Lowell House News Volume 32, Issue 7 Monday 27 October, 2008 Monday, October 27 SEVENTH MONDAY * Last day to withdraw from a Fall course * Last day upon which a March degree 2009 candidate may submit completed and signed petition for secondary field (to Registrar) * Italian Language Table, 6:00-7:00pm, Dining Hall Tuesday, October 28 * Pre-Law Dinner & Advising, 6:15-7:00 pm, Dining Hall Wednesday, October 29 * Pumpkin carving contest, after dinner, Dining Hall * UHS counselor drop-in hours, 5:00-7:00pm, N-14 * Chinese Table, 5:30-6:30pm, Dining Hall * Pre-Finance Table: Hedging, Derivatives, and the Rise and Fall of Mortgage-Backed Securities with Kartik Venkatram, 6:00-7:00 pm, Small Dining Room * Lowell Chemistry Tables, 8:00-10:00 pm, Dining Hall * Physics table, 9:00-10:00 pm, Dining Hall Thursday, October 30 * First Lowell Roundtable - A Conversation with Professor Mary C. Waters, 6:00-7:30 pm, Small Dining Room * FrankenSTEIN, 10:00pm-12:00am, Grille Friday, October 31 * Deadline to Submit Application Materials to Pre-Law Committee * Opera Scenes concert (free), 8:00pm, JCR Saturday, November 1 * Opera Scenes concert (free), 8:00pm, JCR Sunday, November 2 * Pre-Law Dinner with Chuck Schilke: Washington Legal Careers, 6:00-7:30pm, Small Dining Room Monday, November 3 * Italian Language Table, 6:00-7:00pm, Dining Hall Wednesday, November 5 * UHS counselor drop-in hours, 5:00-7:00pm, N-14 * Chinese Table, 5:30-6:30pm, Dining Hall * Lowell Chemistry Tables, 8:00-10:00pm, Dining Hall * Physics table, 9:00-10:00pm, Dining Hall Thursday, November 6 ***TRIVIA NIGHT*** SCR v. JCR, taking place in the JCR at 8:15pm Sunday, November 9 * Lewin Musicale, 10:00 pm, Library *********************************************************** FROM THE RESIDENT DEAN * Ryan Spoering, Allston Burr Resident Dean Room A-22, 5-2283 (lo-abrd@fas.harvard.edu) As your Resident Dean, I am here to help you with all kinds of academic matters, and to connect you to Harvard's many resources. Please come to me with questions and concerns of any kind--in addition to my advising and administrative roles, I also help Lowell House students manage personal struggles, illness, and anything else you may encounter on your way to your degree. - DELAYED UPDATES? If you have filed add/drop forms with the House Office but the changes have not yet appeared on your record, don't panic--this is a busy time at the Registrar's Office and it may take a little while. Let me know if the changes take more than a week or two and I can help you correct any errors that may have occurred. - BUREAU PEER TUTORING. Feeling a little daunted by a class? Consider hiring a peer tutor through the Bureau of Study Counsel. Tutors are paid with a subsidy and the cost is very reasonable. Interested in tutoring other students in a class that you loved? Sign up as a tutor! For more information, see the Bureau website: http://bsc.harvard.edu/tutor.html - OFFICE HOURS THIS WEEK. I will have walk-in office hours this week MWF 10-noon. For other times, please contact me or Kit in the House Office (5-2283, lowell@fas) to set up an appointment with me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ASK BETH, the HOUSE ADMINISTRATOR * Beth Terry, A-22, 5-2283 (lo-admin@fas.harvard.edu) Dear Beth, How come we can't have fires in our fireplaces? (I know my resident tutor does.) Signed, Pyro in P Dear Pyro, Long ago in a galaxy far, far away...there lived happy bands of students in Cambridge who warmed their suites by burning sweet-smelling pine as they leafed through Proust and smoked pipes. Yet over time, with help from the Me generation and a few ambulance chasing 'droids, a powerful new litigious American Empire grew. Associations of trial attorneys sent out fleets of tort fighters to prove negligence through proximate cause. Insurance carriers blockaded all ports of sentient entry. Risk and liability assessments hurtled through space sending Libertarians into terminal paranoia. There were, however, pockets of independence. As late as 2002, in the quaint enclave of Harvard Houses, students still made fires in their rooms--albeit often out of pizza boxes and tape, thus summoning Cambridge's finest who became suitably ill-disposed to such events. (NB- Counteracting such idiocy was a Canadian-led effort to instruct residents how to build a successful fire but alas, it was poorly attended as it did not include Cheez Doodles for snack) Events in the Empire took a disturbing turn in 2003 as the Office of General Counsel, clad in their cloaks of crimson jurisprudence, could no longer ignore the Deathstar of Premises Liability. Even the collected deans of Harvard College would not be able to defend the environmental entitlement of a warm hearth in every Harvard suite. Fires were finally banned. Except in tutor suites. Yes, these Jedi fighters of Harvard's higher education traditionally live a spartan and joyless life: hosting study breaks, fighting demoralization in the community while pursuing the track of highest knowledge. Theirs is a lonely highway where, in rare moments of rest and reflection, they may still strike their light saber against the bad copy of their QP and ignite the reassuring coals in their fireplace. You, too, can become one of them if you learn the ways of The Force and graduate without being drawn to the dark side of illegal conflagration. May Your Course Be With You. ~Beth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HoCo SAYS… Hey Lowell! Here's what going on in the next few weeks! Come and enjoy the LOWELL LOVE! * Wed 10/29 Pumpkin Carving Contest and make your own Halloween Treats! Time TBA; Dining Hall * Thurs 10/30 FrankenSTEIN! Need we say more? Time TBA; Lowell Grille Also, keep an eye out for emails from Jackie and Jose, who are hosting... * Coffee House: Nov 12th, email Jackie at jchairst@fas.harvard.edu to sign up! Lowell Love, Your HoCo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM THE FELLOWSHIPS TUTORS * Josh Goldman (jdgoldm@fas.harvard.edu) * Courtney Peterson (cmpeters@fas.harvard.edu) * Susanna Mierau (susanna_mierau@post.harvard.edu) NEW LOWELL HOUSE FELLOWSHIPS WEBSITE We've redesigned the Fellowships section of the Lowell House website, featuring an all-new list of common fellowships designed to make it easy to find fellowships that will fund whatever it is that you're hoping to do. Check it out at http://lowell.harvard.edu/fellowships LOWELL FELLOWSHIPS MAILING LIST Want to know what fellowships are out there? Want to know about them before the deadlines appear in the newsletter? Want more information on the fellowships listed below? Subscribe to the fellowships mailing list to get notices about once every week or two of upcoming deadlines and things to think about (relevant for sophomores, juniors, and seniors). To subscribe, go to http://lists.hcs.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/lowell-fellowships . OFFICE HOURS We hold office hours on Sunday evenings in the dining hall, during which we'd be happy to discuss your plans and look over your application essays. To visit us during office hours, you need to sign up at least one day in advance on the sign-up sheet next to the fellowships bulletin board, right next to the entrance to the JCR. If you have specific questions, please email us at any time. UPCOMING INFOSESSIONS - 28 Oct, 7 PM, Leverett JCR: Harvard-Cambridge Scholarships meeting with selection committee - 04 Nov, 6 PM, CGIS South, S354: Sakharov Human Rights Internships - Weissman International Internship Program (for underclassmen) * 03 November, 6:30-8:00 PM, Maxwell-Dworkin 119 * 04 November, 7:00-8:30 PM, PBHA Parlor Room - 06 Nov, 3 PM: Fellowship Budget Preparation Workshop * * * UPCOMING FELLOWSHIPS * * * FOR GRADUATE STUDY ABROAD: - 03 November: Ecole Normale Superieure Fellowship, Tower Fellowship, Williams-Lodge Scholarship to the Sorbonne. Funds one year of study in France. ENS and Williams-Lodge fellowships fund study at ENS and the Sorbonne, respectively; the Tower Fellowship is for any university in France. You can get the common application by emailing cgs@fas. - 13 November: Paul Williams Scholarship to Emmanuel College. Funds one year at Cambridge University in international government and public affairs (very broadly construed). - 17 November: Eben Fiske Studentship at Trinity College Cambridge. Funds multi-year advanced degrees. - 02 December: Harvard-Cambridge Scholarships. Funds one year at Cambridge University. - 05 December: Mackenzie King Harvard Scholarship. Partial support for study in Canada. - 08 December: Knox/Henry/von Clemm Scholarships (common application). Funds one year of study at various universities in the U.K. - 08 December: Harvard-China Scholarship. Funds a year of study or research in China. - 16 December: Herchel Smith Harvard Scholarship. Funds one year at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University in experimental natural sciences, computer science, or mathematics. FOR PURPOSEFUL TRAVEL (seniors only): - 06 December: Gardner, Shaw, Sheldon, Trustman traveling fellowships. Funds a year-long project of your choice in a foreign country. This is a Lowell House deadline, and you must have Lowell House nomination in order to apply. Application at http://lowell.harvard.edu/fellowships/nomination.php FOR GRADUATE STUDY AND/OR OTHER POSTGRADUATE ACTIVITIES: - 31 October: Hertz Fellowship. Funds 5 years of graduate study in the applied physical sciences. - 01 November: Soros Fellowship. Stipend + tuition grant for graduate study of any kind (including law & medicine). Must be a naturalized citizen, have a green card, or be the children of naturalized citizens. - 03-12 November (depending on field): NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Funds 3 years of graduate study in any field of science or engineering, including economics, psychology, and history of science. - 05 November: Carnegie Fellowship. Provides a one-year fellowship at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace. - 14 November: Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships. Funds 3-5 years of study toward a Ph.D. or Sc.D., particularly for members of underrepresented minorities. - 15 November: GEM Awards. Funds graduate study in engineering for black, FOR UNDERCLASSMEN: - 28 October: Goldwater Scholarship. Prize for outstanding sophomores or juniors in science/math/engineering. Also comes with funding toward your remaining undergraduate years. - 09 November: Truman Scholarship. Money for senior year of college and graduate school (and prestige). Open to juniors who plan to go into government or public service (broadly construed). - 04 December: Thouron Prize. Funds a summer of study at Cambridge University. - 11 December: Beinecke Scholarship. $2,000 for senior year and $30,000 for graduate study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. FOR MORE INFORMATION: See the Lowell House fellowships website. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM THE PRE-LAW COMMITTEE Website: http://lowell.harvard.edu/advising/pre-lawPre-Law Committee (LoHoLaw@fas.harvard.edu) * Jean Han (jeanhan@fas.harvard.edu) * Sandy Alexander (sandy_alexander@post.harvard.edu) * Karl Procaccini (karlprocaccini@gmail.com) I. Important Dates for Applicants * October 31, 2008 (Fri): Deadline to Submit Application Materials to Pre-Law Committee ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS AND ALUMNI/AE APPLYING TO LAW SCHOOL THIS YEAR (Academic Year 2008-09): If you wish the Pre-Law Committee to submit a Dean's Certification Letter for your applications, you must submit your application materials to the Committee by this date. Materials include: Dean's certification letter request/release form; questionnaire; resume; transcript and GPA; final personal statement; letters of recommendation; and list of schools. See the checklist on our website for details. *November 4, 2008 (Tue): Regular Registration Deadline for the December LSAT If you are planning to take the December LSAT, register by this date. Late registration is available for an additional fee. See www.lsac.org for further details. II. Lowell House Pre-Law Events * October 28, 2008 (Tue): Pre-law Dinner & Advising with Andrew Klaber. Join the Pre-Law Tutors for dinner! Non-resident Pre-Law Tutor Andrew Klaber can answer questions about starting a non-profit (www.orphansagainstaids.org); leveraging your legal education to work at a hedge fund, investment bank, or consulting firm; or applying for UK fellowships before/in lieu of law school. Hope to see you there. Dining Hall, 6:15 -7:00pm. * November 2, 2008 (Sun): Pre-Law Dinner with Chuck Schilke: Washington Legal Careers Grab some dinner and join us for a discussion with Lowell House Pre-Law Committee affiliate Chuck Schilke. He will discuss and answer questions about private firm, corporation, nonprofit, government agency, and academic careers, as well as options for those not going to law school immediately. Come ask questions about the practice of law, and brainstorm with us about summer legal internships. Small Dining Room, 6:00-7:30pm III. Other Pre-Law Events *November 7, 2008 (Fri): Law School Visit: USC. Small group one-hour information session. OCS Conference Room, 12:00-1:00pm. FOR MORE INFORMATION: See the Lowell House Pre-Law website. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM YOUR PRE-GRADUATE SCHOOL ADVISING COMMITTEE * Van Tran (vantran@fas.harvard.edu) If you are interested in applying to a Masters or a PhD program, the graduate school advising committee are here to help you explore what graduate school is about and to assist you with the application process. Please send Van an email to set up a meeting to discuss with you the nuts and bolts of the process and how to get you started. We also maintain an email list to keep you informed of occasional events that we organize. If you are interested in staying informed, please send resident tutor Van Tran an email at (vantran@fas.harvard.edu) and he will add you to our list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM YOUR WELLNESS TUTOR * Amanda Kowalski (akowalsk@mit.edu) GET YOUR FLU SHOT! Flu shot walk-in clinics: Holyoke Center -2nd floor, Monk’s Library Mondays & Tuesdays, 12:00-3:00pm OPEN TO ALL * Nov. 3, 4, 10, 17, 18, 24, 25, Dec. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 Harvard College Dining Halls STUDENTS ONLY * Annenberg DHall: Nov. 5 (5:00-8:00pm), Nov. 13 (5:00-8:00 pm) * Eliot DHall: Nov. 12 (5:00-8:00pm) * Leverett DHall: Nov. 19 (5:00-8:00pm) * Currier DHall: Dec. 4 (5:00-8:00pm) * Mather DHall: Dec. 10 (5:00-8:00pm) For more information, call Harvard Health Service’s flu information line at 617.496.2288 or visit huhs.harvard.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM YOUR CAREER AND PRE-BUSINESS ADVISING TUTORS * Russell Miles - Resident Tutor (rmiles@oxfamamerica.org, 3-2990) * Christopher Laconi - Non-Resident Tutor (claconi@mba2009.hbs.edu) Thinking about what you will do after Harvard? It's never too early or too late to start!! Who can help you with this? One great place to look for resources and information is the Office of Career Services http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/students.htm. The website is fabulous with a lot of great information. The OCS office is just around the corner from Lowell House at 54 Dunster Street and there are many people there who are available to help with all of your specific needs. OCS also has a very full program of events throughout the year - from career fairs to resume clinics, interview workshops and meet-the-recruiter nights. Check out the website regularly for the latest event calendar. The General Career Adviser at Lowell, Russell Miles, is here to help you think through that decision and work out what you really want out of life and your career! There are so many interesting and valuable options available to you which are worth exploring. Russell can be contacted on rmiles@oxfamamerica.org or call 617-493-2990 to make an appointment. Or you can find in him J-11. Drop in times are: Weekdays 6:00pm - 10:00pm and Weekends 10:00am - 10:00pm. Christopher Laconi is a Non-Resident Tutor from the Harvard Business School and he can specifically help on Pre-Business discussions and exploring careers in banking and consulting. He may be reached at claconi@mba2009.hbs.edu or call 207-344-8923 for appointments. In addition to helping you think through your career decisions, Chris and Russell can also help get you on the path to further resources and can also help you finalize your resume and prepare for interviews. Russell is creating an e-mail list in order to send out messages about key dates and events. Please contact him if you are interested to have your name on this mailing list - rmiles@oxfamamerica.org *** Russell will be traveling to Oxford, Sri Lanka and India from 30 October to 15 November so he will not be available for meetings. Russell will, however, try to answer any e-mail enquiries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FROM YOUR RESIDENT INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT / INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ADVISER * Russell Miles (rmiles@oxfamamerica.org, 3-2990) Interested in international relations, international aid and development? Want to discuss international issues raised in class? Need help thinking about research paper topics? Want to meet and talk with people working in the development or humanitarian sector? Interested in an international career in public service, government or private sector, or simply wanting to travel to other regions of the world? E-mail me or come and talk with me about all these questions. If you would like to make an appointment to talk for a longer period, I am available for meetings on Saturday afternoons from 2.00pm-5.00pm. We will meet in the SCR. I am creating an e-mail list in order to send out messages about key dates and events related to international development and international relations. Please contact me if you are interested to have your name on this mailing list - rmiles@oxfamamerica.org *** I will be traveling to Oxford, Sri Lanka and India from 30 October to 15 November so I will not be available for meetings. I will, however, try to answer any e-mail enquiries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS * FIRST LOWELL ROUNDTABLE - A CONVERSATION WITH PROFESSOR MARY C. WATERS Thursday, Oct. 30, 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Small Dining Room Mary C. Walters is the M.E. Zukerman Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. She specializes in the study of immigration, inter-group relations, the formation of racial and ethnic identity among the children of immigrants, and the challenges of measuring race and ethnicity. She received her PhD from University of California at Berkeley and has taught at Harvard since 1986. You are cordially invited to join her at this special roundtable discussion this Thursday where she will be discussing her recent book "Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants Come of Age" as well as her current research on "Katrina and Its Aftermath in the Lives of Community College Students". Many of you have come to know her well in the context of her courses in sociology and the core, but all is welcomed and this should be a very lively session. Please also bring your questions about immigration, Katrina, public policy, and life in general and get them answered. For further information, please contact our resident tutor Van Tran at vantran@fas.harvard.edu * LOWELL HOUSE PRE-FINANCE TABLE Hedging, Derivatives, and the Rise and Fall of Mortgage-Backed Securities with Kartik Venkatram Wednesday, Oct. 29th, 6 p.m. in the Small Dining Room Thinking about going into finance? Already have a finance position, but just want to learn more? Just curious? Come to the new Lowell House pre-finance table, where we will talk about topics in capital markets, structured finance, and the global economy. This week, we will delve into the ongoing mortgage crisis, focusing on the buy-side: why do funds choose to buy mortgage-backed securities? What are the risks, and how can they be hedged? And most importantly, what went wrong? Kartik Venkatram is a graduate student at MIT and a non-resident tutor in mathematics and computer science at Lowell. In a past life, he was an analyst and trader for Ellington Management Group, one of the largest (and few remaining) MBS hedge funds. * FRENCH FILM SERIES BEGINS THIS THURSDAY! Come to the SCR at 8:30pm on Thursday, October 30th, to share in some French comedy and snacks. This month's movie is the hilarious "Diner de Cons" (1998) starring Thierry Lhermite and Jacques Villeret. Synopsis: Each week, Pierre and his friends organize what is called as "un dîner de cons". Everyone brings the dumbest guy he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon- will steal the show. In French, with English subtitles. Hope to see you there! Contact Ilya Leskov with questions and suggestions for next month's movie, at leskov@mit.edu * LOWELL HOUSE OPERA FALL SCENES CONCERT Oct 31 and Nov 1 at 8:00pm, JCR An intimate evening of six fully staged opera scenes, sung by Harvard undergraduates. Performed in their original languages with projected English supertitles. From such operas as Carmen, The Marriage of Figaro, Die Fledermaus, and more. Free and open to the public. Come, and enjoy! * JOIN THE LOWELL HOUSE OPERA CHORUS! The Lowell House Opera (New England's oldest opera company) is looking for additional chorus singers for our production of Verdi's masterwork Otello in March 2009. Rehearsals in the fall semester take place Sunday evenings; in the spring, there are evening and weekend rehearsals in February before the production opens in early March. Singers of all musical backgrounds are invited to audition--many of our chorus singers have never sung in opera before, but by the end of the rehearsal process, they are all singing in Italian and acting on stage. For more information, please contact Sarah Eggleston at seggleston@post.harvard.edu or visit our website: www.hcs.harvard.edu/lho * GERMAN TABLE Guten Tag, Come join us for German Table on Thursday at 6 PM in the dining hall. Wir freuen uns schon! Nayla und Tom * DROP IN FOR A HELPFUL CHAT UHS Mental Health Services is excited to pilot a new program in Lowell House. Each Wednesday from 5:00-7:00pm, Jennifer Strong will be available for consultation in room N-14. Stop by to introduce yourself when the door is open. Speaking with a counselor can help provide insight, workable solutions and information about resources. You are welcome to consult with Jennifer about challenges you are facing, or bring a friend you believe could use some support. * AN EVENING WITH BEBE NEUWIRTH Wed, Oct 29, 8pm New College Theatre Broadway and TV star Bebe Neuwirth will discuss her career, with an emphasis on her dance role in the Broadway revivals of Sweet Charity and Chicago. Admission is free, but tickets are required – get yours from the Harvard Box Office in the Holyoke Center. * MASTER CLASS WITH BAROQUE OPERA SOPRANO ELLEN HARGIS Mon, Nov 3, 3:00pm, New College Rehearsal Studio Hargis, who specializes in 17th and 18th century music performance will present a brief lecture and conduct a master class with the student cast of Cavalli’s 1644 opera, L’Ormindo. Free, no tickets required. * DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION AT PEABODY Sunday, 2 Nov, Peabody Museum 1-4:30pm Family event – see the new altar, taste Aztec chocolate and make papel picado 6-9:00pm Fiesta! An evening of salsa, Son and Mariachi music. Tickets required – call 617-495-2269 or email linardos@fas.harvard.edu