Sandy Close, executive editor and director of Pacific News Service (PNS), has been selected as winner of the 2012 I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism will present the award at Lippmann House on Dec. 6, 2012. Close will receive the honor in recognition of her many achievements in journalism and…

Once upon a time, Anne Newland wanted to go to film school. But because life unfolds with its own logic, she instead became a doctor with the federal Indian Health Service (IHS). And shaped by her experience working with Native Americans and the unique system that serves them, she realized the importance of focusing on…

At a Nov. 8 talk at Harvard Law School, Rep. John Sarbanes ’88 (D-MD) advocated for “grassroots democracy” funded by the people rather than by Political Action Committees and other large donors. Sarbanes is a co-sponsor of the Grassroots Democracy Act, intended to empower small donors and to free lawmakers from their dependency on big…

According to U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the defining feature of his job—the most challenging, rewarding aspect—is grappling with what the position of the United States should be on an issue. Verrilli explained that this task is harder than it might seem, involving a balancing of interests and making considered decisions on whether…

Harvard Law School graduates across the country won political victories in the 2012 elections. In addition to a victory by President Barack Obama ’91 in a close race with Republican candidate Mitt Romney J.D./M.B.A ’75.  A Harvard Law School Professor and two HLS alumni won seats in the Senate, and 15 alumni are going to…

Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren—bankruptcy expert, Wall Street reformer and consumer watch dog—has won a hard-fought race for the U.S. Senate. The Democratic nominee defeated her Republican opponent, incumbent Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. Said HLS Dean Martha Minow: “I congratulate my colleague and friend Elizabeth Warren on her election to the Senate. Through her…

It’s not enough to refrain from harm. We must take positive action. This is the core message of The Cost of Inaction: Case Studies from Rwanda and Angola, a new book published by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights that introduces a method to determine the true costs of failing to help…

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) was crowned the most social media friendly school of public health in the first-ever ranking by the website MPHProgramsList.com. The site scored 57 schools on their social media activity, awarding points for the number of followers and posts on popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The…

The Harvard Library  plans to share several collections with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)—becoming the first DPLA content hub. The Harvard Library is dedicated to providing open access to them, where possible, through digitization and online dissemination. Through its collaboration with the DPLA, Harvard will contribute to global access to knowledge. Robert Darnton,…

Most Harvard School of Public Health employees got an unexpected day off when Hurricane Sandy barreled into the Eastern seaboard on October 29, 2012. But for a dedicated crew of operations, security, and other core staff, it was just another – very windy and rainy – day at work. Thanks to their careful preparations beginning…

Ensuring that patients who see various health care providers in different locations have “integrated” care—in which their care process is thoughtfully planned and designed—is crucial for improving patient safety and the efficiency of the United States health care system, according to a new report from the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation.…

Rarely has a presidential race been so hard to call, said David Gergen ’67, during a talk on Oct. 26 at Harvard Law School Fall Reunions. A former adviser to four presidents, a regular contributor to CNN, and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, Gergen put the race between fellow HLS graduates Mitt Romney…

The growing trade in exploits of software security has become a “market in digital weapons,” leaving people in the U.S. and abroad vulnerable to cyberattack, said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst at the ACLU, in an Oct. 24 talk at Harvard Law School. “The entire industry, while it’s been in existence hasn’t…

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and John Levi ’72, LL.M. ‘73, the chairman of the Legal Services Corporation, presented the report of the Corporation’s Pro Bono Task Force in in HLS’s Wasserstein Hall on Oct. 3, at an event hosted by HLS Professor David Wilkins ‘80, director of the Law School’s Program on Legal…

At a packed Harvard Law School event co-sponsored by the Human Rights Program and the Harvard National Security and Law Association, Ben Emmerson, United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, announced plans to launch an investigation into the use of drone attacks which have caused civilian deaths—including those carried out by the U.S. “I will…

Scientists have created new kinds of particles, 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, that spontaneously assemble themselves into structures resembling molecules made from atoms. These new particles come together, or “self-assemble,” to form structures in patterns that were previously impossible to make, and hold promise for manufacturing advanced optical materials and ceramics. The method,…

Sally Falk Moore, the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Anthropology, Emerita, has had a distinguished and multifaceted career: as a staff attorney at the Nuremberg Trials; as the author of important studies of property and power among the Incas, and of land law and economic and political change in Tanzania; as a professor of anthropology…

The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Foreign Policy magazine have announced the winners and runners-up of the “Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis Contest,” held to mark the 50th anniversary of the crisis that narrowly averted nuclear war in October 1962. The three winners are: 16-year-old Eden Rose Niles, a high-school junior…

The 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade may be fast approaching, but there’s no denying the dramatic increase in attacks on reproductive choice. “Little by little, the right to abortion has been chipped away—and that chipping has turned into a sledgehammer in the last two years,” Susan Yanow told the audience gathered at the Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library…

Tucked away in one of Harvard’s most historic properties is a team of employees embarking on an effort to make event planning, often a big challenge at Harvard, easier. The Campus Services Events Management office is now a resource for anyone planning events on campus, whether you simply need advice on finding a venue or…

The World Technology Network (WTN) announced Oct. 24 that both the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Wyss founding Director Don Ingber won awards in the biotechnology category. The awards honor the world’s most significant innovators in science and technology who are “creating the 21st century” — and the Wyss Institute made an impressive showing,…

The Radcliffe Institute, Harvard’s institute for advanced study, today announces the launch of its first public art competition, to be held annually and dedicated to giving Harvard students the opportunity to create new art for the community. The winning student or team of students will receive a $5,000 prize and funding for construction of a…

New research that combines cell phone data from 15 million people in Kenya with detailed information on the regional incidence of malaria has revealed, on the largest scale so far, how human travel patterns contribute to the disease’s spread. The findings from researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and seven other institutions indicate…

Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) announced this week that it will name a distinguished visiting professorship in architecture in honor of John Portman, founder and chairman of John Portman & Associates, a leading design firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. The John Portman Visiting Chair in Architecture will create a special opportunity for the GSD…

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism is offering a new research and study opportunity at Harvard: a short-term visiting fellowship for individuals wishing to work on special projects designed to advance journalism. Those who should consider applying include publishers, programmers, Web designers, media analysts, academics, journalists and others interested in enhancing quality, building new business models…

In the year 2000, the United Nations developed an ambitious plan to meet the needs of some of the world’s poorest people by setting out the Millennium Declaration. A year later, eight Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, were established as part of the effort. Among them was a goal that called for achieving universal primary…

In anticipation of the final presidential debate, HLS Professor and Director of the Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program Robert Bordone and Clinical Fellow Heather Scheiwe Kulp weighed in on the previous debates from a mediator’s point of view. After the first presidential debate, it was hard to tell whether the pollsters and pundits were…

Voters in the pivotal battleground states of Ohio and Florida show strong interest in global security issues, and want to hear the candidates’ views on defense, Iran and terrorism in the final presidential debate, according to a new poll conducted for Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. While the poll confirms…

“The Morality of the Free Market” was the topic of a Sept. 27 address at Harvard Law School by Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research organization in Washington, D.C. The event was sponsored by the Harvard Law Federalist Society. Brooks presented the case for how the fight for free…

Textile imports from China. Trade gaps with Japan. Pirated music in Canada. World Trade Organization technology tariffs. These are just a few of the issues Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky negotiated as United States Trade Representative from 1997 to 2001. On October 3, Barshefsky came to Harvard Law School to share her experiences with students in the…