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Articles by Norman Eggert
The End of Spontaneity
Despite its well-constructed façade of serenity—the muted light streaming through yellow curtains, the low-fi music playing in the background—the Barker Center café is no place to actually accomplish pressing tasks. This is common knowledge among those who frequent it. Rather, Barker is a place to “get work done” in the loosest sense, i.e., spend five or 10 minutes reading before, inevitably, a friend enters—and an hour of conversation ensues over the pages of a forgotten text.
Toward a Pharmacology of Resolution
Of all the human immune system’s extraordinary capabilities, its capacity to regenerate and restore normal physiological function after an injury or infection is probably the least well understood. The process that resolves inflammation is separate from the familiar immune responses characterized by fever, redness, and swelling.
At Home with Harvard: Nature Walks
This is the fifth installment in Harvard Magazine’s new series, “At Home with Harvard,” a guide to what to read, watch, listen to, and do while social distancing. Read the prior pieces, featuring stories about Harvard's Arnold Arboretum and spring blossoming, famous and not-so-famous Harvardians in the movies, Harvard’s literary scene, and the resources of Harvard’s many museums. Isolation doesn't mean we have to stop moving.
At Home with Harvard: Night at the Museum
This is the fourth installment in Harvard Magazine’s new series, “At Home with Harvard,” a guide to what to read, watch, and listen to while social distancing. Read the prior pieces, featuring stories about Harvard's Arnold Arboretum and spring blossoming, famous and not-so-famous Harvardians in the movies, and Harvard’s literary scene.
Design Dean Sarah Whiting to “Step Back” for Cancer Treatment
The Graduate School of Design’s (GSD) new dean, Sarah Whiting, who was named to the post just a year ago, announced to the school community today that she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last week, and beginning this Thursday will be “taking a partial step back from my daily dean-related responsibilities so that I can begin treatment.” Professor of urban design and planning Rahul Mehrotra and professor of landscape architecture Niall Kirkwood will assume daily responsibilities...
A President Mended, A University Challenged
President Lawrence S. Bacow, recovered from COVID-19, spoke about his condition, and Harvard’s, during a telephone conversation on Friday, April 3, from his official residence, Elmwood. He has been working there since March 14, according to his announcement March 24 that he been laid low by the coronavirus. “I’m over it,” he said about his experience with the virus.
A Harvard Senior’s Call to the Home Front
I submitted my senior thesis the day before undergraduate Armageddon. Monday, March 9, five days before spring break. I stood on the steps of Widener Library holding the 108 double-spaced pages I spent the past year writing and smiled for the traditional senior-spring photo. About 30 other students were performing the same ritual a few feet away.
At Home with Harvard: The Literary Life
This is the third installment in Harvard Magazine’s new series, “At Home with Harvard,” a guide to what to read, watch, and listen to while social distancing. Read the first two pieces, featuring stories about Harvard's Arnold Arboretum and Harvardians in film. From alumni novelists, poets, and critics, to Harvard literary scholars and archivists, literature is one of Harvard Magazine's most-covered subjects.
Deforestation Damages Even the Rainforests That Survive It
Last summer—seemingly a lifetime ago—the news was dominated by reports of the escalation of human-created fires in the Amazon rainforest. For many readers, the Amazon fires brought awareness not just of the immense suffering deforestation inflicts on the people and animals who live there, but also of tropical rainforests’ role in maintaining a stable climate for the planet.
Overseers Election Update: Voting Postponed
Updated March 31, 2020. This news announcement updates yesterday’s post about the election and various endorsements of candidates, from both the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) nominating committee slates and the Overseer petition candidates campaigning on the Harvard Forward platform.
At Home with Harvard: Harvard in the Movies
This is the second installment in Harvard Magazine’s new series, “At Home with Harvard,” a guide to what to read, watch, and listen to while social distancing. Read the first piece, featuring stories about Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, here. Harvard may not be known as a school for aspiring artists, but it has produced some of the most interesting creators—filmmakers, film writers, film critics—shaping cinema, past and present.
Overseer and Director Election Endorsements
With world attention understandably focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, and U.S. political attention focused to a varying extent on the November presidential and congressional elections, the University’s spring balloting for members of the Board of Overseers and Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) elected directors begins April l, very much out of the news headlines.
All College Spring Semester Grades Will Be Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory
All Harvard College courses this semester will be graded on a satisfactory-unsatisfactory system, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay and dean of undergraduate education Amanda Claybaugh announced in separate emails to faculty and students today. The change comes a few weeks after the University announced that it would move all classes online and evacuate undergraduate dorms for the rest of the semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
College Admits 4.9 Percent of Applicants to Class of 2024
The College has admitted 1,980 of 40,248 applicants to the class of 2024 (895 of whom were admitted through early action in December). The 4.9 percent admit rate is up from 4.5 percent last year, reflecting an applicant pool down by about 3,000 students. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s admits won’t be able to visit Harvard’s campus or meet one another in person at the traditional Visitas weekend in April.
Harvard Financial Pressures Coronavirus Crisis
In the fall of 2008, as banks and markets collapsed, Harvard discovered enormous problems in its own financial structure and operations. By year’s end, under duress, the University had to borrow $2.5 billion at high interest rates to maintain liquidity (annual interest expense doubled, to nearly $300 million, from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal 2011—a lingering, onerous tax on operations).
At Home with Harvard: Spring Blooms
At a time when social distancing has changed everyone’s life, all of us working remotely from Harvard Magazine find it important to get outside for exercise and to clear our heads. Especially now, when the seasons are beginning to turn in eastern Massachusetts, I think of the University’s Arnold Arboretum. Two summers ago, I wrote about an exhibition of photographs of the seasonal parade there, taken by Jim Harrison, the magazine’s long-time contributing photographer.
President Bacow and Adele Fleet Bacow Test Positive for Coronavirus
Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898 | SUBSCRIBE Log-In | Register Search form Search Articles News more News Professor and platform: William C. Kirby logs on to Zoom from home for his first remote teaching session. On taking a Harvard Gen Ed class remotely with William C. Kirby 3.24.20 In a paper aimed at fellow educators, David Malan reports on interventions designed to teach academic honesty in the wildly popular introductory computer science course he teaches at Harvard.
One undergraduate on the Harvard move-out
I had left Pforzheimer House early on the morning that I would learn my time at Harvard had ended. The day was cleared for writing, and my biggest concern was grabbing my favorite seat at Starbucks. Most of my college papers were written from that chair, positioned with easy access to an outlet at a table by a floor-to-ceiling window. This chair was in high demand, especially among the early-morning regulars, and was usually claimed by dawn.
Harvard Postpones Commencement
President Lawrence S. Bacow informed the community this afternoon of his decision to postpone the University’s Commencement, scheduled for May 28, in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Importantly: Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Since the announcement last week that we would move to online instruction and ask students to leave campus, one of the questions I have been asked most frequently is, “What about commencement?” I love commencement.
“Drip, Drip, Drip”
Editor's note: Though winter and spring sports were forced to end early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were still moments of triumph for Crimson athletes. We hope you enjoy this story about the 2020 Ivy League fencing championship, held this February. Erwin Cai ’20 knew he should make a defensive move. The problem was execution. A sabre fencer since age eight, he predicted that his opponent was about to attack.
Business School Dean Transition Extended during Coronavirus Crisis
President Lawrence S. Bacow announced this afternoon that Nitin Nohria, dean of Harvard Business School (HBS), who had announced his retirement effective at the end of this academic year, in June, will now remain the school’s leader through the end of 2020. Alluding to the COVID-19 pandemic—which has emptied campus—Bacow wrote: We are very fortunate to have the sustained benefit of Nitin’s keen judgment, deep experience, and steady hand as we navigate the unprecedented circumstances now before us.
As Coronavirus Spreads, Harvard Cancels Athletics
After University administrators informed College students that they must move out of their dorms by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Harvard Athletics began to make its own cancellations—a prudent decision, but a brutal blow to athletes, coaches, and staff. On Tuesday, the Ivy League decided to cancel the Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments (scheduled to take place in Lavietes Pavilion), but didn’t unilaterally end competitions across the league.
Harvard Closes Classes Coronavirus
The third shoe has dropped, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread. The University’s site for information on countermeasures is updated continuously. Highlights appear here. •Last Friday, the College announced that Visitas, the annual weekend during which admitted applicants can visit campus before committing to accept their offer of admission, would be canceled; an online Virtual Visitas will be scheduled in place of the April 18-20 gathering.
David Cutler: Can the U.S. Healthcare System Be Fixed?
No country in the world spends more on health care than the United States, or has less to show for it when compared to other wealthy nations. The U.S. spends nearly 50 percent more per capita than Switzerland, the second biggest spender among wealthy nations, but consistently ranks near the bottom on measures of population wellness and life expectancy. Is there a better system, and if so, what should it look like? What role does wasteful spending play in this equation?
Remembering Henry Cobb, Architect of CGIS
Editor’s note: Henry Cobb ’47, M.Arch. ’49, a former professor and chair of the architecture department at the Graduate School of Design, whose work includes Harvard’s Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS) complex, died on March 2. Susan Pharr, Reischauer professor of Japanese politics, a subsequent resident of that complex, has shared with us a recollection of Cobb, and we are pleased to be able to share it with readers.
Harvard and the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health Team to Fight SARS-CoV
Ever since the earliest reports of a pneumonia-like illness spreading within Hubei province in China, the resemblance to the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003 has been uncanny: probable origins in the wild-animal markets of China; an illness that in some people resembles the common cold or a flu, but in others leads to pneumonia-like symptoms that can cause respiratory failure; community transmission that often occurs undetected; super-spreader events; and reported vertical transmission in...
African and African-American Studies Celebrates 50 years
Last Saturday evening, toward the end of a two-day symposium commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the African and African-American studies department (AAAS)—an event filled with stories and music, memories of struggle and achievement, and with searching discussions about the future of the field—Cornel West put into words an uneasiness that had been tugging at the celebrations all weekend long.
Melinda Gates to Receive Radcliffe Medal
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (RIAS) announced this afternoon that Melinda Gates will be the featured speaker on Radcliffe Day, May 29, at the end of Harvard’s Commencement week. Gates, the philanthropist who co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her husband, Bill Gates ’77, LL.D. ’07 (the co-founder of Microsoft), will receive the institute’s highest honor, the Radcliffe Medal.
Coming Soon: Ask a Harvard Professor, Season Two
News more News Melinda Gates Photograph courtesy of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The philanthropist will highlight Radcliffe Day during Harvard’s Commencement week. 2.26.20 Tracy P. Palandjian ’93, M.B.A. ’97, chair of the Harvard Alumni Association Committee to Nominate Overseers and Elected Directors, and Philip Lovejoy, HAA executive director Photographs: Courtesy of Tracy P.
A quest for perfect ice
Matt Gilmore sits straight up on the Zamboni’s elevated seat, his left hand guiding the steering wheel, his right controlling the water spurting out the machine’s back. He leans leftward, his eyes trained on the few inches of space between the vehicle and the boards. Hitting the wall with the five-ton machine would be one of the worst things he could do, but his 14 years of experience ease the concern.
Lindsay Reed, Harvard women’s ice-hockey goalie
On New Year’s Eve, the Harvard women’s hockey team suited up for a long-anticipated rematch. Last February, in the first round of the 2019 Beanpot Tournament, the Crimson had stunned Boston College, ranked seventh in the nation, with a 4-1 victory. The Eagles scored 45 seconds into the game, and then never again. That was partly the work of Harvard’s rookie goalie, a lanky then-freshman named Lindsay Reed, who stopped 52 shots that night.
Recent books with Harvard connections
Bach’s Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work, by Christoph Wolff, Adams University Professor emeritus (W.W. Norton, $40). The preeminent Bach scholar (and biographer) here places the composer’s music in context by diving deep into selected works, organized not by period or genre, but by their “transformative musical ideas” for Bach himself. Fighting Words, by Nancy F. Cott, Trumbull research professor of American history (Basic Books, $32).
Harvard President Bacow on University in Contentious Times
President Lawrence S. Bacow, speaking at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University (John Harvard’s alma mater, in 1632), on January 25 addressed the challenge of maintaining universities as places for honest, thoughtful inquiry at a time of both external stress—in politically polarized societies on both sides of the Atlantic—and passionate internal disagreements. His remarks, delivered as the annual guest in a lecture series established in honor of the late Reverend Peter J.
Harvard Professor Accused of Misleading Government Investigators
Your independent source for Harvard news since 1898 | SUBSCRIBE Log-In | Register Search form Search Articles News more News The blue regions are oil palm plantation, while the forest regions (yellows and greens) are colored by tree height, which is a proxy for carbon. Image courtesy of Global Airborne Observatory, ASU Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. The world needs tropical forests—but rainforest destruction continues unabated, and it may be even worse than you thought.
The Undergraduate explores filmmaking
At first, we were geniuses. Erudite intellectuals with a subtle eye for shifts in mood and a proclivity for name-dropping the film theorist Walter Benjamin. We bandied words like “juxtaposition” and “interiority,” belabored skepticism of documentary’s “objectivity,” and referred to every directorial decision as “interesting…” This was before we’d discover our own footage was shaky, our two-minute sound excerpts full of microphone noises and rustling.
“Design Is Not an Intellectual Exercise”
Standing before a graduating class of soon-to-be architects and designers and urban planners at the Graduate School of Design’s Class Day, Teju Cole—the Vidal professor of the practice of creative writing—wanted to talk about doors. Real doors, but also symbolic ones.
Deidre Lynch on Jane Austen and loving literature
Deidre Lynch on the cult of Jane Austen and the complexities of loving literature “Jane Austen’s Fiction and Fans” is a class so well-liked that its instructor has been forced to put it on pause. “It grew so much in my first two years at Harvard that it has almost become too big to do it anymore,” says Deidre Lynch, Bernbaum professor of literature since 2014.
Deep into Sleep
Not long ago, a psychiatrist in private practice telephoned associate professor of psychiatry Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in sleep research. He asked whether Stickgold knew of any reason not to prescribe modafinil, a new wakefulness-promoting drug, to a Harvard undergraduate facing a lot of academic work in exam period. The question resonated on several levels.
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