One of the most influential books of the Trump years was “How Democracies Die” by the Harvard government professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. Published in 2018, it served as a guide to our unfolding ordeal. “Over the past two years, we have watched politicians say and do things that are unprecedented in the United…Continue Reading The Authors of ‘How Democracies Die’ Overestimated the Republicans
At many selective private colleges, being very rich is a door to entry — students with parents earning in the top 1 percent attend at much higher rates than other similarly qualified students, new data [from Opportunity Insights] shows. At most flagship public colleges, on the other hand, there is no such difference, and in-state students from…Continue Reading Explore How Income Influences Attendance at 139 Top Colleges
In her National Book Award-winning “South to America,” Imani Perry journeys below the Mason-Dixon Line for a highly personal, poetic exploration of the region she considers her true home. “But you know, I came to Cambridge when I was 5 years old for my mother to go to graduate school,” said the Alabama-born author and…Continue Reading Imani Perry’s arrival marks homecoming, expansion
ON THE DAY Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, historian Serhii Plokhy was on sabbatical in Vienna, researching a new book about Chernobyl. He’d spent weeks sifting through documents in the archives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, sometimes long into the night. On what turned out to be his last working day there, February…Continue Reading The Return of History
Jill Lepore teaches history at Harvard and writes about history for the New Yorker. But she’s equally interested in the present: “We have an obligation to try to make sense of the relationship between today and yesterday,” she says. Lepore’s latest book The Deadline, which comes out on Aug. 29, is a selection of her essays over…Continue Reading Why Historian Jill Lepore Hated Barbie
One raced to create a better, faster test system to help deal with the spread of COVID; the other wielded big data to break myths about who achieves the American Dream and the obstacles faced by others. For those achievements, the University has awarded the coveted George Ledlie Prize to biologist Michael Springer and economist…Continue Reading Springer, Chetty win Ledlie Prize
Hopi Hoekstra, a pathbreaking scholar of the life sciences in the interdisciplinary field of evolutionary genetics, begins her tenure as Edgerley Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences today. Hoekstra’s extensive teaching portfolio includes her role as course head and longtime instructor in “Life Sciences 1b,” one of Harvard College’s foundational science courses. She also…Continue Reading Hopi Hoekstra takes office
Colleagues express confidence, elation in selection of Hopi Hoekstra as next dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences! James Hanken was chatting with colleague Hopi Hoekstra at a Harvard faculty meeting this spring. “I said to her, ‘Are you going to be the next FAS dean?’ I had no inkling; I was not involved in…Continue Reading A ‘formidable’ choice
By Naomi Oreskes Dr. Oreskes is a professor of the history of science at Harvard and the author of “Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know About the Ocean.” As details emerged about the implosion last week of the Titan submersible in its descent to the wreck of the…Continue Reading This Myth About Innovation May Have Doomed the Titan
Hopi Hoekstra, an eminent life scientist who has served on the Harvard faculty since 2007, will become the next Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard President-elect Claudine Gay announced on Monday. Hoekstra is currently the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Organismic and…Continue Reading Hopi Hoekstra named next FAS dean
