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The U.S. political system rarely provides enough time for newly elected officials to plan for their new responsibilities – time to gather together the information and resources they need to make effective policy early in their tenure. And because many state departments are decentralized, senior public managers often can’t consider overall strategic planning to coordinate…

For centuries aspiring artists have learned their craft by painstakingly copying the great works of the masters. One of the latest examples of this reverent and practical activity took place over the past few months at the University Art Museums when 45 fifth-graders from the Samuel Brown School in Peabody, Mass., chose a work each…

The Harvard University Art Museums are seeking volunteers interested in public art education for its Museum Docent Program. The Museum Docents are a group of approximately 34 volunteer guides who give tours of Harvard’s three art museums: the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Approximately 10 prospective docents will…

Deep in the heart of Texas, Joaquin and Julian Castro are plotting their political future together, and, like the searing midday sun in the Red River Valley, their plans could spell double-trouble for any cowboy who crosses their path. The Castro brothers are identical twins, born just one minute apart 25 years ago, and they…

W. Jackson Bate, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor Emeritus, stands as one of the leading biographers and humanists of the twentieth century. His John Keats (1963) and Samuel Johnson (1977) remain authoritative and popular. Still in print in 2000, both attracted the highest accolades, a Pulitzer Prize for each, an award until then given exclusively…

Nobel Prize-winners Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, will share the Twelfth Annual Warren Alpert Foundation Prize with Akira Endo of Biopharm Research Laboratories, Inc., for work they did after their Nobel-earning discovery of the cholesterol receptor. Brown, Goldstein, and Endo were selected because…

A renowned Graduate School of Education (GSE) psychologist, whose landmark work in multiple intelligences theory has received international acclaim, has been awarded the George Ledlie Prize for 1999-2000 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Howard Gardner, the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at GSE, was cited by…

Radcliffe and Harvard crews advanced to the Grand Finals in all six of the major divisions at the 55th annual Eastern Sprints Championships, held May 21, on Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond, an accomplishment matched only by Princeton. Yet the Crimson failed to come away with a championship trophy in these events, settling for fourth in the…

Scientists have gotten the closest look yet at the inner works of biological clocks that drive our natural sleep-wake cycle. They’re surprised at how complicated the mechanism is. Steven Reppert of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have been involved in cloning and characterizing seven genes that operate the natural timepiece deep in the brains…

Next September, first-year students at Harvard College will be able to register for more than Molecular Biology, Expository Writing, and Introduction to Old Norse; they will also have the opportunity to register to vote. Although Harvard has complied with recent federal legislation requiring colleges and universities to help students register to vote in local elections,…

Spiro Pollalis, professor of design technology and management at the School of Design and co-chair of the Internet conference. Staff photo by Rose Lincoln. When Graduate School of Design (GSD) Professor of Design Technology and Managment Spiro Pollalis was selected co-chair of the Third Biennial International Conference on Internet & Society (iS2k), beginning next week…

Racial harmony doesn’t happen by accident on a college campus. It often takes hard work. Sixteen students who have dedicated themselves to improving intercultural understanding and race relations at Harvard have been named recipients of the annual Harvard Foundation Awards. Eleven other students won honorable mention. Sergio Castellon ’00 was given the Foundation’s highest honor,…

The Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School has named five visiting fellows for the 2000-01 academic year. They are Sidnie Crawford, Sue Houchins, Oyeronke Olajuba, Tracy Pintchman, and Traci West. Each fellow will teach one course during the academic year, and devote the rest of her time to scholarly projects of her…

The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs has announced that 16 Harvard juniors will become 2000-01 Undergraduate Associates of the Center. These students have received summer travel grants to support senior thesis research on topics related to international affairs. The new Weatherhead Undergraduate Associates are: Ryan Calder, Vivian Chan, Dimple Chaudhary, Peter Ciganik, Eduardo Domínguez, Jacqueline…

There’s a lot going on in Gotham City. Participants at the Third Biennial International Conference on Internet & Society (iS2k) at Harvard next week will get the opportunity to hear all about it. A mock Web site displaying key environmental data and crime statistics has been created for the fictional city, explicitly demonstrating one of…

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department for the week ending May 20. The official log is located at Police Headquarters, 29 Garden St. May 14: A backpack containing law books was stolen from the Cabot Library. A bicycle was stolen at Dudley House. May 15: A wallet was…

Ulam memorial service, May 31 A memorial service for Adam Ulam will be held on Wednesday, May 31, at 3 p.m. in the Memorial Church. Ulam was the Gurney Professor of History and Political Science Emeritus and the former director of the Russian Research Center (now the Davis Center for Russian Studies). He died on…

“[President Clinton] appreciates Neil Rudenstine’s leadership at Harvard, particularly his commitment to federal research and science and technology and also his efforts to expand the African-American Studies department there.” —White House statement “I’m saddened by the news. Neil has done an outstanding job for Harvard in every aspect of the University. He has also been…

“No one person deserves credit for all of that, and Neil would be the last person to claim it,” Stone said. “But, more than anyone else this past decade, he has put his mind, heart, and soul into making the whole of Harvard as good and as forward-looking as it can be, and the result…

Two from Harvard named Carnegie Scholars Two Harvard professors were among 12 leading researchers in American universities who have been named Carnegie Scholars by the Carnegie Corporation. Caroline Hoxby, Morris Kahn Associate Professor of Economics, and Michael Sandel, professor of government, were selected for their innovative scholarship and policy-focused research in areas of interest to…

Twelve international journalists have been named Nieman Fellows for the 2000-01 academic year. They will join twelve U.S. journalists whose names were announced earlier in May to make up the 63rd class of Nieman Fellows. Established in 1938, the Nieman Fellowship program is the oldest midcareer fellowship program for journalists in the world. The fellowships…

The password isn’t “open sesame” but the new cyber-gateway into Harvard databases still seems like something of a marvel (at least to the non-techies among us). Paul Martin, dean for research and information technology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, has announced the release of the “my.harvard.edu” World Wide Web portal page. My.harvard.edu is…

“I am reducing everything to its maximum.” This was Earl Kim’s way of describing his own music and the compositional processes and aesthetic which assured its distinctive, individual character. Spare, elegant, refined, elusive, beautiful and profound are terms repeatedly used by commentators in attempts to describe the music and evoke its spirit. It inhabits a…

Just how – and how much – is the dotcom world changing our lives? In a V.I.P.-studded attempt to answer this question, the Harvard community is hosting the third Internet & Society Conference in Sanders Theatre from Wednesday, May 31, Friday, June 2. Keynote speakers include Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation; Andy Grove,…

Sixty-four undergraduates have won the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work or research. The Prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes ’19, a firearms expert who was curator of the City Art Museum in St. Louis for more than 25 years. Awards of $2,500 each will be given to the…

It is 2 p.m. at Graham & Parks School in Central Square. Susan McCray passes out a letter to each student in her seventh-grade homeroom. Tension was building as the students slid a piece of paper out of each envelope. The time had come for each one of them to discover what his or her…

On a festive occasion marking John Finley’s retirement as Master of Eliot House in 1968, an admiring colleague evoked the mythical image of Cheiron, the wise centaur who was teacher to the greatest men of heroic times, even to Achilles. Cheiron was different from other centaurs because he was son of Kronos, ruler of the…

Harvard University President Neil L. Rudenstine (left) congratulates 25-year Harvard employee Bertha Demirjian, who works at the Admissions and Financial Aid Office. Demirjian has worked in different departments within Harvard University. The recognition ceremony took place inside the Ropes-Gray Room, Pound Hall, Harvard Law School. Staff photo by Kris Snibbe