Dear Friends,
When we began putting together this newsletter, I never imagined we would be confronted with a global pandemic that would upend all our lives. At the same time, recent instances of social injustice have yet again reminded us of the long-standing history of systemic racism in this country, while COVID-19 has exacerbated economic challenges and laid bare profound racial disparities that are deeply embedded in our society.
I’ve been inspired by the resilience shown by Harvard students, faculty, staff, and alumni in the face of this overwhelming adversity, and I’ve never been prouder to be a part of the Harvard community. But our work is far from finished. As Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Claudine Gay stated in a recent message to the FAS community: “Now is the time to lean into our mission, with resolve and a new sense of urgency.”
In this newsletter, you will read about Doris Cole AB ’59, MArch ’63 and the late Harold Goyette MArch ’54, who modeled gender equity in their careers and who chose to support it through their gifts to the Frances Loeb Library at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). The library is also home to the African American Design Nexus, which seeks to promote change within design institutions to amplify and elevate the work of African American designers. The Design Nexus emerged from the GSD’s first Black in Design Conference, led by Dana McKinney MArch ’17, MUP ’17.
You will also read about an astounding scientific discovery by an astronomer whose fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study was made possible through a planned gift. Other Radcliffe Fellows are embracing the Institute’s interdisciplinary community to study issues of inequality and health, including physician and epidemiologist Camara Phyllis Jones, whose work focuses on the effects of racism on physical and mental health. I encourage you to watch a powerful discussion on race and justice in America featuring Jones and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Professor David R. Williams, part of a Virtual Radcliffe series on health, inequity, and COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Harvard doctors and scientists continue to battle COVID-19 on the front lines and in the laboratory, while other members of the Harvard community are delivering resources and services to help people in need. The Harvard-led Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, for instance, has awarded $16.5 million to 62 projects with the potential to impact patients within the next 12 months. To learn about Harvard's COVID-19 response, visit our COVID-19 Community Resources and Impact page.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership, which underpins all the important work happening across the University to address the complex and pressing challenges facing our world.
Take good care,
Anne D. McClintock
Executive Director, University Planned Giving
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