Members of the faculty approved changes in course offerings in the art and archaeology, economics, operations research and financial engineering, and Spanish and Portuguese departments at the monthly faculty meeting. They also accepted a proposal for a new certificate program in global health and health policy.
The Committee on the Course of Study, represented by Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel, motioned to add the following courses to the University’s offerings: ART 425: The Japanese Print, ORF 407: Fundamentals of Queueing Theory, SPA 309: Translation: Cultures in Context, SPA 380: Translation Workshop: Spanish to English and SPA 381: Topics in the Theory of Translation. ECO 361: Financial Accounting was slated to be dropped. After taking a few moments to review the proposal, those present approved the motion unanimously.
The motion to approve the new global health certificate program was presented on the behalf of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Policy by Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin.
The new program “will enable students to engage in interdisciplinary study of the determinants, consequences and patterns of disease across societies; the role of medical technologies and interventions in health improvements and the economic, political, cultural and social factors that shape domestic and global public policy,” according to materials submitted to the faculty during the meeting.
Required coursework for the certificate includes epidemiology and statistics components in addition to an experimental research project which, for most certificate candidates, will be completed between their junior and senior years.
President Tilghman offered her personal support for the new program after it was approved by the faculty.
“I think this is a very exciting undergraduate certificate program. I’m delighted to see it, and I know it will be very popular with our students,” she said.
Grafton receives Newberry Library Award
The Newberry Library will honor history professor Anthony Grafton with the Newberry Library Award at its spring benefit on May 8. The Newberry Library, located in Chicago, is one of the nation’s leading research and reference institutions for the humanities and social sciences. The library will recognize Grafton with its highest honor for his preeminence in his field.
“Our understanding of the humanities themselves has advanced substantially as a result of his impressive historical scholarship,” library president David Spadafora said in a statement.
Professor Grafton specializes in the history of Renaissance Europe, including its history of books, scholarship, science, historiography and education. He is the author of 10 books and has collaborated on nine others, in addition to publishing two collections of essays.
Grafton earned both his bachelor’s degree and his doctorate at the University of Chicago and later studied at University College London, where he held a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship. He joined the Princeton history department in 1975 and is currently the Henry Putnam university professor of history as well as the chair of the Council of the Humanities and a fellow of the British Academy. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Balzan Prize for History of Humanities and the Mellon Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award. Grafton is currently studying the science of chronology in 16th- and 17th-century Europe.
“In thinking about Professor Grafton’s scholarly interests, it occurred to me that, if the Newberry Library had existed 400 years ago, he would probably be studying us,” said Carla Zecher, director of the Center for Renaissance Studies at Newberry.
Harvard pushes for new courses during “J-Term”
The Harvard Undergraduate Council (UC) has proposed the creation of new courses to be offered during Harvard’s optional term between the fall and spring semesters.
If the UC has its way, the so-called “J-Term,” which will be implemented during the 2009-10 academic year as a means to encourage student interests both within and outside the university, could offer classes ranging from conventional English and Japanese classes to less typical instruction in metalsmithing and PowerPoint.
Chair of the General Education Committee and Jewish studies professor Jay Harris offered his support for the initiative and worked on it with the UC during its last meeting. He stressed the importance of student input in deciding what courses the university will offer.
“University administrators can think all they want about J-Terms, but if it isn’t what students want, and if it isn’t what students need, it’s all a waste of time,” he said.
He also explained that courses should be entirely optional and that they should vary in difficulty “from demanding to less demanding.”
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