Harvard College
Encyclopedia
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, is one of two schools within Harvard University
granting undergraduate degrees (the other being Harvard Extension School
). Founded in 1636, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States
and one of the most prestigious in the world.
In 1636 the New College came into existence by vote of the Great and General Court
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
—though without a single building, instructor, or student. In 1639 it was re-named in honor of deceased Charlestown
minister John Harvard
, who had bequeathed to the school his entire library and half of his monetary estate.
Harvard's first instructor, schoolmaster Nathaniel Eaton
, was also its first instructor to be dismissed—in 1639 for overstrict discipline. The school's first students were graduated in 1642.
In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck
, "from the Wampanoag ... did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period."
At the time of Harvard's founding (as today) the colleges of England's Oxford and Cambridge
were communities within the larger university, each an association of scholars (both established and aspiring) sharing room and board;
Harvard's founders may have envisioned it as the first in a series of sibling colleges which, on the English model, would eventually constitute a university.
Though no further "colleges" materialized, nonetheless as Harvard began granting higher degrees in the late eighteenth century it was increasingly styled Harvard University--even as Harvard College (in keeping with emerging American usage of that word) was increasingly thought of as the university's undergraduate division in particular.
Today Harvard College is responsible for undergraduate admissions, advising, housing, student life, and athletics – generally all undergraduate matters except instruction, which is the purview of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences
. The body known as The President and Fellows of Harvard College
retains its traditional name despite having governance of the entire University.
Historically open only to men, Harvard College and Harvard University are now both fully coeducational.
Most Harvard College graduates receive the Artium Baccalaureus (A.B.), normally completed in four years, though students completing substantial college-level coursework in high school can graduate in three. A smaller number receive the Scientiarum Baccalaureus (S.B.), normally requiring five years, and there are also special degree programs, such as a five-year program leading to both a Harvard undergraduate degree and a Master of Arts from the New England Conservatory of Music
.
Midway through the second year, most undergraduates join one of fifty standard fields of concentration (what most schools call an academic major
); many also declare a secondary field (called minors elsewhere). Joint concentrations (combining the requirements of two standard concentrations) and special concentrations (of the student's own design) are also possible.
Undergraduates must also fulfill the General Education requirement of coursework in eight designated fields:
Each student's exposure (via "Gen Ed") to a range of intellectual areas, while pursuing a chosen concentration in depth, fulfills the injunction of Harvard past-president Abbott Lawrence Lowell
that each graduate should "know a little of everything, and one thing well."
Nearly all Harvard undergraduates live on campus, for the first year in dormitories in or near Harvard Yard
(see List of Harvard dormitories) and later in the Houses—administrative subdivisions of the College as well as living quarters, providing a sense of community in what might otherwise be a socially incohesive and administratively daunting university environment. Each house is presided over by a senior-faculty Master, while its Allston Burr Resident Dean (usually a junior faculty member) supervises undergraduates' day-to-day academic and disciplinary well-being. The Master and Resident Dean are assisted by other members of the Senior Common Room—select graduate students, faculty, and University officials brought into association with each house. Many of these graduate students (called tutors) live in the House, as do the Master and Resident Dean. (Terms such as Tutor, Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room—the House's undergraduate members—reflect the debt to the residential college systems at Oxford and Cambridge.)
The House system was instituted by President Lowell in the 1930s to combat what he saw as pernicious social stratification engendered by the private, off-campus living arrangements of many
Harvard undergraduates at that time. Lowell's solution was to provide on-campus accommodations to every student throughout his entire career in the College; Lowell also saw great benefits flowing from other features of the House system, such as the relaxed discussions (academic or otherwise) which he hoped would take place among undergraduates and members of the Senior Common Room over meals in each House's dining hall.
An important change since Lowell's time concerns the way in which students are assigned to particular Houses. Under the original "draft" system, Masters agreed privately on the assignment of upcoming freshmen considered most—or least—promising.
From the 1960s to the mid-1990s students ranked the Houses according to personal preference, with an impersonal lottery resolving the oversubscription of more popular houses. Today House assignments are essentially random.
South of Harvard Yard, near the Charles River
, are the nine River Houses:
Construction of the first River houses began in early 1929. The land on which they were built had been assembled decades before: Edward Waldo Forbes, grandson of Ralph Waldo Emerson
, was inspired by the Oxford and Cambridge systems when he studied for two years in England after graduating from Harvard in 1895. On returning to the U.S., he set out to acquire such land between Harvard Yard and the Charles River as was not already in the hands of the university or an associated entity. By 1918 that ambition had been largely fulfilled and the assembled land transferred to Harvard. The construction of the River houses was financed with a 1928 gift by Yale alumnus Edward Harkness
. Harkness, who had been hoping to finance a similar project at Yale before school politics delayed the plan, visited Lowell in Cambridge in October 1928. He ultimately offered 11 million dollars towards the construction of the River houses. Two of the new houses, Dunster and Lowell, were completed in 1930.
The three Quad Houses (in the Harvard—formerly Radcliffe—Quadrangle
) enjoy a residential setting half a mile (800 m) northwest of Harvard Yard. These housed Radcliffe College
students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard in 1977. They are:
A thirteenth house, Dudley House
, is nonresidential but fulfills, for some graduate students and the (very few) undergraduates living off campus, the administrative and social functions provided by the other twelve houses to their residents.
Harvard's residential houses are paired with Yale's residential colleges in sister relationships
.
, believed that sports competition had become over-commercialized and took students away from their studies, and they called for reform and limitations on all sports. This opposition prompted Harvard's athletic committee to target 'minor' sports—basketball and hockey—for reform and regulation in order to deflect attention from the major sports—football, baseball, track, and crew. The committee made it difficult for the basketball team to operate by denying financial assistance and limiting the number of overnight away games in which the team could participate. Several losing seasons, negative attitudes toward the commercialization of intercollegiate sports, and the need for reform contributed to basketball's demise at Harvard in 1909.
Today, Harvard claims to be home to the largest Division I intercollegiate athletics program in the United States, with 41 varsity teams and over 1,500 student-athletes. Harvard is one of eight members of the Ivy League
.
Harvard and Yale enjoy the oldest intercollegiate athletic rivalry in the United States, the Harvard-Yale Regatta
, dating back to 1852, when rowing crews from each institution first met on Lake Winnipesaukee
, New Hampshire
. Harvard won that contest by two boat lengths. Since 1859, the crews have met nearly every year (except during major wars). The race is typically held in early June in New London
, Connecticut
.
Better known is the annual Harvard-Yale football game, known to insiders of both institutions as simply, "The Game." It was first played in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1875. Harvard won the initial contest 4-0. In recent years, The Game is always played on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, making it one of many significant games played on "Rivalry Day."
during which arts and culture organizations show off performances, cook meals, or present other work; in 2005 over 40% of students participated in at least one Arts First event. Notable organizations include the student-run business organization Harvard Student Agencies
, the daily newspaper The Harvard Crimson, the humor magazine the Harvard Lampoon, the a cappella groups the Din & Tonics and the Krokodiloes, and the public service umbrella organization the Phillips Brooks House Association
(PBHA).
Choral groups
A cappella groups
Orchestras and bands
Theater and dance
Other
The Chabad House
at Harvard is a community center for Jewish
students operated by the Orthodox Jewish
Chabad
movement. Presently headed by Rabbi and Mrs. Hirsch and Rabbi and Mrs. Zarchi, it was founded in 1997. According to Professor Ruth Wisse
, its success is due to the personality and energy of Rabbi Zarchi. The rabbis live at the Chabad House with their young children, which contributes to a warm family atmosphere at their Friday evening Shabbat
dinners for students. In April 2010 it placed a bid of $6 million to purchase the building of the former DU Club located at 45 Dunster Street from the Fly Club
. The bid was reportedly more than twice the tax-assessed value of the building and land.
Architecture
Art
Astronomy
Athletics
Business
Economics
Education
Journalism
Law
Literature
Mathematics
Performance arts - music, theater and film
Philosophy
Physics
Politics
Religion
Fictional alumni
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, is one of two schools within Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
granting undergraduate degrees (the other being Harvard Extension School
Harvard Extension School
Harvard University Extension School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the thirteen degree-granting schools of Harvard University and is part of the Division of Continuing Education.-Origins:...
). Founded in 1636, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States
and one of the most prestigious in the world.
History
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
—though without a single building, instructor, or student. In 1639 it was re-named in honor of deceased Charlestown
Charlestown, Massachusetts
Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...
minister John Harvard
John Harvard (clergyman)
John Harvard was an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor.-Biography:Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, England, the fourth of nine...
, who had bequeathed to the school his entire library and half of his monetary estate.
Harvard's first instructor, schoolmaster Nathaniel Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton was the first schoolmaster of Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later became a clergyman.- Biography :...
, was also its first instructor to be dismissed—in 1639 for overstrict discipline. The school's first students were graduated in 1642.
In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck
In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University.Cheeshahteaumuck, of the Wampanoag tribe, came from Martha's Vineyard and attended a preparatory school in Roxbury...
, "from the Wampanoag ... did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period."
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
were communities within the larger university, each an association of scholars (both established and aspiring) sharing room and board;
Harvard's founders may have envisioned it as the first in a series of sibling colleges which, on the English model, would eventually constitute a university.
Though no further "colleges" materialized, nonetheless as Harvard began granting higher degrees in the late eighteenth century it was increasingly styled Harvard University--even as Harvard College (in keeping with emerging American usage of that word) was increasingly thought of as the university's undergraduate division in particular.
Today Harvard College is responsible for undergraduate admissions, advising, housing, student life, and athletics – generally all undergraduate matters except instruction, which is the purview of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the seven faculties that constitute Harvard University.Headquartered principally in Cambridge, Massachusetts and centered in the historic Harvard Yard, FAS is the only division of the university responsible for both undergraduate and...
. The body known as The President and Fellows of Harvard College
President and Fellows of Harvard College
The President and Fellows of Harvard College is the more fundamental of Harvard University's two governing boards...
retains its traditional name despite having governance of the entire University.
Historically open only to men, Harvard College and Harvard University are now both fully coeducational.
Academics
About 2100 students are admitted each year, representing between six and 10 percent of those applying; of those admitted approximately three-quarters choose to attend. These figures make Harvard one of the most selective, and most sought-after, colleges in the world. Very few transfer applications are accepted.Most Harvard College graduates receive the Artium Baccalaureus (A.B.), normally completed in four years, though students completing substantial college-level coursework in high school can graduate in three. A smaller number receive the Scientiarum Baccalaureus (S.B.), normally requiring five years, and there are also special degree programs, such as a five-year program leading to both a Harvard undergraduate degree and a Master of Arts from the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
.
Midway through the second year, most undergraduates join one of fifty standard fields of concentration (what most schools call an academic major
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
); many also declare a secondary field (called minors elsewhere). Joint concentrations (combining the requirements of two standard concentrations) and special concentrations (of the student's own design) are also possible.
Undergraduates must also fulfill the General Education requirement of coursework in eight designated fields:
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Each student's exposure (via "Gen Ed") to a range of intellectual areas, while pursuing a chosen concentration in depth, fulfills the injunction of Harvard past-president Abbott Lawrence Lowell
Abbott Lawrence Lowell
Abbott Lawrence Lowell was a U.S. educator and legal scholar. He served as President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933....
that each graduate should "know a little of everything, and one thing well."
House system
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
(see List of Harvard dormitories) and later in the Houses—administrative subdivisions of the College as well as living quarters, providing a sense of community in what might otherwise be a socially incohesive and administratively daunting university environment. Each house is presided over by a senior-faculty Master, while its Allston Burr Resident Dean (usually a junior faculty member) supervises undergraduates' day-to-day academic and disciplinary well-being. The Master and Resident Dean are assisted by other members of the Senior Common Room—select graduate students, faculty, and University officials brought into association with each house. Many of these graduate students (called tutors) live in the House, as do the Master and Resident Dean. (Terms such as Tutor, Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room—the House's undergraduate members—reflect the debt to the residential college systems at Oxford and Cambridge.)
The House system was instituted by President Lowell in the 1930s to combat what he saw as pernicious social stratification engendered by the private, off-campus living arrangements of many
Harvard undergraduates at that time. Lowell's solution was to provide on-campus accommodations to every student throughout his entire career in the College; Lowell also saw great benefits flowing from other features of the House system, such as the relaxed discussions (academic or otherwise) which he hoped would take place among undergraduates and members of the Senior Common Room over meals in each House's dining hall.
An important change since Lowell's time concerns the way in which students are assigned to particular Houses. Under the original "draft" system, Masters agreed privately on the assignment of upcoming freshmen considered most—or least—promising.
From the 1960s to the mid-1990s students ranked the Houses according to personal preference, with an impersonal lottery resolving the oversubscription of more popular houses. Today House assignments are essentially random.
South of Harvard Yard, near the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
, are the nine River Houses:
|
Kirkland House Kirkland House is one of the 12 undergraduate houses at Harvard University, located near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was named after John Thornton Kirkland, president of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. Some of the buildings were built in 1914 but construction was not... Leverett House Leverett House is the largest of twelve residence houses for upperclass undergraduates at Harvard University... Lowell House Lowell House is one of the twelve undergraduate residential houses within Harvard College, located on Holyoke Place facing Mount Auburn Street between the Harvard Yard and the Charles River... |
Quincy House (Harvard) Quincy House is one of the twelve upperclass residential houses of Harvard University, located on Plympton Street between Harvard Yard and the Charles River. Quincy House was named after Josiah Quincy III , president of Harvard from 1829 to 1845. It is the second largest of the twelve... Winthrop House John Winthrop House is one of twelve undergraduate residences at Harvard College and home to slightly under 400 students.Commonly referred to as Winthrop House, it consists of two buildings, Standish Hall and Gore Hall. Both were built in 1912 as separate freshman dormitories... |
Construction of the first River houses began in early 1929. The land on which they were built had been assembled decades before: Edward Waldo Forbes, grandson of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, was inspired by the Oxford and Cambridge systems when he studied for two years in England after graduating from Harvard in 1895. On returning to the U.S., he set out to acquire such land between Harvard Yard and the Charles River as was not already in the hands of the university or an associated entity. By 1918 that ambition had been largely fulfilled and the assembled land transferred to Harvard. The construction of the River houses was financed with a 1928 gift by Yale alumnus Edward Harkness
Edward Harkness
Edward Stephen Harkness was an American philanthropist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four sons to Stephen V. Harkness, a harness-maker who invested in the forerunner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller's oil company. Harkness inherited a fortune from his father...
. Harkness, who had been hoping to finance a similar project at Yale before school politics delayed the plan, visited Lowell in Cambridge in October 1928. He ultimately offered 11 million dollars towards the construction of the River houses. Two of the new houses, Dunster and Lowell, were completed in 1930.
The three Quad Houses (in the Harvard—formerly Radcliffe—Quadrangle
Quadrangle (Harvard)
The Quadrangle at Harvard University, formerly called the Radcliffe Quadrangle or the Harvard Annex dorms, is part of Harvard's undergraduate campus, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Generally just called the Quad, it is a traditional college quad except that it is not located in, or even...
) enjoy a residential setting half a mile (800 m) northwest of Harvard Yard. These housed Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the coordinate college for Harvard University. It was also one of the Seven Sisters colleges. Radcliffe College conferred joint Harvard-Radcliffe diplomas beginning in 1963 and a formal merger agreement with...
students until Radcliffe merged its residential system with Harvard in 1977. They are:
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Pforzheimer House Pforzheimer House, nicknamed PfoHo , is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It was named in 1995 for Carol K. and Carl H... |
A thirteenth house, Dudley House
Dudley House (Harvard College)
Dudley House is one of the thirteen undergraduate "houses" within Harvard College, serving the very few Harvard undergraduates not living in one of the other twelve houses; this includes student's living in the off-campus Dudley Co-ops. It also serves certain graduate students.Dudley House is...
, is nonresidential but fulfills, for some graduate students and the (very few) undergraduates living off campus, the administrative and social functions provided by the other twelve houses to their residents.
Harvard's residential houses are paired with Yale's residential colleges in sister relationships
Harvard-Yale sister colleges
Harvard College's residential houses and Yale University's residential colleges have established sisterly relationships, much like the Oxbridge sister colleges. The living quarters were made possible by philanthropist Edward S...
.
Athletics
By the late 19th century critics of intercollegiate athletics, including Harvard president Charles William EliotCharles William Eliot
Charles William Eliot was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. He transformed the provincial college into the preeminent American research university...
, believed that sports competition had become over-commercialized and took students away from their studies, and they called for reform and limitations on all sports. This opposition prompted Harvard's athletic committee to target 'minor' sports—basketball and hockey—for reform and regulation in order to deflect attention from the major sports—football, baseball, track, and crew. The committee made it difficult for the basketball team to operate by denying financial assistance and limiting the number of overnight away games in which the team could participate. Several losing seasons, negative attitudes toward the commercialization of intercollegiate sports, and the need for reform contributed to basketball's demise at Harvard in 1909.
Today, Harvard claims to be home to the largest Division I intercollegiate athletics program in the United States, with 41 varsity teams and over 1,500 student-athletes. Harvard is one of eight members of the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
.
Harvard and Yale enjoy the oldest intercollegiate athletic rivalry in the United States, the Harvard-Yale Regatta
Harvard-Yale Regatta
The Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard–Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The...
, dating back to 1852, when rowing crews from each institution first met on Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is approximately long and from wide , covering — when Paugus Bay is included—with a maximum depth of ....
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. Harvard won that contest by two boat lengths. Since 1859, the crews have met nearly every year (except during major wars). The race is typically held in early June in New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
.
Better known is the annual Harvard-Yale football game, known to insiders of both institutions as simply, "The Game." It was first played in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1875. Harvard won the initial contest 4-0. In recent years, The Game is always played on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, making it one of many significant games played on "Rivalry Day."
Undergraduate organizations
Harvard has hundreds of undergraduate organizations. Every spring there is an "Arts First week," founded by John LithgowJohn Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
during which arts and culture organizations show off performances, cook meals, or present other work; in 2005 over 40% of students participated in at least one Arts First event. Notable organizations include the student-run business organization Harvard Student Agencies
Harvard Student Agencies
Harvard Student Agencies Inc. is a $6 million non-profit company, it consists of nine different agencies that are each headed by a student manager...
, the daily newspaper The Harvard Crimson, the humor magazine the Harvard Lampoon, the a cappella groups the Din & Tonics and the Krokodiloes, and the public service umbrella organization the Phillips Brooks House Association
Phillips Brooks House Association
Phillips Brooks House Association is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community...
(PBHA).
Publications and media
Many Harvard undergraduate publications and productions are distributed worldwide.- The Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
, the United States' oldest continually published daily college newspaper. - Harvard Yearbook Publications, Inc., publisher of the Senior yearbook since 1950.
- The Harvard AdvocateThe Harvard AdvocateThe Harvard Advocate, the literary magazine of Harvard College, is the oldest continuously published college literary magazine in the United States. The magazine was founded by Charles S. Gage and William G. Peckham in 1866 and, except for a hiatus during the last years of World War II, has...
, the oldest continuously published college literary magazine. - The Harvard International ReviewHarvard International ReviewThe Harvard International Review is a quarterly journal of international relations published by the Harvard International Relations Council...
, which regularly carries articles by prominent scholars and policymakers. - The Harvard LampoonHarvard LampoonThe Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
, founded in 1876 on the model of PunchPunch (magazine)Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
. - Radio station WHRBWHRBWHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College.-History:...
, noted for its periodic "Orgies" devoted to certain performers, composers, genres, and themes. - The Harvard Interactive Media GroupHarvard Interactive Media GroupThe Harvard College Interactive Media Group is a student club at Harvard dedicated to the promotion of interactive media studies, the academic analysis of video games and other new media...
publishes a quarterly academic review devoted to media studiesMedia studiesMedia studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
and video games. - The Harvard Political ReviewHarvard Political ReviewThe Harvard Political Review is a quarterly, nonpartisan American magazine and website on politics and public policy founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1969 at Harvard University. It is published by the Harvard Institute of Politics, an undergraduate student organization...
, whose founders include Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. - The Harvard Review of Philosophy, which publishes professional philosophy
- The Harvard Science Review, Harvard's oldest undergraduate science publication.
- The Harvard Undergraduate Research Journal, which showcases peer-reviewed undergraduate research.
- The Harvard IndependentThe Harvard IndependentThe Harvard Independent is a weekly newspaper produced by undergraduate students at Harvard University. It is one of many hard-news media outlets on the Harvard undergraduate campus.-Origin and history:...
, an alternative weekly with news, opinion, sports, arts, and features. - * Harvard Undergraduate Television, producer of the comedy news program On Harvard TimeOn Harvard TimeOn Harvard Time is the an award-winning Harvard College student-run Internet comedy news show. Modeled after The Daily Show, it presents, comments, and satirizes Harvard College news in a comedic fashion...
and the soap opera Ivory Tower.
Service
- The Phillips Brooks House AssociationPhillips Brooks House AssociationPhillips Brooks House Association is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community...
is an umbrella community service organization operating in Phillips Brooks House of Harvard YardHarvard YardHarvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
, consists of 78 program committees and over 1,800 student volunteers, and serves close to 10,000 clients in the Cambridge and Boston area. - Harvard for Haiti
- Harvard for Japan
Political
- The Harvard Undergraduate CouncilHarvard Undergraduate CouncilThe Harvard Undergraduate Council, colloquially known as "the UC", is the representative student government of Harvard College. The Council was established in 1982 by a vote of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and student referendum...
, elected by undergraduates, advocates on behalf of students, operates certain student services, and grants funds to other student organizations. - The Harvard Institute of PoliticsHarvard Institute of PoliticsHarvard Institute of Politics was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and inspire Harvard students into careers in politics and public service, much as President Kennedy was inspired during his days as a student at Harvard. The IOP also brings together the academic...
, a non-partisan living memorial to President John F. Kennedy that promotes public service and provides political opportunities to undergraduates. - The Harvard College Democrats, the largest partisan political group on campus.
- The Harvard Republican Club,
- The Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate SocietyHarvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate SocietyThe Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society is Harvard University's premier competitive debate society. As the winner of the most American Parliamentary Debate Association National Championships of any college and the 2009 and 2010 finalists at the World Universities Debating...
fields one of the top intercollegiate debate teams in the world. - Harvard Model CongressHarvard Model CongressHarvard Model Congress is the largest congressional simulation conference in the world, providing high school students from across the U.S. and abroad with an opportunity to experience American government firsthand...
, in which high school students from around the world conduct simulated sessions of the United States Congress - The Harvard International Relations CouncilHarvard International Relations CouncilThe Harvard International Relations Council is a non-profit organization that promotes awareness of International Relations. It is composed as several semi-independent but centrally funded programs, which each promote awareness of international relations in different ways...
promotes international awareness and sponsors a Model United Nations.
Performing arts
Opera companies- Lowell House Opera, the oldest continually performing opera company in New England.
- The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players, founded in 1956, performs comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan and by others.
Choral groups
- The Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium MusicumHarvard-Radcliffe Collegium MusicumThe Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum is a mixed chorus at Harvard University, composed of roughly 60 voices, drawing from both the undergraduate and graduate student populations...
, a select mixed choir formed in 1971. - Harvard Glee ClubHarvard Glee ClubThe Harvard Glee Club is a 60-voice, all-male choral ensemble at Harvard University. Founded in 1858 in the tradition of English and American glee clubs, it is the oldest collegiate chorus in the US. The Glee Club is part of the Holden Choruses of Harvard University, which also include the...
, the oldest college chorus in America, founded in 1858. - Radcliffe Choral SocietyRadcliffe Choral SocietyThe Radcliffe Choral Society is a 60-voice all-female choral ensemble at Harvard University. Founded in 1899, it is one of the country's oldest women's chorus and one of its most prominent collegiate choirs. With the all-male Harvard Glee Club and the mixed-voice Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium...
, founded in 1898, an all-women chorus. - The The Harvard Radcliffe ChorusHarvard-Radcliffe ChorusThe Harvard Radcliffe Chorus is the largest mixed choir at Harvard University and has a diverse membership consisting of faculty members, staff, community members, and both undergraduate and graduate students. HRC was founded in 1979 and continues to perform twice a year as of 2010...
, which consists of faculty, staff, community members, as well as graduate students and undergraduates. - Harvard University ChoirHarvard University ChoirThe Harvard University Choir, more commonly referred to as the University Choir or simply UChoir, is Harvard University's oldest choir. It has provided choral music for the Harvard Memorial Church and its predecessor church for over 170 years, and is currently Harvard's only professional choir...
, formally established in 1834 but in existence since the eighteenth century. - The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College, dedicated to the celebration of black creativity and spirituality through creative expression.
A cappella groups
- Harvard Krokodiloes, an all-male a cappella group, Harvard's oldest
- Harvard Opportunes, Harvard's oldest mixed vocal a cappella group
- Harvard Din & TonicsHarvard Din & TonicsThe Harvard Din & Tonics are a five-part jazz a cappella group from Harvard University, founded in 1979.- History :The group was founded in 1979 as a public service project of the Phillips Brooks House Association at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, performing for the university...
, an all-male a cappella group founded in 1979 - Harvard LowKeys, mixed vocal, both male and female
- Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, mixed vocal, both male and female
- Harvard Callbacks, mixed vocal, both male and female
- Radcliffe PitchesRadcliffe PitchesThe Radcliffe Pitches are a female a cappella singing ensemble at Harvard University, founded in 1975 at the Hasty Pudding Club. The group is made up of 12 to 16 Harvard undergraduates who perform at Harvard and internationally on the group's various tours. During their tours, the group has...
, all-female a cappella group founded in 1975 - Harvard's Under Construction, a mixed vocal Christian music a capella group founded in the early 1980s
- Harvard Fallen Angels, an all-female a cappella group founded in 2000
- Cliffe Notes- the contemporary a cappella subset of the Radcliffe Choral Society (Harvard's premier women's chorus est. 1899)
Orchestras and bands
- Harvard Radcliffe OrchestraHarvard Radcliffe OrchestraThe Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra is a collegiate symphony orchestra comprising Harvard students and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in March 1808 as the Pierian Sodality, the orchestra is considered by some to be the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States...
, founded in 1808. - Harvard Bach Society OrchestraBach Society Orchestra of Harvard UniversityThe Bach Society Orchestra, known as BachSoc, is Harvard's premier chamber orchestra. The orchestra is staffed, managed, and conducted entirely by students. Each year, the members of the orchestra select the next year's conductor, always an undergraduate...
, founded in 1898 as "The Musical Club of Harvard University," is Harvard's chamber orchestra. - Harvard University BandHarvard University BandThe Harvard University Band is the official student marching band of Harvard University. The Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Harvard Summer Pops Band, and the Harvard Jazz Bands also fall under the umbrella organization of HUB....
, founded in 1919, plays university sporting events and in other community venues. - Harvard Pops Orchestra, known for their fun performances and innovative repertoire
- Harvard Mozart Society Orchestra, founded in 1984, performs often with Robert LevinRobert D. LevinRobert D. Levin is a classical performer, musicologist, and composer, and is the Artistic Director of the Sarasota Music Festival.-Education:...
Theater and dance
- The Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club is an organization that connects smaller campus theater groups and supports all campus productions. The HRDC directly oversees productions within the Loeb Theater, which it shares with the nationally acclaimed American Repertory Theater. The HRDC also organizes seminars and workshops to connect students with professionals in the field.
- Hasty Pudding TheatricalsHasty Pudding TheatricalsThe Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals and for its status as the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the United States...
, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals. They present original student-written and -composed musicals with near-professional production values. Formed in 1795 as a fraternity, the Pudding has performed a production every year since 1891, except during World Wars I and II. Each production is entirely student-written. Although the cast remains all-male (with female parts performed by actors in drag), women participate in the productions as members of the business staff, orchestra, and tech crew. - The Immediate Gratification PlayersThe Immediate Gratification PlayersThe Immediate Gratification Players are a collegiate improvisational comedy troupe based out of Harvard College. They specialize in long form, free-form improvisation.-History:...
(IGP), On Thin IceOn thin iceOn Thin Ice, is a Harvard College Improvisational comedy group. Founded in 1984 by Brigit Fasolino Vucic, On Thin Ice is Harvard's oldest improv troupe....
(OTI), and Three Letter Acronym (TLA) are Harvard's three undergraduate improvisational comedy groups. The Immediate Gratification Players and On Thin Ice are among the oldest and most prestigious collegiate improv groups in the nation. Unlike many college troupes, all three groups' constitutions require they present all campus shows free of charge. Formed last year, Three Letter Acronym utilizes the "HaroldHarold (improvisation)Harold is a form of longform improv. Developed by Del Close and brought to fruition through Close's collaboration with Charna Halpern, the Harold has become the signature form of Chicago's I.O. and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and Los Angeles...
" long-form format. - Harvard blackC.A.S.T. (Community and Student Theater) is Harvard's theater group dedicated to black theatrical production and fostering a black theater community on campus. Past productions include Amen Corner, Before it Hits Home, and The Colored Museum.
- The Harvard-Radcliffe Dance Company
- The Harvard Ballet Company
- The Harvard Ballroom Team, one of the largest national collegiate ballroom teams
- The Harvard Ballet Folklórico de Aztlán
- Harvard Deepam performs Bharatanatyam
- The Harvard Intertribal Indian Dance Troupe performs Native American powwow dances.
- The Harvard Pan-African Dance and Music Ensemble is dedicated to raising awareness of the depth and diversity of African expressive culture through the performance of dance and music from all over the continent.
- The Harvard Crimson Dance Team
Other
- THUD (The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers), founded in 1999, known for their creative percussion performance with plastic SOLO cups, brooms, and traditional instruments
- The Noteables, a non-audition group that performs revue-style musical theater
Academic organizations
- Dynamo
- Harvard College Engineering Society
- Harvard College Stem Cell Society A student group dedicated to raising awareness about the ethics, politics, and science of stem cell research.
- Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe
Pre-professional organizations
- Harvard Student AgenciesHarvard Student AgenciesHarvard Student Agencies Inc. is a $6 million non-profit company, it consists of nine different agencies that are each headed by a student manager...
, a $6 million non-profit company -- students gain practical business experience while running divisions as varied as linen service, advertisement distribution, and computer programming. - Harvard College Consulting Group provides businesses with trained student analysts with term-time consulting projects.
- Veritas Financial Group helps prepare students for careers in finance
- Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business
- Harvard Financial Analysts Club uses management of its own investment funds as a teaching vehicle.
- Harvard Investment Associatio' educates on investing and financial markets and provides opportunities for investing experience.
- The Harvard College Business Club uses online social networks to connect undergraduates with business leaders and potential employers.
- The Leadership Institute at Harvard CollegeLeadership Institute at Harvard CollegeThe Leadership Institute at Harvard College is the largest student-run leadership training and development organization at Harvard College, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 2005, the Leadership Institute hosts high-profile speakers, organizes skill development workshops and forums,...
provides leadership training - Harvard College Engineering Society participates in competitions and promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Unrecognized student groups
- Final Clubs: A.D., Delphic, FlyFly ClubThe Fly Club is a male-only final club at Harvard University, founded in 1836.Both the Fly and A.D. Club, another Harvard final club, trace their beginnings to the Harvard chapters of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. The A.D. surrendered its chapter credentials in 1865 and broke off from the national...
, FoxFox Club (Harvard)The Fox Club is a Final Club at Harvard University. The Club was founded in 1898 as the Digamma Club, by a group of six undergraduates. The name "Fox" and the club’s symbol, a rampant fox carrying the letter "F" grew from the similarity between the Greek character for Digamma, HJH, and the letter...
, OwlOwl Club (Harvard)The Owl Club is a men's only final club at Harvard College, founded in 1896. Its clubhouse is located at 30 Holyoke Street in Cambridge, in close proximity to Lowell House.-The Owl Club:...
, Phoenix-SKThe Phoenix - S K ClubThe Phoenix – S K Club is one of eight male Final Clubs at Harvard College, which traces its earliest roots to 1895. It consists of an undergraduate body of male upperclassmen at Harvard College who are not members of any other Final Club and alumni members...
, PorcellianPorcellian ClubThe Porcellian Club is a men's-only final club at Harvard University, sometimes called the Porc or the P.C. The year of founding is usually given as 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts," or as 1794, the year of the roast pig dinner at which the club, known first as "the...
, Spee - Fraternities: Alpha Epsilon PiAlpha Epsilon PiAlpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
, Phi Iota AlphaPhi Iota AlphaPhi Iota Alpha , established December 26, 1931, is the oldest Latino fraternity still in existence, and works to motivate people, develop leaders, and create innovative ways to unite the Latino community. The organization has roots that stem back to the late 19th century to the first Latino...
, Sigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha EpsilonSigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
, Sigma ChiSigma ChiSigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon... - Female social clubs: Bee, Isis, The Seneca, La Vie, Pleiades, Sabliere Society
- Sororities: Delta GammaDelta GammaDelta Gamma is one of the oldest and largest women's fraternities in the United States and Canada, with its Executive Offices based in Columbus, Ohio.-History:...
, Kappa Alpha ThetaKappa Alpha ThetaKappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...
, Kappa Kappa GammaKappa Kappa GammaKappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...
, Alpha Pi OmegaAlpha Pi OmegaAlpha Pi Omega Sorority, Inc. is the oldest historically American Indian sorority. It is also the largest Native American Greek letter organization, with 13 chapters in five states, one provisional chapter and interest groups in three additional states.... - Other social groups: Alpha Club, Hasty PuddingHasty Pudding ClubThe Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting...
, Oak Club, Rose Club, SignetSignet societyThe Signet Society of Harvard University was founded in 1870 by members of the class of 1871. The first president was Charles Joseph Bonaparte. It was, at first, dedicated to the production of literary work only, going so far as to exclude debate and even theatrical productions. According to The...
Religious life
Chabad HouseThe Chabad House
Chabad house
A Chabad house is a centre for disseminating Orthodox Judaism by the Chabad movement. Chabad Houses are run by the local Shaliach , who was sent to that place by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who founded all Chabad Houses...
at Harvard is a community center for Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
students operated by the Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
movement. Presently headed by Rabbi and Mrs. Hirsch and Rabbi and Mrs. Zarchi, it was founded in 1997. According to Professor Ruth Wisse
Ruth Wisse
Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.She is the sister of David Roskies, professor of Yiddish and Jewish literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary.-Career:...
, its success is due to the personality and energy of Rabbi Zarchi. The rabbis live at the Chabad House with their young children, which contributes to a warm family atmosphere at their Friday evening Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
dinners for students. In April 2010 it placed a bid of $6 million to purchase the building of the former DU Club located at 45 Dunster Street from the Fly Club
Fly Club
The Fly Club is a male-only final club at Harvard University, founded in 1836.Both the Fly and A.D. Club, another Harvard final club, trace their beginnings to the Harvard chapters of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. The A.D. surrendered its chapter credentials in 1865 and broke off from the national...
. The bid was reportedly more than twice the tax-assessed value of the building and land.
Notable alumni
For more information see List of Harvard University peopleArchitecture
- Buckminster FullerBuckminster FullerRichard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
(expelled) - Philip JohnsonPhilip JohnsonPhilip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
Art
- Waldo PeirceWaldo PeirceWaldo Peirce was an American painter, born in Bangor, Maine.Peirce was both a prominent painter and a well-known character. He was sometimes called "the American Renoir"...
Astronomy
- Andrew FraknoiAndrew FraknoiAndrew Fraknoi, M.A., is an astronomy professor at Foothill College and the 2007 California Professor of the Year awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Fraknoi also won the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's...
Athletics
- Ryan FitzpatrickRyan FitzpatrickRyan Joseph Fitzpatrick is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Harvard....
- Eddie Grant
- Bobby JonesBobby Jones (golfer)Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...
- Christopher NowinskiChristopher NowinskiChristopher John Nowinski is an author and a former professional wrestler with World Wrestling Entertainment. Nowinski is renowned for being WWE's first Harvard alumnus, as he graduated with an A.B. in sociology. He is also recognized as the youngest Hardcore Champion in WWE history...
Business
- Steve BallmerSteve BallmerSteven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
- Lloyd BlankfeinLloyd BlankfeinLloyd Craig Blankfein is an American business executive. He is currently the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs. He has been in this position since the May 31, 2006 nomination of former CEO Henry Paulson as Secretary of the Treasury under George W...
- Jim Cramer
- Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
(did not graduate) - James Halperin (did not graduate)
- Trip HawkinsTrip HawkinsWilliam M. 'Trip' Hawkins III is a Silicon Valley American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate....
- William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
(expelled) - Scott MeadScott MeadScott Mead is a photographer, financier and philanthropist. He is co-founder of Richmond Park Partners, a private merchant bank in London. He was formerly a partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs ....
- Sumner RedstoneSumner RedstoneSumner Murray Redstone is an American media magnate. He is the majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain...
- Mark ZuckerbergMark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
(did not graduate)
Economics
- Ben BernankeBen BernankeBen Shalom Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis....
- Martin FeldsteinMartin FeldsteinMartin Stuart "Marty" Feldstein is an economist. He is currently the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and the president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research . He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the NBER from 1978 through 2008...
- Steven LevittSteven LevittSteven David "Steve" Levitt is an American economist known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. Winner of the 2004 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the William B...
- Merton MillerMerton MillerMerton Howard Miller was the co-author of the Modigliani-Miller theorem which proposed the irrelevance of debt-equity structure. He shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1990, along with Harry Markowitz and William Sharpe...
- Robert M. Solow
- James TobinJames TobinJames Tobin was an American economist who, in his lifetime, served on the Council of Economic Advisors and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics, and advocated government intervention to...
Education
- Edwin H Baker PrattEdwin H Baker PrattEdwin Howard Baker Pratt , was an American educator and headmaster of Buckingham Browne & Nichols.-Early life:...
Journalism
- Nicholas D. KristofNicholas D. KristofNicholas Donabet Kristof is an American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001 and is known for bringing to light human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such as human trafficking and the...
- Anthony LewisAnthony LewisAnthony Lewis is a prominent liberal intellectual, writing for The New York Times op-ed page and The New York Review of Books, among other publications. He was previously a columnist for the Times . Before that he was London bureau chief , Washington, D.C...
- Walter LippmannWalter LippmannWalter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...
Law
- Harry BlackmunHarry BlackmunHarold Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade.- Early years and professional career :...
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932...
- John RobertsJohn RobertsJohn Glover Roberts, Jr. is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He has served since 2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist...
- David SouterDavid SouterDavid Hackett Souter is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J...
Literature
- James AgeeJames AgeeJames Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
- William S. BurroughsWilliam S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
- Michael CrichtonMichael CrichtonJohn Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
- E. E. CummingsE. E. CummingsEdward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...
- John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
- W. E. B. Du Bois
- T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
- Norman MailerNorman MailerNorman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
- Edmund PearsonEdmund PearsonEdmund Lester Pearson was an American librarian and author. He was a writer of the "true crime" literary genre. He is best-known for his account of the notorious Lizzie Borden murder case.-Biography:...
- Erich SegalErich SegalErich Wolf Segal was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best-known for writing the novel Love Story , a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit....
- Wallace StevensWallace StevensWallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
- John UpdikeJohn UpdikeJohn Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
Mathematics
- Theodore KaczynskiTheodore KaczynskiTheodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...
- Tom LehrerTom LehrerThomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
Performance arts - music, theater and film
- Darren AronofskyDarren AronofskyDarren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
- Paris BarclayParis BarclayParis K.C. Barclay is an American television director and producer. He has directed over 100 episodes of television to date, for series including NYPD Blue, ER, The West Wing, CSI, Lost, The Shield, House M.D., Law & Order, Monk, Numb3rs, City of Angels, Cold Case, and more recently The Mentalist,...
- Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
- Andy BorowitzAndy BorowitzAndy Borowitz is a comedian and New York Times bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is best known for creating the satirical website , which has an audience in the millions...
- Amy BrennemanAmy BrennemanAmy Frederica Brenneman is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series NYPD Blue, Judging Amy and Private Practice...
- Carter BurwellCarter BurwellCarter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
- Nestor CarbonellNestor CarbonellNestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
- Rivers CuomoRivers CuomoRivers Cuomo is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer. Raised in an Ashram in Connecticut, Cuomo moved to Los Angeles at age 19, where he participated in a number of rock bands before founding Weezer in 1992...
- Matt DamonMatt DamonMatthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
(did not graduate) - Fred GwynneFred GwynneFrederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
- Hao HuangHao HuangHao Huang is a concert pianist and professor of music at Scripps College as well as being a polymath published scholar in general music, popular music, ethnomusicology, anthropology, American Studies and Humanities...
- Rashida JonesRashida JonesRashida Leah Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter and occasional singer. She played Louisa Fenn on Boston Public and Karen Filippelli on The Office as well as roles in the films I Love You, Man and The Social Network...
- Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
- Jack LemmonJack LemmonJohn Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
- Ryan LeslieRyan LeslieAnthony Ryan Leslie, known professionally as Ryan Leslie, is a Grammy nominated American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, entrepreneur, and singer. Founder of the media company NextSelection Lifestyle Group, Leslie has produced singles for a number of artists in a variety of genres...
- John LithgowJohn LithgowJohn Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
- Donal LogueDonal LogueDonal Francis Logue is an Canadian actor perhaps most famous for his role as Sean Finnerty in Grounded for Life.-Personal life:...
- Yo-Yo MaYo-Yo MaYo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
- Tom MorelloTom MorelloThomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
- Conan O'BrienConan O'BrienConan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
- Natalie PortmanNatalie PortmanNatalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
- Joshua RedmanJoshua RedmanJoshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who records for Nonesuch Records. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991.-Biography:...
- Elisabeth ShueElisabeth ShueElisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
- Mira SorvinoMira SorvinoMira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
- Michael SternMichael Stern (conductor)Michael Stern is a noted American symphony conductor. Currently, he serves as the music director and lead conductor of the Kansas City Symphony in Kansas City, Missouri. He is also the founding music director of the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee.- Early life and education :Stern is the...
Philosophy
- Donald DavidsonDonald Davidson (philosopher)Donald Herbert Davidson was an American philosopher born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University, Rockefeller University, Princeton...
- Daniel DennettDaniel DennettDaniel Clement Dennett is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Co-director of...
- Ralph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo EmersonRalph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
- Charles Sanders Peirce
- W.V.O. Quine
- George SantayanaGeorge SantayanaGeorge Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...
- Henry David ThoreauHenry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
Physics
- Philip Warren AndersonPhilip Warren AndersonPhilip Warren Anderson is an American physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson has made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism and high-temperature superconductivity.- Biography :...
- Theodore HallTheodore HallTheodore Alvin Hall was an American physicist and an atomic spy for the Soviet Union, who, during his work on US efforts to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II , gave a detailed description of the "Fat Man" plutonium bomb, and of processes for purifying plutonium, to Soviet...
- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Politics
- John AdamsJohn AdamsJohn Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
- John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
- Samuel AdamsSamuel AdamsSamuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American...
- Benazir BhuttoBenazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
- Sir George DowningSir George Downing, 1st BaronetSir George Downing, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish soldier, statesman, and diplomat. Downing Street in London is named after him. As Treasury Secretary he is credited with instituting major reforms in public finance. His influence was substantial on the passage and substance of the mercantilist...
- Al FrankenAl FrankenAlan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
- Elbridge GerryElbridge GerryElbridge Thomas Gerry was an American statesman and diplomat. As a Democratic-Republican he was selected as the fifth Vice President of the United States , serving under James Madison, until his death a year and a half into his term...
- Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
- John HancockJohn HancockJohn Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...
- Edward M. Kennedy
- John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
- Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
- Henry KissingerHenry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
- Deval PatrickDeval PatrickDeval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...
- Tom RidgeTom RidgeThomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...
- Franklin Roosevelt
- Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
- Jay RockefellerJay RockefellerJohn Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia. He was first elected to the Senate in 1984, while in office as Governor of West Virginia, a position he held from 1977 to 1985...
- Chuck Schumer
- Meshech WeareMeshech WeareMeshech Weare was an American farmer, lawyer and revolutionary statesman from Seabrook, New Hampshire. He served as the first President of New Hampshire from 1776 to 1785.-Family life:...
- John WestonJohn WestonSir John Weston KCMG is a retired British diplomat. He was the UK Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council from 1992 to 1995, and the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1995 to 1998.-Early life:Weston was educated at Sherborne School and Worcester College,...
Religion
- Joseph Stevens BuckminsterJoseph Stevens BuckminsterJoseph Stevens Buckminster was an influential Unitarian preacher in Boston, Massachusetts and a leader in bringing the German higher criticism of the Bible to America....
- Aga Khan IVAga Khan IVPrince Karim, Aga Khan IV, NPk, NI, KBE, CC, GCC, GCIH, GCM is the 49th and current Imam of the Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili Muslims. He has held this position under the title of Aga Khan since July 11, 1957, when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan...
- Cotton MatherCotton MatherCotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
- Increase MatherIncrease MatherIncrease Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...
- Theodore ParkerTheodore ParkerTheodore Parker was an American Transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church...
Fictional alumni
- A. J. (The Fairly OddParents) (one episode)
- Oliver Barrett IVLove Story (1970 film)Love Story is a 1970 romantic drama film written by Erich Segal and based on his novel Love Story. It was directed by Arthur Hiller. The film, well known as a tragedy, is considered one of the most romantic of all time by the American Film Institute , and was followed by a sequel, Oliver's Story...
- Patrick BatemanPatrick BatemanPatrick Bateman is a fictional character, the antihero and narrator of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, and its film adaptation. He has also briefly appeared in other Ellis novels.-Biography and profile:...
- Quentin CompsonQuentin CompsonQuentin Compson is a fictional character created by William Faulkner. He is an intelligent, neurotic, and introspective son of the Compson Family. He is featured in the classic novels The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! as well as the short stories, That Evening Sun and "A Justice"...
(did not graduate) - Frasier Crane (Frasier)
- Denzel Crocker of The Fairly OddparentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
{one episode} - Ari Gold (Entourage)Ari Gold (Entourage)Ariel "Ari" Gold is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He was played by Jeremy Piven.-Biography:Ari Gold is Vincent Chase's neurotic movie agent. He is a product of the public school system. He was an undergrad at Harvard University before earning his J.D./M.B.A....
- Thurston Howell III
- Montgomery (Monty) Kessler (With Honors (film))
- Method ManMethod ManClifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...
(movie: How HighHow HighHow High is a 2001 stoner comedy starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list...
) - Reverend Samuel ParrisSamuel ParrisSamuel Parris was the Puritan minister in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials; he was also the father of one of the afflicted girls, and the uncle of another.-Life:...
as a character in The CrucibleThe CrucibleThe Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists... - Herb PowellHerb PowellHerbert Powell may refer to:*Herbert Powell , a fictional character on The Simpsons*Herbert B. Powell, U.S. Army 4-star general*Bert Powell , full name Herbert Harold Powell, English footballer...
- Redman (movie: How HighHow HighHow High is a 2001 stoner comedy starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list...
) - James "Toofer" Spurlock
- Charles Emerson Winchester III
General references
- Gookin, DanielDaniel GookinMajor-General Daniel Gookin was a settler of Virginia and Massachusetts, and a writer on the subject of American Indians.-Early life:...
, Historical Collections, 53: Railton, "Vineyard's First Harvard Men," 91-112. - King, MosesMoses KingMoses King , editor and publisher, published numerous guidebooks to travel destinations in the United States, including Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, and Springfield, Massachusetts.- Brief biography :...
, Harvard and its surroundings, Cambridge, Massachusetts : Moses King, 1884 - Monaghan, E. J. (2005). Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America University of Massachusetts Press. Boston: MA
- Sibley'sJohn Langdon SibleyJohn Langdon Sibley was a longtime librarian of Harvard University.Sibley received his undergraduate education from Harvard and then studied at Harvard Divinity School. From 1829-1833 he was a pastor in Stow, Massachusetts. He then went to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he worked as a magazine...
Harvard Graduates