovett and several other patients shared their experiences in a…

  • News+

    Experience the world at Harvard

    At any given time of year, Harvard is home to lectures, seminars, and exhibits on topics of immense global importance — from public health to the climate crisis to the preservation of democracy and human rights. In countries around the world and in Harvard’s 20 offices abroad, faculty, students, staff, and other members of our…

    Worldwide Week logo
  • News+

    Is new malaria vaccine world-changing? Maybe.

    A new vaccine for malaria developed by scientists at the University of Oxford was up to 80 percent effective at preventing disease in young children, according to trial results published in early September. Dyann Wirth, Richard Pearson Strong Professor of Infectious Diseases, offers some thoughts on the new vaccine and its potential impact. Q: Media reports have suggested that…

  • News+

    2022 Aloian Memorial Scholarship winners announced

    The Harvard Alumni Association has named Stephany Zhivotovsky ’23 of Cabot House and Adam Aleksic ’23 of Kirkland House as this year’s David and Mimi Aloian Memorial Scholars. Each year the Aloian Memorial Scholarship is given to two juniors who demonstrate thoughtful leadership and who improve the quality of life in Harvard Houses. The award…

    Stephany Zhivotovsky and Adam Aleksic
  • News+

    Jarad Mason named Moore Inventor Fellow

    Jarad Mason, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has been named one of the Moore Inventor Fellows. Launched in 2016 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law, a prediction about the exponential growth of computing power, the program embraces the spirit of Gordon Moore’s passion for science and penchant for inventing. “The Moore…

    Jarad Mason.
  • News+

    Nine Harvard scientists win NIH grants

    Nine scientists from Harvard are among the 103 who have been selected in four categories to receive more than $200 million in grants over five years through the National Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which aims to promote innovative studies addressing major challenges in the biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences. Adam Granger, Rachel…

    Science image.
  • News+

    Grappling with public health impacts of Supreme Court decisions

    “In just seven days last June,” said Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Dean Michelle Williams, “the U.S. Supreme Court set back public health by 50 years.” That sobering assessment kicked off a Sept. 16 panel discussion at the School focused on recent Court decisions that, as Williams put it, “drove back efforts to address the…

  • News+

    Author John Green kicks off Noble Lecture series

    New York Times bestselling author John Green will open the 2022-2023 William Belden Noble Lecture series at the Memorial Church, 7 p.m. Oct. 14, with a deep plunge into the subject of apocalyptic climate change. Green is the author of such well-known titles as “The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down,” and…

    John Green.
  • News+

    Study identifies hundreds of hospitals on Atlantic and Gulf coasts at risk of flooding from hurricanes

    The first study to systematically investigate flooding risk to hospitals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Category 1-4 storms finds that even relatively weak storms pose a serious flood risk to hospitals along the coast. Sea level rise expected in this century due to the effects of climate change increases the odds of hospital flooding…

  • News+

    2022 Harvard Chan School Alumni Awards announced

    The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Alumni Association recently announced the recipients of the 2022 Alumni Awards, who were chosen by their peers through a nomination and voting process. The awards will be presented during this year’s Alumni Weekend, which takes place September 22-24. Alumni Award of Merit Established in 1992, the Alumni Award of…

  • News+

    New HealthLab Accelerator program supports student social impact ventures

    This year, students at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have a new opportunity to turn their ideas into startups with the potential for real-world impact. The HealthLab Accelerator program will bring together entrepreneurial teams focused on solving challenges in public and planetary health, and provide them with funding and opportunities for mentoring, networking, and collaboration.…

  • News+

    Kang-Kuen Ni wins 2023 New Horizons in Physics Prize

    Kang-Kuen Ni, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, has received the 2023 New Horizons in Physics Prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. The New Horizons prizes are awarded to early-career scientists who have made significant contribution to the fields of Fundamental Physics, Life Science, and Mathematics. The Breakthrough Prizes were founded by sponsors Sergey Brin,…

    Professor Kang-Kuen Ni
  • News+

    San Francisco has fewer pretrial detainees in jail. But at what cost?

    Since 2020, the number of individuals awaiting trial in San Francisco County who are required to wear an electronic monitoring (EM) device has increased by 308 percent. This explosion is the result of a decision in a case regarding defendants’ ability to pay cash bail and non-monetary release options. While many have applauded the solution…

  • News+

    A transformative SPARK

    The summer between high school and college is often filled with fleeting farewells and nervous energy as students prepare themselves for their lives ahead in a new home.  At Harvard, one of the most transformative aspects of the college experience is students sharing their own formative experiences and perspectives with one another.  That’s where the…

  • News+

    Faculty Council meeting — Sept. 21, 2022

    On Sept. 21 the Faculty Council nominated a Parliamentarian for the 2022–23 academic year and voted to hold the first and last meetings of the Faculty in person and the remaining meetings online via Zoom for the 2022–23 academic year. They also heard a report from members of the Faculty Workload Committee and a proposal…

  • News+

    Freeman A. Hrabowski III named inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture speaker

    Freeman A. Hrabowski III, president emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), has been named the inaugural 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture speaker. An esteemed leader in higher education, Hrabowski’s 30-year tenure as UMBC’s president received national recognition and praise for his commitment to advancing underrepresented minorities’ participation in science,…

    Freeman A. Hrabowski III
  • News+

    Seven honorees to be awarded W.E.B. Du Bois Medal

    The Hutchins Center Honors are back with a new slate of honorees after a nearly three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The W.E.B Du Bois Medal will be awarded to seven honorees “who embody the values of commitment and resolve that are fundamental to the Black experience in America” for their contributions to African and…

    Du Bois medal
  • News+

    Menstruation animation helps shed light on a touchy topic

    A new educational animation that debuted at the Museum of Science in Boston over the summer aims to give parents and children the chance to learn about menstruation — a topic that parents sometimes shy away from and that young people may have limited knowledge about. The animation was produced by researchers in the lab of Shruthi Mahalingaiah, assistant…

    Menstruation animation features a character called "Uterus" prepping for the arrival of an egg.