Campus & Community

Staff from across the University whove toiled on the new PeopleSoft Human Resources system learned it was up and running on Monday (Sept. 23). Amid popping champagne corks and cutting cakes in the HR Project Situation Room in Holyoke Center, HR Project director Karen Davis (center) talks to workers who worked through the weekend in a final push that made the transition possible. The new PeopleSoft Human Resources Payroll, Time Reporting and Benefits System, among many other features, will allow employees direct online access to their personal information and provide improved reporting for the Universitys managers. For information about the project and troubleshooting information, visit the Web site http://www.atwork.harvard.edu.

The Kennedy Schools Carr Center for Human Rights Policy has named its 2002-03 fellows. The six fellows bring with them the accumulated experience of working on a variety of compelling human rights issues on four continents.

This fall the Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) will return with a second year of the Sackler Saturdays program for families and children. Families with children ages 6 to 11 are again invited to explore artworks from ancient cultures and distant lands in Asia, Europe, and this year, Africa. The program takes place in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, and is free and open to the public.

Harvard Medical Schools Minority Faculty Development Program (MFDP), established in 1990 to increase minority faculty development, recruitment, and retention – as well as to expand the local pool of minority students seeking careers in science and medicine from grade school to graduate school – has received the prestigious Center of Excellence in Minority Health designation from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a Center of Excellence in Minority Health, the MFDP will receive a $1.6 million grant over three years.

Writers as far back as Sophocles have referred to the nation as a ship of state. In his talk at the Kennedy Schools ARCO Forum Friday (Sept. 20), Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic gave that metaphor a new twist. He compared his country to a bicycle.

The Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at the Divinity School will host 27 fellows during the 2002-03 academic year. Established in 1958, CSWR fosters excellence in the study of world religions on the broadest scale and from many perspectives. International in composition and subject matter, CSWR facilitates the exchange of ideas growing out of scholarly research. The CSWR Senior Fellowship Program provides scholars with the time for investigation and access to the vast resources of the University.

The University Center for Ethics and the Professions has selected five Harvard graduate students to be named Edmond J. Safra Graduate Fellows in Ethics. Under the direction of Arthur Applbaum, professor of ethics and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), the new fellows will devote their time to an approved course of research and study, and will take part in a weekly center seminar. Fellows will read works in practical ethics and discuss research problems and strategies common to the study of ethics in the several professions. In addition, graduate fellows are encouraged to take part in the wider intellectual life of the center with the Faculty Fellows in Ethics. (See the Sept. 19 Harvard Gazette for an article on the 2002-03 Faculty Fellows in Ethics.)

Harvards Program on U.S.-Japan Relations was founded in 1980 on the belief that the United States and Japan have become so interdependent that the problems they face urgently require their cooperation. The program enables outstanding scholars and practitioners to come together to conduct independent research and participate in an ongoing dialogue with other members of the Harvard and Greater Boston communities. These fellows, who enjoy the status of University take part in the seminars, colloquia, and other functions of the program attend classes and other activities at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prepare a major research paper and publicly present the results of their research.

More than 3,000 members, family, and friends of the Harvard community gathered in a festive mood in Tercentenary Theatre on Sunday evening (Sept. 22) for President Lawrence H. Summers Its Movie Time at Harvard, a free screening of the high school-rebel classic comedy Ferris Buellers Day Off.

An old joke asks the question, “What do you call a 200-pound black man with a gun?” The answer, of course, is “Sir,” the subtext being that it is only…

With her characteristic candor and wit, the popular former first lady Barbara Bush provided glimpses of her famous family and offered up a few of Lifes Lessons to an admiring crowd at the ARCO Forum Thursday (Sept. 19) night.

When the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declared the phrase under God in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional last June because it violated the separation of church and state, the ruling touched off angry protests across the nation, including a spontaneous pledge-in by members of Congress on the steps of the Capitol building.

As the 2002-03 academic year begins, returning students and faculty are finding that a new, Web-based version of the HOLLIS catalog is now in use. Users can connect to the new HOLLIS through the Harvard Libraries site at http://lib.harvard.edu.

Walter H. Annenberg, businessman, statesman, philanthropist, and Harvard benefactor whose donations helped finance undergraduate scholarships and the renovation of Annenberg Hall, died Tuesday (Oct. 1) at his home near Philadelphia from complications due to pneumonia. He was 94.

An odd, previously unknown sphere, some 360 miles in diameter, has been found at the bottom of the Earth. It was detected by a Harvard professor and a graduate student who patiently examined records of hundreds of thousands of earthquake waves that passed through the center of the planet in the past 30 years.

Former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter said he would be willing to fight and die in a war against Iraq, as long as the United States played by international rules and attacked only after a fair inspection process revealed Baghdad had resumed production of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons.

The town of Watertown and Harvard University announced that after a year and a half of extensive negotiations, an agreement has been reached that will provide the town with a guaranteed revenue stream from the Arsenal on the Charles Property.

With substantial raises in place for its lowest-paid workers, Harvard is implementing other important initiatives recommended by the Harvard Committee on Employment and Contracting Policies (HCECP) and approved by President Lawrence H. Summers last December. These include creation of a University-wide values statement, introduction of new training for supervisors, and production of multilingual brochures for non-English speaking employees.

At its first meeting of the year the Faculty Council met with Professor Jennifer Leaning (HSPH) to discuss the work of the Committee to Review Sexual Assault Programs, Education, and Services in Harvard College, which Professor Leaning chairs. The staff of this committee, Julia Fox of the Office of the Dean of Harvard College and Associate Provost Marshal Semuels, were present for this discussion.

Sept. 17, 1701 – Increase Mather steps down as President.

Stephen Jay Gould

To celebrate the beginning of the new academic year, President Lawrence H. Summers has announced Its Movie Time at Harvard, a free outdoor film screening to be held at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday (Sept. 22) in Tercentenary Theatre. The event is open to members of the University community and their families, and will feature complimentary sodas and popcorn.

Check out the new Harvard University Home Page as it makes its digital debut today (Sept. 19). In addition to an elegant new design, the refurbished home page is easier to navigate and includes new multimedia links. It also offers the visitor immediate access to the home pages of all the schools of the University. The look has changed, but the address is the same: http://www.harvard.edu/.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the weeks beginning Aug. 18 and ending Sept. 14. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

The oohs and ahs could be heard echoing through the attractive, sunlight-filled rooms as a group of community, civic, and business leaders joined local residents in a tour of the newly renovated facilities of the West End House Boys & Girls Club of Allston-Brighton.

The University is celebrating the 150th anniversary of intercollegiate athletics (1852-2002) with a series of panel discussions open to the public. The first one – titled History of the Ivy League and the Influence of the Media – will take place on Friday (Sept. 20) at the Murr Centers Hall of History (3:30-5:15 p.m.). Participants will include John R. Thelin, a 1969 Brown graduate and research professor at the University of Kentucky Michael Oriard, a 1970 Notre Dame graduate and former professional football player who is the distinguished professor of American literature and culture at Oregon State Jeff Orleans, executive director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents and John Powers 72, an author, historian, and writer for The Boston Globe. Admission is free of charge.

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Awards were established in 1990 to recognize and honor alumni who contribute outstanding volunteer service to Harvard through alumni activities. The six recipients listed below will be honored on Oct. 10 at the opening dinner of the HAA board of directors.

Deborah Kuhn has joined Harvard Medical School (HMS) as the new associate dean for Planning and Facilities. Kuhn, who will direct the HMS Planning Office with overall responsibility for facilities planning for HMS and the School of Dental Medicine, began her new duties on Sept. 9.

Psychiatrist Felton Earls has been selected to head the Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program, replacing Anthony Appiah, who left the University at the end of the spring term.

For Sigmund Freud there was considerable doubt. Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, didnt just question religious belief, he attacked it as childish, escapist, and unworthy of a mature, rational mind.