May-June 2003

STAY-AT-HOME PARENTS As a student and professor at Harvard for more than 14 years, I am well acquainted with our institution’s emphasis on…

You’re watching the Boston Marathon, awestruck, as always, by the runners’ strength, endurance, and determination. Mile after mile, the elite…

Picture an investor trying to decide which mutual fund will make the most of her retirement savings. As she reads prospectuses, the fine print…

Ever since the fabled apple fell before Isaac Newton, gravity has posed enigmas. Along with electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces that…

Several high-profile lawsuits filed recently in this country are seeking redress for slavery and other racial wrongs, focusing national…

An apocryphal tale about car-window decals epitomizes the frenzy surrounding college admissions in recent years. One high-school counselor tells…

The Crimson Letter: Harvard, Homosexuality, and the Shaping of American Culture, by Douglass Shand-Tucci ’72 (St. Martin’s, $25.95). After…

Poet and literary figure John Hall Wheelock ’08 (1886-1978) was an editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons for 46 years, working with Hemingway…

Arnold Schwab asks if someone can identify “Fougère,” a reference in an 1895 review of The Importance of Being Earnest in which Cecily is…

SPECIAL. The annual ArtsFirst festival, showcasing more than 200 student performances of music, dance, and drama — most of them free and…

Every year, Harvard College unleashes some 1,600 fresh graduates, all full of the potential to bring their considerable education, talents, and…

The Radcliffe Class of 1963 has made history. Not only were its members the first group of ‘Cliffies to receive Harvard degrees, they were also…

Merry reunioners, incipient graduates, proud parents, beaming sweeties, celebrants at this year’s Commencement-time festival rites, may wish to…

The many rituals of graduation peak on Commencement day, which this year will include addresses delivered by President Lawrence H. Summers and…

The crowning events of Commencement take place in Tercentenary Theatre and the Old Yard — the epicenter of Harvard’s traditional campus…

We create ourselves out of the stories we tell about our lives, stories that impose purpose and meaning on experiences that often seem random…

Until age 30, he did nothing to distinguish himself from respectable mediocrity. He graduated in the exact middle of the 59-member Harvard class…

American universities face exceptional opportunities and exceptional risks. Their research is needed more than ever, now that new scientific…

Orville Wright’s historic first flight lasted just 12 seconds. The Wright Flyer traveled 120 feet, a skip across the sand at Kitty Hawk’s Kill…

Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean William C. Kirby is creating a new structure to manage undergraduate life at Harvard. He expects to…

The committees charged with leading the Faculty of Arts and Sciences review of the undergraduate curriculum (see "College Studies…

Continuing a long tradition of University leadership on diversity in admissions, Harvard filed an amicus curiae brief in the University of…

Lindsay Waters Photograph by Jim Harrison Lindsay Waters is an uncommon bird. He is both the executive editor for the humanities of…

The University’s fiscal affairs are now in the hands of Ann E. Berman, who was appointed vice president for finance and chief financial officer…

With budgets tightening around Harvard (see the profile of new financial vice president Ann E. Berman), President Lawrence H. Summers has put…

One year after the release of The Women’s Guide to Harvard comes The Black Guide to Life at Harvard, compiled by the publications chairs of the…

As deteriorating local-government finances collide with expanding — and property-tax-exempt — campuses, Boston-area research…

“Here I am, an old man in a dry month,/Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain," said T.S. Eliot ’10 into the microphone. He was giving a…

Harvard College will henceforth require that early-action applicants for admission not apply early elsewhere. Students admitted early to…

Jawboning works. That’s the import of a letter to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) from Benedict H. Gross, dean of undergraduate…

Two years ago, Emily Knapp ’03 was slated to be the assistant director for a production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown, which the…

Global Perspective At a time of war, shifting international alliances, and reassessment of the gains from “globalization” of the world…

I’ve got a crush on Hank Fuller — and who can blame me? Toby "Hank" Fuller Jr. worked his way up from the junior-varsity football…

Last year’s Ivy League Player of the Year, Whitton hits for average, power, and RBIs Photograph by Jim Harrison Late in the season last…

It came down to an esophagus-and-esophagus finish, but with friends cheering him on, Ian Walker ’03 swallowed up the lead of a chomping Eagle…

The icewomen (30-3-1 overall, 15-0-1 ECAC) skated one of their best teams ever, and were ranked first in the nation for most of the year. They…

Photograph by Stu Rosner The senior marshals, looking ahead to Commencement 2003, are: (clockwise from top left) first marshal…

In the fall of 2001, students supporting a “living wage” for Harvard’s janitors and other low-paid employees held rallies to keep the pressure…

Alumni in Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for 14 undergraduates who flew to Tinseltown during intersession for "Harvardwood 101,&quot…

Vote NowTo be counted, all votes for Overseers and Harvard Alumni Association elected directors must be returned by noon on May 30. Results of…

Comings and Goings Local Harvard clubs host numerous lectures and social gatherings throughout the year. What follows is a list of some of the…

A Nevada humanities award presented recently to William H. Jacobsen Jr. ’53 recognized his contribution to the state’s “living history.”…

1923 Samuel M. Scott, A.B. 1886, questions “the rapid increase in membership” at the College and its impact on quality and efficiency. Scott…

Amelia Noel ’92 discovered her career over a meal in Leverett House, when she realized that she enjoyed helping her athlete friends navigate…

Orville Wright’s historic first flight lasted just 12 seconds. The Wright Flyer traveled 120 feet, a skip across the sand at Kitty Hawk’s Kill…

"Your wooden arm you hold outstretched to shake with passers-by." Reader William R. Crout, S.T.B. ’58, A.M. ’69, founder and…

Benjamin Waterhouse, M.D. (hon.) 1786, called smallpox the "devouring monster." Today it is the only naturally occurring disease…