News

Harvard project reframes civics education via statewide pilot

February 4, 2020

Vassal Lane Upper School eighth-grader Bodie Morein toggled her laptop mouse, marching Brianna Little, her video game heroine, to a fort in New York state during revolutionary times. A crowd formed, chanting:

“If I say, ‘This is our,’ you say ‘Petition!’

“If I say ‘Stamp Act,’ you say ‘No consent!”

The game, “Portrait of a Tyrant,” is a small part of a year-long civics education curriculum with high stakes — the future of civics knowledge, identity, and engagement — for Morein’s class and students across the state.

“We are working from a critical data point that found...

In new book, Nye rates presidents on foreign policy ethics

January 21, 2020

As his trial begins in the U.S. Senate, the impeachment of President Trump is, at its heart, a question about ethics. Was it proper for the president to withhold U.S. military aid to a strategic foreign ally to leverage its cooperation in an effort that could undercut a political rival? In a new book, “Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump,” Joseph S. Nye Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), examines the role that ethics played in the...

Historical view reshapes beliefs about colonization

January 20, 2020

A new study led by archaeologists, ecologists, and paleoclimatologists at Harvard and elsewhere overturns long-held beliefs about the role humans played in shaping the American landscape before and after European colonization. The findings offer insights and lessons in managing biodiverse landscapes in the Northeast.

The study, published today in the journal Nature Sustainability, focuses on the coast from Long Island to Cape Cod and the nearby islands of Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, and Naushon — areas that historically supported the densest populations of native peoples...

Kelvin Droegemeier outlines progress of new policy panels

January 15, 2020

As director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kelvin K. Droegemeier serves as a science adviser to President Trump, and he coordinates the federal government’s science and technology initiatives. Since being confirmed last January, one of his biggest focuses has been the creation of the Joint Committee on the Research Environment in May. That panel is focused on resolving problems such as administrative hurdles that slow federally funded work, sexual harassment in science, and security around research, among others. On Wednesday morning, Droegemeier, a former vice...

Why single-parent homes affect children differently

January 15, 2020

Social policy and popular culture promote the two-parent nuclear family as an ideal structure for raising successful, healthy children. But the reality of family life in America looks very different from that: Half of all children spend time living with a single parent, and one in three spends some time living with an extended relative. Christina Cross, a postdoctoral scholar and incoming assistant professor in the Sociology Department, has studied this disconnect, analyzing the relationships between family structure...

Should Medicare for All be Democrats’ top priority?

January 14, 2020

Health care, climate change, and political reality collided this week, when experts discussing national single-payer health insurance clashed over the question of whether Democrats should make it their top priority if the party manages to retake both the White House and Congress this year.

John McDonough, a professor of the practice of public health who played a role in the design and passage of the Affordable Care Act, shook his head, arguing that recent history suggests health-care overhaul debates tend to crowd out all other...

Tools to reverse implicit negative prejudice in children

January 6, 2020

Miao Qian, a postdoctoral research fellow with the Inequality in America Initiative, studies the development of implicit racial biases in children to understand better how and when unconscious prejudices and stereotypes form in the brain. Qian, who received a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and education from the University of Toronto, envisions a future in which children are able to “unlearn” unconscious bias through training and education starting early in their lives. The...

Harvard photographers pick their favorites for 2019

December 23, 2019

Throughout the year, the Gazette’s staff photographers take thousands of photos. They selected their favorites from 2019 and discussed why they left such an impact.

...

At Harvard, hundreds rally to defend DACA

November 12, 2019

A crowd of about 250 students, faculty, and staff gathered on the steps of Harvard’s Memorial Church on Veterans Day for a Defend DACA rally that was part of a nationwide student walkout. The attending, some carrying protest signs, listened respectfully as members of the Harvard community told their stories about DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and TPS (Temporary Protected Status). Between speakers, there was applause and chants such as “Undocumented, unafraid. We are home and here to stay.”

On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court began hearings that are likely to decide the fate...

Harvard community turns commute into action for sustainability