Dear Members of the Harvard Community, Climate change represents one of the world’s most consequential challenges. I very much respect the concern and commitment shown by the many members of our community who are working to confront this problem. I, as well as members of our Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, have benefited from a…
On the Passing of Harry Parker
Harry Parker epitomized the coach as teacher. He saw each of his rowers not just as an athlete but as a whole person, a person learning not just how to excel at a sport but how to live a life. Generations of Harvard students will forever remember his formative influence. He was a living legend…
Statement on the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
We are heartened that the Supreme Court today has affirmed the vital interest of universities in bringing together students from many different backgrounds and points of view. Such diversity enriches the learning experience for all our students, as they live and learn in a community whose collective variety of experiences, interests, and perspectives opens minds,…
2013 Year-End Message from President Faust
On the Web: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/06/harvard-university-year-in-pictures-2012-2013/ Dear Members of the Harvard Community: Despite unseasonably warm weather, throngs of alumni and friends filled Tercentenary Theatre for Commencement. The Morning Exercises were punctuated by welcome levity and the Afternoon Exercises energized by Oprah Winfrey’s inspiring speech. It was an especially joyful day, reminding us of the strength of the…
The Harvard Campaign
Dear Colleagues, As the academic year approaches its Commencement finale, we are already anticipating the public launch of the University campaign soon after the students return in September. The process of preparing for a campaign is one that focuses us on defining our future. For the past several years, we have been engaged within each…
Message to the Community
Dear Members of the Harvard Community: We are deeply grateful to law enforcement officials from Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown and from across the state and nation for their apprehension last evening of the surviving suspect in the marathon bombing. Yesterday was a harrowing day in a week of tragedy, suffering, and uncertainty—as well as courage…
Welcome, Class of 2017
Dear Members (I Hope) of the Harvard Class of 2017: I had hoped to spend a part of my Saturday with many of you, deploying all the wit and charm I could muster to persuade you to make Harvard your home for the next four years. I had hoped to regale you with a few…
A Message from the President: Monday’s Events in Boston
Dear Members of the Harvard Community: Yesterday was a day of unspeakable sadness for all of us in and around Boston, and for everyone gathered to celebrate what has been for so many years a great day on the calendar of a great city. As is by now well known, at approximately 2:50 p.m., two…
The newest revolution in higher ed
This op-ed originally appeared in The Boston Globe on March 3, 2013. By Drew Faust and L. Rafael Reif In 1837, the Massachusetts Board of Education devoted part of its first annual report to praising a recent classroom innovation called the blackboard. This “invaluable and indispensible” innovation enabled the “rapid and vivid communication of knowledge.” It…