First humanities classes on edX
“In what sense, if any, did you deserve to be admitted to Harvard College?”
Obama nominees in step on light footprint
WASHINGTON — With the selection of a new national security team deeply suspicious of the wisdom of U.S. military interventions around the world, President Barack Obama appears to have ended, at least for the moment, many of the internal administration debates that played out in the Situation Room over the past four years.
Man jumps off Harvard Bridge, no body found
The search for a man who jumped off the Harvard Bridge in the early hours of Tuesday, Jan. 1 has been suspended due to river conditions. A memorial on the bridge identifies the man as Joe Gage, a 32-year-old Boston resident. According to tweets from the Boston Fire Department (@BostonFire), two men were crossing the bridge around 3 a.m. on Jan. 1. About halfway across, they hailed a cab, and as one man walked toward the vehicle, Gage jumped over the railing into the Charles River. According to the District Attorney’s office, witnesses reported that he jumped intentionally.
650 accepted into MIT Class of 2017
Over the winter break, 650 students received MIT admissions tubes filled with confetti in the mail. These new students, accepted into MIT’s undergraduate Class of 2017, were selected from a total of 6,541 early action applicants. Another 4,397 applicants were deferred to regular action while the remaining 1,494 were denied. (MIT does not admit international students in early action.) Decisions were released online on Dec. 15.
Dean Hastings steps down
Yesterday evening, Chancellor Eric Grimson PhD ’80 announced that Dean Daniel E. Hastings PhD ’80 would be stepping down as dean of undergraduate education effective July 1, 2013. According to Grimson’s email to the entire MIT community, Hastings will be returning to his faculty position in Aero/Astro (Course 16) and Engineering Systems Division (ESD) after taking a year off for a sabbatical. Since being appointed dean of undergraduate education in 2006, Hastings has focused on giving students more international opportunities and helped modernize several aspects of students’ education.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: 2.009 Product Engineering final projects
On Monday, students in 2.009, Product Engineering Processes, presented their final projects related to the theme “outdoors.” The students, all seniors in Mechanical Engineering, worked for three months in eight color-coded teams of 15-19 students each to research markets, choose a focus, design a product, and produce a working prototype with a $6500 budget.
Central Square properties for sale
Several parcels of land spanning a wide area of Central Square, including several prominent locations along Massachusetts Avenue, were recently listed for sale. Speculation surrounds MIT’s potential interest in purchasing the properties, which include several parking lots and the Quest Diagnostics building.
Two more partners for edX in the past week
As many of edX’s first courses come to a close, the online learning initiative continues to grow. EdX spokesman Dan O’Connell told The Tech last week that edX had reached half a million unique registrants. Yesterday edX announced its newest partner, Georgetown University, which joins just on the heels of Wellesley College, whose own addition to the list of “X Universities” was announced last week. Wellesley is the first liberal arts college to join edX.
Why have printed annual reports not been issued since 2005?
Like any major company, every year MIT produces a detailed annual report summarizing the past year’s work, accomplishments, and aspirations, with a detailed section from every department, lab, center, school, or other unit — or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.
MIT revises bylaws: Corp. chair to lead Executive Committee
At the quarterly meeting of MIT’s board of trustees — the MIT Corporation — on Friday, hundreds of changes to MIT’s bylaws were enacted, both big and small.
Barker renovation is the beginning
If you think the Barker Reading Room is the last you’ll see of changes in the MIT Libraries, think again. The renovation of the Barker Reading Room is the first step of a longer process to better serve students’ study needs.
Three anonymous reports of sexual assault at Lambda Chi Alpha
On December 5, MIT police released a police bulletin stating that they had received three anonymous reports of sexual assaults that occurred on November 2012 at 99 Bay State Road, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house. The bulletin stated that there is no ongoing criminal investigation as a result of the reports. When contacted, MIT Chief of Police John DiFava confirmed that there was no ongoing investigation and declined to comment further.
New exec board takes IFC reins
A month after they were elected, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) is being run by a completely new group. Headed by Andrew L. Dorne ’14 from Phi Sigma Kappa as president, the new executive board of MIT’s IFC was inaugurated on Dec. 5.
Corp. Executive Committee oversight responsibilities
Corp. Executive Committee oversight responsibilities
Letters to the Editor
Editor’s note: This letter from Siegel came in correspondence with the writer who interviewed him. See opposite page for that interview.
K2C2 moves forward to zoning stage
The Central Square Advisory Committee to the Kendall-to-Central Square Planning Process (K2C2) held its final meeting last week on Wednesday, Nov. 28, and presented its work to the Cambridge Planning Board on Tuesday, Dec. 4. Near-final drafts of its work are available at .
Schmill urges students to work through self-doubt
When you’re living on three hours of sleep, your self-esteem is lower than your GPA, and you’re just starting to slog through the p-set for the class that you haven’t been to in a month, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong.