Harvard University announced today (Sept. 22) a new partnership with the cities of Boston and Cambridge designed to bring the world to students — faster and clearer than ever. Harvard will share its access to the super high-speed Internet2 Network connection with Boston and Cambridge schools, granting all 148 public schools in the two cities…

Houghton Library Manuscript Cataloger Michael Austin (left) holds the Academy Award presented to Johnny Green, Class of 1928, for his original composition The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture, a subject in MGM’s Concert Hall series. Austin recently completed a major project to catalog Houghton’s Johnny Green Collection, which consists of thousands of manuscript scores, printed…

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study has appointed Karen Putnam associate dean for advancement, effective Sept. 15. Selected after a nationwide search, Putnam has had a distinguished career in fundraising, beginning with service in the Harvard University Development Office, where her primary responsibility was the Fogg Art Museum. She went on to hold fundraising positions…

In today’s overstimulated society, it’s hard to imagine a time when reading—which we regard as solitary—was seen as a social activity. But for middle- and upper-class women of America’s first Gilded Age (from about 1865 to 1901), reading was social and central. In her book Well-Read Lives: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women…

The Harvard Graduate School of Education announced the launch of the Harvard EdCast. The weekly series, which will be available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast…

It’s time to get those green creative juices flowing. The Harvard Office for Sustainability has announced the application timeline for this year’s round of 2010-11 Student Sustainability Grants, available at www.green.harvard/grants. Now in its second year, the grants program funds on-campus environmental projects by undergraduate and graduate students that contribute to achieving Harvard’s sustainability commitments,…

In a paper published as a cover story in Nature, researchers from Harvard University and MIT have demonstrated that graphene, a surprisingly robust planar sheet of carbon just one-atom thick, can act as an artificial membrane separating two liquid reservoirs. By drilling a tiny pore just a few nanometers in diameter, called a nanopore, in…

On what a native New Englander would deem a quintessential fall day in Massachusetts, CNBC’s “Squawk Box” production team hauled its set from New York City to the lawn of Baker Library last Thursday. Co-hosted by CNBC anchor and correspondent Carl Quintanilla and University Professor Michael Porter, the program focused on the state of U.S.…

On the heels of the Harvard College Library Green Team’s announced target of Green Leaf One certification for all libraries by January 1, two more units have met or surpassed the goal.  Harvard’s Office of Sustainability (OFS) recently recognized Tozzer Library for achieving Green Leaf One and Houghton Library for achieving Green Leaf Four, becoming…

The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is pleased to announce its fall 2010 Askwith Forums, a series of public lectures dedicated to discussing challenges facing education, sharing new knowledge, and generating spirited conversation. Highlights this fall will include a talk by Disney/ABC Television President Anne Sweeney, Ed.M.’80, an advance screening of the highly anticipated…

A highly respected world leader and peace negotiator is the recipient of the 2010 Great Negotiator Award, co-sponsored by the Future of Diplomacy Project at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation. This year’s honoree is Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Peace…

Harvard’s Institute of Politics, located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, announced that Gordon Brown, prime minister of Britain (2007-10) and U.K. parliamentary member, will serve as a visiting fellow at the institute this fall. Visiting fellows traditionally meet with student groups; lead discussion groups on topical issues and their experiences in public…

For the first time in history, many children in the United States may be facing shorter, sicker lives than their parents. While improving access to health care is essential, insurance reform alone will not make America healthier and reduce spiraling costs, according to a new article in the August 2010 issue of Health Affairs. Creating…

Think only students fret at the start of a new school year? Think again. By the time September rolls around, Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty members have already spent months preparing their courses. “Students show up on the first day not expected to do anything, but faculty are expected to have an entire course…

As a group of Boston-area graduate students discovered this summer, there is truth in the adage that if you want to change the world, you can start in your own backyard. Jennifer Vorse and Michael Zakaras (both M.P.P. ’11) were among 13 students from Harvard graduate schools, Boston University, Tufts, and MIT who worked for…

On Friday, September 10, Cherry A. Murray, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences, kicked off the start of the new academic year with her first “All Hands” meeting. Video, audio, and slides are available. Highlights included: Continuing…

The ASLA Awards for 2010 selected two GSD student projects for Honor Awards, and an additional student project received the Award of Excellence. GSD Alumni were also widely recognized for projects spanning the globe, and GSD Alum Edward L. Daugherty BLA ’50, MLA ’51 was awarded the ASLA Medal—the highest honor the ASLA can bestow…

This summer, Ash Center Fellows in Innovation rolled up their sleeves and got to work, supporting unique education, government, and service initiatives in cities around the country. Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant Alejandra Vallejos Morales, M.P.A. ’11, explored data transparency in government this summer, offering research support to Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology…

The Harvard Committee on General Scholarships has awarded Mallika Kaur, M.P.P. ’10 the 2010-11 Sheldon Traveling Fellowship. The competitive fellowship is awarded to one graduate from across Harvard. First nominated by Harvard Kennedy School for this award, Kaur was then selected by the Harvard-wide committee from a pool of applicants from the various graduate schools.…

Before the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, there was 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women. Founded in 1972 by Ellen Cassedy and Karen Nussbaum, then clerical workers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the organization dedicated itself to putting issues faced by working women on the public agenda. Allison Elias,…

The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies is pleased to announce the arrival of its 2010 fall fellows. The center is dedicated to fostering the study of European history, politics, and society at Harvard. The center was founded as a catalyst to bring scholars and students together to talk and think about Europe. As…

The United States is ending its combat mission in Iraq, but the U.S. will remain involved in helping the country transition to a stable and peaceful democracy. That was the message delivered by President Obama in a nationwide address August 31. “We have sent our young men and women to make enormous sacrifices in Iraq,…

While preparing his thesis on the rise of nationalist thinking among a rarely studied Middle Eastern Christian minority group who speak Syriac as a common language, Raid Gharib, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Tübingen, happened upon a catalog of Syriac and other language sources, The Assyrian Experience: sources for the study of the…

Forget Shakespeare in the park. Try performances in the Yard. Every Tuesday and Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., members of the Harvard community will stage lunchtime shows outside of Lehman Hall and Dudley House. Dubbed “The Chair Revue” these hour-long theatrical and music events are intended to bring the Harvard community together around the…

What’s in a name? For faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), everything. Earlier this summer, Dean Kathleen McCartney announced the Prevention Science and Practice (PSP) Program, formerly known as Risk and Prevention (R&P). The new program title marks the evolution of the master’s degree program — dedicated to the practical application of…

Five stellar students dedicated to the study of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) were named among the recipients of the 2011 Siebel Scholars awards. Karim Atiyeh (M.S. candidate); Michael Lyons (Ph.D. candidate); Geoffrey Mainland (Ph.D. candidate); Rohan Murty (Ph.D. candidate); and Yinan Zhu ’11 (joint A.B./S.M. candidate) will…

Lene Vestergaard Hau, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics in the Department of Physics and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard, was named “World Dane 2010” by global network Danes Worldwide at the organization’s annual summer meeting, held at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark, on Aug. 1, 2010. The honor…

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government will be enriched by new fellows, a writer-in-residence and visiting faculty this fall. One of the most celebrated nonfiction writers of our time, Tracy Kidder, will be the first A.M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence. Kidder won the Pulitzer…

As the United States’ workforce grows more diverse, an increasing number of Americans are balancing work and family responsibilities. In a paper appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Harvard School of Public Health professor Lisa Berkman and colleagues draw attention to the effects that workplace policies toward this issue…

The University’s newly created Library Lab is inviting students, faculty, and staff to collaborate with the Harvard Libraries and serve as co-creators of the information society of the future. The University-wide Library Lab is designed to leverage the entrepreneurial aspirations of Harvard students, faculty, and staff, who can propose projects in all areas of library…