Campus & Community

President Lawrence H. Summers and Provost Steven Hyman will hold office hours for students in their Massachusetts Hall offices from 4 to 5 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) on the following dates:

The Lowest Common Denominators lead guitarists office isnt what one imagines for a rock musician. Books are neatly arranged on shelves around his desk, theres tasteful art on the wall, and photos of his kids are lined up on the windowsill.

Two Harvard seniors have accepted Marshall Scholarships that will take them to Britain next year to study computer science and social anthropology.

According to Sir Crispin Tickell, the longtime British diplomat and leader in the debate on global climate change, there is indeed something new under the sun. Human activity is changing the natural environment in unprecedented, profound, and dangerous ways. If our species and millions of others are to survive, Tickell says, we must drastically change our approach to our ecosystem.

The Office for the Arts (OFA) has announced its sponsorship of 44 creative projects to be held at Harvard University next spring by students in dance, music, theater, literature, and more. Projects include visual art exhibitions in the Science Center, new student publications, music projects and performances, and both classic and student-written theater pieces.

The Nigerian riots sparked by the Miss World Pageant brought global attention to the deep divisions between the nations largely Muslim north and the Christian-dominated south, highlighting regional differences that have some wondering whether Africas most populous nation can survive.

The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) has announced the recipients of its 2002 Faculty Research Project Awards. As part of its mission to promote cross-disciplinary and cross-faculty research, the HUCE instituted this annual awards competition for teams of Harvard researchers who are looking to address environmental issues of global concern. The awards are made possible by a gift from the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation.

Community after-school providers at a recent forum held at the Business School learned about current research on how to improve academic achievement and the positive development of children through after-school programs. The Dec. 6 forum was sponsored by Bostons After-School for All Partnership, the Program in Afterschool Education and Research at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard After School Initiative. It featured seven research reports commissioned by the Partnership on relevant topics for professionals including Enhancing Literacy Support in After-School Programs and Using Technology to Support Learning. It also laid out recommendations for increasing learning opportunities in after-school time throughout Boston. Chris Gabrieli (above), chairman of the After-School for All Partnership, spoke to the group about A Vision for Bostons After-School Sector.

The Weatherhead Foundation voted in September 2002 to award $6 million to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs to provide additional support to the centers student programs and the work of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. In 1998, Albert and Celia Weatherhead and the Weatherhead Foundation had endowed the center with a gift of $21 million. Renamed the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs in recognition of the Weatherheads generosity, the Weatherhead Center as a result has become an increasingly vital generator of fundamental research in the disciplines of international affairs.

Guests from the Harvard community mingle among the works on display at the Visual and Environmental Studies Student Holiday Show and Sale during the reception for the artists at the main gallery in the Carpenter Center on Dec. 5. The show runs through Dec. 19. Digest (left) by Yugon Kim, GSD 04, consisting of lightbulbs and tennis balls, is one of several works that are displayed on the floor.

Many people imagine that Buddhist meditation aims at tranquility as an escape from the emotional pangs of everyday life. Not so, says author and teacher Pema Chödrön. My word for the Buddhist path is courage, Ani Pema told an audience of 1,600 in the Memorial Church on Friday evening (Dec. 6). Tranquility is a lucky side effect.

Stenciled graffiti on Mt. Auburn Street is clearly designed to ease the nagging doubts in this strollers mind.

The Harvard University English Department resolved on Nov. 19 to renew its invitation to Tom Paulin to give a poetry reading, under the Morris Gray Lectureship. The faculty members present, constituting nearly the entire department, approved this decision with no opposing votes. There were two abstentions.

At its sixth meeting of the year, the Faculty Council discussed recent free speech issues in the faculty. The dean of the Faculty, Professor William Kirby (history), and the dean of Undergraduate Education, Professor Benedict Gross (mathematics), also updated the council on the Curricular Review. Additionally the dean of the College, Professor Harry Lewis (DEAS), presented to the council a recommendation from the undergraduate Administrative Board that two students be dismissed. Finally, the council voted to endorse the proposed Summer School courses for 2003.

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations will present a daylong conference on Saturday (Dec. 7) from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Harvard Hall, Room 202, titled Disparities in Minority Healthcare: Reaching Out to the Community. The student-directed conference will address a wide range of health-care issues facing impoverished American communities, including Native American, African American, Hispanic/Latino American, and Asian American, among others.

Dec. 6-7, 1941 – Harvard faculty, government officials, and labor delegates convene at the Business School for a conference on Labor and National Defense. It is believed to be the first meeting of its kind in the nation.

Following are some the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the week ending Saturday, Nov. 30. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

President Lawrence H. Summers and Provost Steven Hyman will hold office hours for students in their Massachusetts Hall offices from 4 to 5 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) on the following dates:

John Rawls, the James Bryant Conant University Professor Emeritus, whose 1971 book, A Theory of Justice argued persuasively for a society based on equality and individual rights, died Nov. 24 at the age of 81.

He has a room named after him. And a cajun-spiced burger in the cafeteria. But Ronnie Levesque isnt a movie star, a rock singer, or any other kind of celebrity. Hes the superintendent of Quincy House.

Shareholder Responsibility report is now available The 2002 Annual Report of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR), a subcommittee of the president and fellows, is now available upon request…

An explosive third quarter lifted the Harvard football team past Yale on Nov. 23, to hand the Crimson a 20-13 Harvard Stadium victory in the 119th playing of The Game. Facing 35-mph winds, Harvard activated its ground attack in scoring a trio of touchdowns in the third quarter to overwhelm the Elies. Harvard finished its season 7-3, 6-1 Ivy, to claim second place in the league, while Penn snatched the title outright, blanking Cornell, 31-0.

The number of applicants for Early Action admission to Harvard College has risen 24 percent above last years record 6,128 to a total of 7,615. The academic quality of the pool is impressive. For example, 64 percent of the applicants average 1,400 or more on the combined SAT verbal and math test.

Lawrence H. Summers, president of Harvard University, and William C. Kirby, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), announced today that W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Skip Gates Jr., will continue as chair of the Afro-American Studies Department and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University.

Members of the Harvard faculty and community, including President Lawrence H. Summers, joined the Harvard Islamic Society Nov. 22 at sunset at the groups Faculty Iftar, or communal breaking of the fast of Ramadan.

Corn, butterflies, and the media were center stage at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Nov. 21 at a conference that examined the medias role in keeping the public informed – or frightened – about the growing presence of biotechnology in food production.

The Jewish Student Association and the Middle East and North Africa Club at the Business School sponsored a Dec. 3 debate called America, Israel, and the Arab World: Can There Be Reconciliation? The event was held at the Spangler Auditorium on the Business School campus. Speaking that evening were writer and talk show host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (center), Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan Dershowitz (right), and Hasan Abdel Rahman (left), chief Palestinian negotiator in the United States. Hussein Ibish (not pictured), communications director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, also spoke. Associate Professor of Business Administration Michael Watkins moderated the debate, which continued informally after the formal proceedings ended. (Staff photo by Stephanie Mitchell)

An aging global population presents a demographic nightmare that will have fewer working young people supporting larger numbers of retirees, raising the specter of fiscal deficits, economic stagnation, and a decline in the global position of todays Western powers.

Janet A. Viggiani, the beloved senior tutor of Adams House from 1989 to 1993, died Nov. 8 of breast cancer. She was 48.

In anticipation of World AIDS Day (Dec. 1), AIDS researchers and policy-makers from around Harvard gathered Nov. 25 to present their work and discuss strategies to address the devastating AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Harvard Programs on AIDS in Africa: A University Responds, sponsored by the Harvard AIDS Institute and held at the School of Public Healths Snyder Auditorium, highlighted the significant and specific ways that Harvards resources are being plied to combat AIDS in Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania.