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Four Business School faculty receive Class of 2025 Faculty Teaching Award honors
Students from the Harvard Business School graduating Class of 2025 honored four faculty members with Faculty Teaching Awards. Rawi Abdelal, Edward (Ted) Berk, Meg Rithmire, and Andy Wu were recognized for their excellence and dedication to teaching, and for the positive impact they had both in and out of the classroom. Students were asked to…

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James Bedford wins Dean’s Award for service to the School and society
James Bedford, from the Harvard Business School’s M.B.A. Class of 2025, has been named the recipient of the Dean’s Award. This prestigious award celebrates the extraordinary achievements of a graduating student who during their two years of study has made a positive impact on Harvard, Harvard Business School, and/or broader communities through exceptional acts of…

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Harvard Business School announces 2025-2026 Leadership Fellows
Harvard Business School has announced the 2025-2026 cohort of its Leadership Fellows Program. The program is based on University Professor Michael Porter’s vision of developing a network of HBS graduates with cross-sector experience who are committed to addressing societal issues throughout their careers. Since 2003, it has placed more than 300 fellows at organizations such as…

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Harvard leaders receive Inspire Awards
Two Harvard leaders, Caroline Fernald, executive director of the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, and Carrie Moore, the Kathy Delaney-Smith Head Coach For Harvard Women’s Basketball, were honored by the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce last week as part of their annual Inspire Awards celebration. The Inspire Awards recognize “the commitment and contributions of outstanding women…

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Jessica Stern appointed senior fellow at Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School is proud to announce the appointment of Jessica Stern as senior fellow. She will be the first senior fellow focused on LGBTQI+ human rights in the history of the Carr-Ryan Center and the Kennedy School. Jessica Stern is one of the world’s most distinguished…

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Tarun Khanna leaves lasting legacy on India and South Asia at Harvard
When Tarun Khanna took over the South Asia Initiative 15 years ago, there was one staff member, a small office in CGIS South, and almost no faculty involvement from around campus. He saw an enormous opportunity to bring together South Asia-focused scholars, students, and alumni at Harvard and connect them more closely with the region, but…

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Diana L. Eck named next director of Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute
John F. Manning and Hopi H. Hoekstra announced earlier this year that Diana L. Eck, professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Emerita, and Frederic Wertham Research Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society, will be named interim faculty director of the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute (the Mittal Institute) beginning July 1. …

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HBS, HKS professors win award for best health economics paper
Marcella Alsan, Joshua Schwartzstein, and their co-authors have been honored with the Arrow Award for their paper, “Representation and Extrapolation: Evidence from Clinical Trials.”

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Get to know HBS Class Day student speaker Chris Hood
Chris Hood, M.B.A. ’25, has been selected as the student speaker for Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Class Day celebration on May 28. Class Day honors graduating students and typically takes place on the day before the School’s and University’s official graduation ceremonies. It is planned and conducted by a committee of second-year M.B.A. students. Hood…

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From saints to serpents: HDS students win 2025 Buechner Prize
As the academic year comes to a close, Harvard Divinity School (HDS) announces that Tess Dufrechou, M.Div. ’25, and Kat Woodard, M.Div. ’25, have received the 2025 Frederick Buechner Prize. The award is given annually to two graduating M.Div. students whose senior papers best embody the literary and theological vision of the late writer-theologian Frederick…

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With ‘Lunch and Learn,’ Kempner offers new forum for collaboration
Kempner Research Fellow Ilenna Jones studies dendrites, exploring how the computational properties of these structures in biological neurons can contribute to the next generation of brain-inspired AI. Alongside this research on neuronal networks, she has been hard at work developing another sort of network within the Kempner Institute: a collaborative network dedicated to education and…

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EdRedesign announces second cohort of By All Means Senior Fellows
EdRedesign, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), is proud to announce the second cohort of By All Means Senior Fellows, a visiting fellowship initiative launched in 2023 for exemplary senior leaders of place-based collaborative action. The Senior Fellows program provides a platform for distinguished practitioners to engage with the Harvard community, including…

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Sanes elected to Royal Society
Joshua Sanes, the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the oldest and most esteemed scientific bodies in the world. Sanes studies how complex neural circuits form in animals and he is most renowned for his work on the development of synapses,…

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Stuart Schreiber receives 2025 Welch Award
Stuart L. Schreiber, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Emeritus will be a co-recipient of the 2025 Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry for his research in the field of chemical biology. Peter G. Schultz, Skaggs Presidential Chair and professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, will also receive the award this year. The…

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Hutchins Center announces 13th class of W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute Fellows
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, has announced the 2025-2026 class of fellows. “We are happy to welcome our next cohort of W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute Fellows,” says Gates. New to the Du…

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Pivotal role of reinforcement learning in modern large language models
The explosion of modern AI, exemplified by the unprecedented abilities of large language models (LLMs), was enabled by a family of computational techniques known as machine learning (ML). But how exactly does a machine learn anything? In this explainer, we dive into one of the most important tools in the ML toolbox: reinforcement learning (RL).…

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Davis Center panelists discuss cultural memory in Ukraine after years of Russian denial
In the 1920s, Volodymyr Vynnychenko had just arrived in France when a police representative, handing the Ukrainian writer his right-of-residence papers, stated that Ukraine “n’existe pas” in the eyes of Europe. His nationality would instead be registered as Russian. “That was the moment when he realized — and he put it in his letters —…

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Kathleen Coleman awarded new Faculty Prize for Excellence in General Education
Harvard’s Program in General Education has awarded the inaugural Faculty Prize for Excellence in General Education to James Loeb Professor of Classics Kathleen Coleman for her course Gen Ed 1131: Loss. Established this year, the prize includes a $5,000 stipend and recognizes the lead instructor of a transformative General Education course that models exemplary pedagogical…

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25 Allston-Brighton nonprofits receive Harvard Allston Partnership Fund grants
In a gathering at the Harvard Ed Portal last week, University leaders, including President Alan Garber and Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick, joined Kairos Shen, chief of planning for the city of Boston, and Boston City Councilor Liz Breadon to celebrate the Allston-Brighton nonprofits who were recipients of the 17th annual Harvard Allston Partnership Fund…

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Thomas T. Hoopes Prize awarded to 71 students
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize to 71 Harvard College seniors, in recognition of outstanding research or scholarly work. The prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes, Class of 1919. To view the full list of 2025 prize recipients with the titles of their research projects and…

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In memoriam: William W. Robinson, respected drawings curator and dedicated mentor
William W. Robinson, the Maida and George Abrams curator of drawings, emeritus, at the Harvard Art Museums, a leading authority on northern European drawings, has passed away at the age of 75. Robinson was a revered member of the Harvard Art Museums community from 1976 until long past his retirement in 2015. Renowned for his…

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Pluralism at Harvard and ‘Abraham’s Bridge’ screening
The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and the Pluralism Project hosted the Harvard premiere of the award-winning short film on interfaith collaboration, “Abraham’s Bridge,” directed by Pluralism Project Research Director Elinor (Ellie) Pierce. The April 30 event included a panel discussion with Habiba Braimah, senior director of the Harvard Foundation, and Diana Eck,…

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CCB honors undergraduate research and celebrates Richard ‘Dick’ Holm
Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology hosted its third annual undergraduate research symposium, showcasing its undergraduates’ state-of-the-art research projects and honoring the historic contributions of CCB professor and renowned inorganic chemist who passed away in 2021, Richard “Dick” H. Holm. The symposium, which took place on May 6, was attended by approximately 100 people,…

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Spring series at HDS explores ‘love’ across difference
This spring semester, the Harvard Divinity School community explored the ways love is understood and practiced across different faith traditions. Building on the conversations that took place during the 2023-24 HDS Common Read organized by the HDS Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB), the Office of DIB continued the discussion through the spring series…

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Two Harvard students named 2025 Hertz Fellows
Harvard College senior Soy Choi and Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences student Ananthan Sadagopan were among the 19 recipients of the 2025 Hertz Fellowship in applied science, engineering, and mathematics. Three additional Harvard affiliates were also named fellows of this year’s cohort. “Hertz Fellows embody the promise of future scientific…

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On cellular complexity and the future of biological intelligence: Q&A with Sam Gershman
What is the logic underlying human and animal intelligence? This is the motivating question behind the research of Samuel J. Gershman, a Kempner Institute associate faculty member and professor in the Department of Psychology. Gershman’s lab studies a wide spectrum of phenomena related to intelligence, ranging from the complexity of human cooperation to learning in…

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Championing health tech innovation across borders: From personal setbacks to global entrepreneurship
Before coming to Harvard, Laura Sophie Wegner ’25, an undergrad with a concentration in economics and a secondary in computer science, was a competitive swimmer in high school in her hometown of Walsrode, Germany — until she dislocated her kneecap for the second time. Because her health data was scattered, the doctors did not have…

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9 faculty Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Nine Harvard faculty members were among the 120 national members and 30 international members appointed to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of distinguished and ongoing achievements in original research. In an announcement last week, the NAS named faculty associated with Harvard Medical School, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Kenneth C. Griffin…

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Muralism and Mexican identity: Rediscovering the esoteric visions of post-revolution female artists
Following the decade-long Mexican Revolution, which profoundly reshaped the nation’s identity, muralism became an educational and ideological tool. Public spaces were transformed into visual narratives to forge a shared national identity rooted in Indigenous heritage and modern ideals. Occult Movements and Mexican Mural Art, led by Mariano Villalba, Postdoctoral Fellow, Arts and Spirituality, at the…

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LabXchange launches science teacher training in India
LabXchange, an initiative of Harvard University’s Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, will collaborate with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Talent Development Centre (TDC) to empower 8,000 Indian science educators over the next four years through the LabXchange Teacher Ambassador Program. A global success with alumni on five continents, the innovative program will help…
