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Harvard President Claudine Gay steps down; Provost Alan Garber to serve as interim leader

January 2, 2024

Claudine Gay announced today that she is stepping down as Harvard president. Provost Alan M. Garber ’76, Harvard’s chief academic officer, will serve as interim president effective immediately.

“This is not a decision I came to easily,” Gay, the University’s 30th president, said in a message to the Harvard community. “I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment to academic excellence that has propelled this great University across centuries.” But, she continued, “it has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign...

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‘Antisemitism and other forms of hate have no place at Harvard’

December 6, 2023

Harvard President Claudine Gay condemned campus antisemitism on Tuesday, saying vigorous debate between opposing viewpoints is an important part of a university education but that threats, violence, and bigotry will not be tolerated.

In written and oral testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Gay detailed steps Harvard has taken to confront antisemitism in the weeks since Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack. The ensuing war has sparked protests and counterprotests around the world and across the nation,...

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Tracy K. Smith explores America’s past, present challenges, hopes in new book

November 13, 2023

Tracy K. Smith taught herself to meditate in the summer of 2020, anxious and grieving the loss of Black lives around the country like those of George Floyd and others. Sitting every day in an Adirondack chair under an oak tree in her backyard, she would burn a little sage or cedar, close her eyes, and breathe.

The sessions, which started as a way of “holding herself together” amid the “din of human division and strife,” became a time to reflect on the past, to conjure visions of family members and...

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Weighing the future of Harvard admissions

October 4, 2023

In late June, the Supreme Court entered a ruling in the case of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, prohibiting the consideration of race as a factor in admissions. In the wake of the decision — and after almost a decade of defending the benefits of student body diversity in the case — Harvard, having made the requisite changes to comply with the law, is reviewing its admissions policies and procedures. The University has also affirmed its longstanding commitment to welcoming students of extraordinary talent and promise who come from a wide...

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Gay sees in Harvard the courage to change the world

October 2, 2023

Claudine Gay marked her inauguration as Harvard’s 30th president with a call to action, sharing her vision of a vibrant, diverse community equal to the particular challenges of the world’s most daunting problems.

“The courage of this University — our resolve, against all odds — to question the world as it is and imagine and make a better one: It is what Harvard was made to do,” Gay said Friday. “By continually recommitting ourselves to our central purpose, with renewed vision and vigor,...

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Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy marks a 20-year milestone

August 31, 2023

Bringing together more than 200 current students, alumni, and staff, the Crimson Summer Academy commemorated its 20th anniversary at the Harvard Faculty Club earlier this month.

The academy takes cohorts of 30 to 40 students, known as Crimson Scholars, from public schools in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. Over the course of three consecutive summers, the students engage in a mix of classes, projects, and cultural activities. Through small-group instruction, sustained support, and close mentoring relationships with College undergraduates, the CSA encourages high school...

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Parkes named dean of John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

August 31, 2023

David C. Parkes will become the next dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, effective Oct. 15.

Currently the George F. Colony Professor of Computer Science, Parkes leads research at the interface between economics and computer science, with a focus on multi-agent systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

In announcing the appointment, Hopi Hoekstra, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, called Parkes “a distinguished scholar of technology and society, who drives innovation and insight by...

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Jewish Fall Holidays Fact Sheet

August 17, 2023

Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) will occur this year from the evening of September 15th to the evening of September 17th, and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) will occur from the evening of September 24th to the evening of September 25th. Known as the High Holy Days, these holidays include festive celebrations for Rosh Hashanah and fasting for Yom Kippur.

As with Jewish holidays generally, observance...

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