Campus & Community

What do an Eagle Scout, a mountain climber, a concert pianist, a skydiver, and a Mormon missionary have in common? Theyre all Harvard Students who have been named as Rhodes Scholars this year. After a day of final interviews and anxious waiting, the five students got the news on Saturday (Dec. 8) that theyd been chosen, giving Harvard the most Rhodes Scholars in the nation. This years winners bring the total number of U.S. Rhodes Scholars at Harvard to 300. In addition, Harvard student Karin Alexander from Zimbabwe was named an International Rhodes Scholar (see sidebar).

Provost Steven Hyman had barely arrived from Logan Airport for his first day of work Monday (Dec. 10) before he was off to a meeting. Im an old hand at this, he joked. Ive been here five minutes.

Dennis Thompson, Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy and former associate provost, was appointed senior adviser to the president by President Lawrence H. Summers, Summers announced Wednesday (Dec. 12). In this new part-time position, Thompson will work closely with Summers and Provost Steven Hyman on university-wide policies and priorities. Among his principal responsibilities will be chairing the Universitys physical planning committee, working closely with the provost to insure that physical planning is considered in the broader context of the academic planning process.

Hearing the phrase What do you make of her headache? within the walls of a medical school, you might think you are listening in on a class on, say, how to take a medical history. But in a small, brightly lit classroom at the Harvard Medical School every Tuesday night this fall, 10 medical students (give or take two or three who are out on call) tackle questions like that on a literary rather than a physical level.

Unlike other days, Sept. 11 didnt end at midnight. The country still roils the reverberations of the terrorist attacks continue to be felt in spaces private and public, including this Universitys classrooms and in the quiet of professors research activities. Teachers and students alike struggle to understand, and respond to, the unprecedented tragedy.

As the academic year began this fall, the annual rites of passage from high school to college, from vacation back to school, were rendered indelible by the events of Sept. 11. Many of us will see no before-and-after division more clearly in our lives.

Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, has long been a defender of civil liberties. The Sept. 11 attacks on America have brought about some changes in his thinking and some readjustments of old beliefs to fit present circumstances.

Acknowledging the essential role that technology plays in all aspects of museum work today, the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) has announced its first-ever appointment of a director of digital information and technology.

Comic books have come a long way.

Thirty-seven foreign scholars and professionals and a senior fellow at Harvard have been named 2001 – 02 Fulbright Grant recipients. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, participating governments, and host institutions in the United States and abroad, these grants allow scholars from across the globe to lecture or conduct research at Harvard during the academic year.

If you asked most college students at most colleges to name their favorite class, chances are the words “freshman chemistry” wouldn’t come up all that often. On the other hand,…

When Linda Norden got hired by the Fogg Art Museum as associate curator of contemporary art, she faced a challenging problem. Museums like the Fogg collect art objects, and they…

After three hours of mathematics one recent Saturday morning, 25 Boston middle school teachers paused briefly for lunch, after which they began their fourth hour of class totally engaged with…

From soccer to science, civics to computers, the after-school offerings of 21 programs serving Boston youth got a $400,000 boost yesterday (Jan. 9), as Harvard formally honored its agreement to…

William A. Graham, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of the History of Religion in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, will serve as Acting Dean of the Harvard Divinity School pending the appointment of a permanent dean, President Lawrence H. Summers announced today.

Following twenty-seven years as a member of the Harvard Corporation, Robert G. Stone, Jr., will conclude his service as Fellow of Harvard College at the end of the 2001-02 academic year.

The good news is that the universe will last forever. The bad news is that we will be seeing less and less of it as galaxies fade and become frozen in time.

Edward Wagner, who taught Korean studies at Harvard for 35 years, died Dec. 7, 2001, at the Walden Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Concord of pneumonia and other complications from AlzheimerÕs disease. He was 77.

John Carrol from Facilities Maintenance Operations trims trees in JFK Park during the warmer weather earlier this month.

Faculty selects Lewis for Bond Book Award David Levering Lewis, the Martin Luther King Jr. University Professor at Rutgers University, is the recipient of this year’s Horace Mann Bond Book…

Hauser Center accepting fellowship applicants The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is currently accepting applications for the 2002-03 Doctoral Fellowships in Nonprofit Sector Studies. The center will award up to…

Karin Alexander of Lowell House is a winner of an International Rhodes Scholarship. Alexander plans to further her work in social studies, in which she concentrated, during her time at Oxford University. Alexander, who grew up in Zimbabwe, will be pursuing a degree in Development Studies at Oxford. She wants to prepare herself to work in civic education in Zimbabwe, helping the countrys rural population become more educated in civics and politics so they can more fully participate in their government.

Lauren Baer and Sarah Moss, both Harvard College seniors, have won Marshall Scholarships. The prestigious scholarships allow young American leaders to study at a university in Britain. On Dec. 5, the British ambassador to the United States, Sir Christopher Meyer, announced the names of the 40 American students who will become the new Marshall class.

The increased activity of a single enzyme in fat cells may be a common cause of obesity and obesity-linked diseases, including diabetes, according to an animal study conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of Edinburgh and published in the Dec. 7 issue of Science. The findings could eventually pave the way for future drug development to curb visceral obesity – the ‘beer belly’ fat concentrated in the abdomen.

The increased activity of a single enzyme in fat cells may be a common cause of obesity and obesity-linked diseases, including diabetes, according to an animal study conducted by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of Edinburgh and published in the Dec. 7 issue of Science. The findings could eventually pave the way for future drug development to curb visceral obesity – the ‘beer belly’ fat concentrated in the abdomen.

They see some of the world’s worst birth defects at Children’s Hospital in Boston. Dario Fauza remembers a “big beautiful boy” born with a normal heart outside of his body.…

Karin Alexander of Lowell House is a winner of an International Rhodes Scholarship. Alexander plans to further her work in social studies, in which she concentrated, during her time at…

On Wednesday, Nov. 28, at approximately 9 a.m., a resident of Shaler Lane observed a white male, around 60 years old, enter and exit the residents unlocked townhouse. The suspect, described as having white hair and wearing a black waist-length raincoat, remained inside the residence for approximately two minutes. He then exited the residence and walked down Shaler Lane toward Foster Street. A thorough check of the area by the Cambridge Police Department turned up negative results. The resident did not observe any property missing from their residence.

Dec. 9, 1788 – From the Journal of Disorders of Eliphalet Pearson, the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages: Disorders coming out of chapel. Also in the hall at breakfast the same morning. Bisket, tea cups, saucers, and a KNIFE thrown at the tutors. [. . .] – From this day to 13 December disorders continued in hall and chapel, such as scraping, whispering, etc.

Papers sought for graduate student conference