Campus & Community

The 70-foot sandscape mural that decorates the main corridor of the Science Center is looking brighter these days, thanks to a retouching of the original colors by the artists daughter and grandson.

The Study of New Scholars (an outgrowth of the Project on Faculty Appointments) at the Graduate School of Education (GSE) has received $1 million to study junior faculty members satisfaction with their institutions as a place of work. The Ford Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies have each contributed $500,000 over a three-year period.

Music, dancing, entertainment, scrumptious box lunches, all under a rapturously blue sky – could Harvards Senior Picnic get any better?

Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi was welcomed to Harvard University on Monday, Sept. 9, by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers and members of the faculty. The prime minister attended a reception in his honor hosted by President Summers, where he addressed and met faculty, students, and other members of the Harvard community.

Eyes may be a window to the soul, but Donna Richard M. Losick, Harvard College Professor and Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), has received a $1 million grant to support innovations in his teaching of science to Harvard undergraduates.

On the anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy, Harvard University will hold a ceremony of remembrance in Tercentenary Theatre. Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers will deliver the day’s main address, reflecting upon the year since terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania killed thousands. Students will read passages from a number of religious traditions on the themes of remembrance and hope, and a choral work composed by a member of the Class of 2004 will be performed.

A man’s testosterone levels drop significantly when he holds an infant. Even holding a baby doll can decrease levels of the male virility hormone.

In a page 23 article in the July 18 issue of the Gazette, New MS drugs are found, Masha Fridkis-Hareli is an instructor in medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She came to Harvard University seven years ago and worked on the drugs as a postdoctoral fellow. The caption of the photograph with the story should read: Jack Strominger displays an image of a protein similar to the one involved in multiple sclerosis.

President Lawrence H. Summers visited Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) Aug. 2, to congratulate the nearly 300 high school students about to graduate from the Cambridge-Harvard Summer Academy (CHSA).

Dying is easy, comedy is hard. Reportedly, these were the last words of Sir Donald Wolfit, British actor and director. Wolfits deathbed quip has been quoted often, perhaps because it captures so well comedys essential paradox.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism has received $420,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to provide fellowships for journalists of accomplishment and promise from Latin America.

Dean of the Graduate School of Design (GSD) Peter G. Rowe has named A. Hashim Sarkis the first Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Muslim Societies. Sarkis has taught at the GSD since 1995 and has been associate professor of architecture since January 2001. His teaching has covered a range of topics, in addition to studio design, including Green Modern: A History of Environmental Consciousness from Patrick Geddes to the Present, and Practices in Democracy, with a scope of inquiry addressing non-Western examples and broad issues of development.

The University observance of the anniversary of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, will be held in Tercentenary Theatre at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 11. President Lawrence H. Summers will be the principal speaker.

While studying a rare genetic disease, scientists have unexpectedly found a new way to detect a variety of inherited cancers.

John Ruggie, Kennedy School of Government (KSG) professor and former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, has been named director of KSGs Center for Business and Government (CBG), KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. announced this month.

James C. Thomson, former Nieman Foundation curator, East-Asia historian, and key figure in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, died Aug. 11, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, of cardiac arrest after a brief illness. He was 70.

Elizabeth Huidekoper, Harvard’s Vice President for Finance, to become Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration at Brown University

University Marshal Richard M. Hunt to retire

Following a nationwide search that began last fall, President Lawrence H. Summers announced today that he has appointed William A. Graham, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of the History of Religion, as the next dean of the Harvard Divinity School, effective immediately.

James C. Thomson, former Nieman Foundation curator, East-Asia historian and key figure in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, died Sunday, Aug. 11, 2002, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital of cardiac arrest after a brief illness. He was 70.

Following a nationwide search, President Lawrence H. Summers announced today that he has appointed William A. Graham, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of the History of Religion, as the next dean of the Harvard Divinity School, effective immediately. Graham has served as Acting Dean of the School since January 2002.

A new report by a National Academy of Sciences panel co-chaired by Harvard Emeritus Professor Lewis M. Branscomb calls for the United States to take immediate steps, such as better protection of nuclear weapons and materials, to reduce its vulnerability to terror attacks. The report also outlines urgent areas for future research.

Forty years after their forerunners took to the lunch counters and streets of the American South, 21 young activists are putting their own spin on civil rights: by dancing, teaching, praying, and learning. The future leaders are honing their advocacy and activism skills at the second annual Civil Rights Summer (CRS), a fellowship program sponsored by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, and the Citizens’ Commission on Civil Rights.

Seven months after a Harvard committee recommended changes to improve wages and working conditions for the University’s lowest-paid workers, wages have been raised and a parity policy enacted to ensure that contracted employees receive compensation equivalent to their Harvard counterparts. These measures implement the core recommendations of the Harvard Committee on Employment and Contracting Policies (HCECP).

Multiple sclerosis is an unnerving disease. White blood cells, which usually protect the body against illness, launch attacks on the central nervous system. These rebellious cells destroy fatty sheaths that surround and protect nerve cells, interfering with conduction of nerve impulses in the brain and spinal cord. Movement, coordination, and sensation become impaired, leading to symptoms ranging from clumsiness and slurred speech to incontinence and paralysis.

Imagine taking public transportation from Harvard Medical School to East Cambridge and never passing through Downtown Crossing – for the local inhabitant, a miraculous feat.

July 17, 1810 – President Samuel Webber dies in office.

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann (right), in her second day as dean of the Graduate School of Education, visited the Cambridge Harvard Summer Academy at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Tuesday (July 16) with Professor Kay Merseth, director of the Teacher Education Program at the GSE (left). After visiting math, social studies, and literature classes, Lagemann met with some of the 66 intern teachers – students beginning the Teacher Education Program at the GSE – and 21 mentor teachers who are helping 275 Cambridge high school students excel in their studies this summer.

Following are some of the incidents reported to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for the weeks beginning June 9 and ending July 13. The official log is located at 1033 Massachusetts Ave., sixth floor.

Frank J. Weissbecker, director of Harvard Dining Services for nearly three decades, died of lung cancer June 27 at his home in Weston. He was 80.