Faculty want flexibility
Better use of technology will enhance undergraduate education, a collaborative living community for MIT faculty will soon become a reality, and interdisciplinary research is an increasingly popular focus, said the May/June 2011 Faculty Newsletter. The newsletter reported on issues ranging from the experimental First-Year Focus program to broad goals of the faculty. Innovation and collaboration in teaching, learning, and research was a recurring theme.
Peter Diamond withdraws 3rd Fed nomination
On June 5 Peter A. Diamond PhD ’63 announced that he would withdraw his nomination to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Senate Republicans had repeatedly blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Diamond, an MIT professor of economics and the 2010 Nobel Prize winner. Diamond explained his decision and delivered an indictment to partisan politics in his June 6 New York Times opinion column “When a Nobel Prize Isn’t Enough.” Obama first named Diamond as a candidate to fill one of three long-standing vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board in April 2010.
MIT150: Explosive success
The MIT150 celebrations ended with a literal bang at Toast to Tech last Saturday. The event, open to the entire MIT community and guests, included champagne, ice sculptures, dancing, an impressively large cake modeled after the MIT campus, and a 12-minute fireworks show over the Charles River.
Bomb squad called
The Cambridge Police Bomb Unit and MIT police responded early Tuesday morning to a report of “suspicious materials” — which looked similar to pipe bombs — in New House. Police evacuated New House and Next House, and cordoned off Amherst Alley near MacGregor. Six and a half hours later, MIT announced that the materials posed no threat to campus safety, and that the area was safe to re-enter.
Water main break left MIT dry
Last Saturday night, much of the MIT Campus was without running water due to a water main break which occurred near Harvard Square between Broadway and Trowbridge Street. The break caused a reduction in water pressure all across Cambridge, enough to leave most MIT buildings without water.
Israel Ruiz nominated for EVP and MIT Treasurer
MIT Vice President for Finance Israel Ruiz SM ’01 has been selected to succeed Theresa M. Stone SM ’76 as executive vice president and treasurer of MIT. The nomination, made by President Susan J. Hockfield and the Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation, will be confirmed by a vote of the full MIT Corporation at an annual meeting on Oct. 14.
Bomb squad called to New House
Cambridge Police Bomb Unit and MIT police responded early this morning to a report of “suspicious materials” in New House. Police evacuated New House and Next House, and cordoned off Amherst Alley near MacGregor. At around 2 p.m., MIT announced that the materials posed no threat to campus safety, and that the area was safe to re-enter.
Building the future campus
MIT has begun laying out the future of our campus. By coalescing several of the Institute’s ongoing and future campus development projects under a broad planning initiative dubbed “MIT 2030,” Institute administrators and faculty hope to realistically envision where the campus will be in 20 years. MIT recently sold $750 million in 100-year bonds to help finance development projects in the MIT 2030 framework.
Burns to give Commencement address
Today, at the end of MIT’s 150th anniversary celebrations, the Institute holds its 145th commencement ceremony. MIT will be awarding degrees to 983 undergraduates and 1,471 graduate students. Collectively, 1,161 bachelor’s degrees, 1,547 master’s degrees, and 609 doctoral degrees were awarded by MIT, according to Registrar Mary Callahan.
Lewin gives final lecture In emotional goodbye, physics prof. wows 26-100
With a crown of tousled grey hair on his head, a shroud of rainbow-stripes on his shoulders, and a large plastic fuchsia ring twisting around his left middle finger, legendary physics professor Walter H. G. Lewin set down his piece of dull yellow chalk for the last time, marking the completion of his final lecture at MIT.
MITIMCo real estate development (expected over next decade)
MITIMCo real estate development (expected over next decade)
Academic construction and renovation (expected over next decade)
Academic construction and renovation (expected over next decade)
26 admitted from waitlist
Despite a significant increase in the number of students given a spot on this year’s waitlist, fewer undergraduates were admitted off the list due to a high admissions yield — 65 percent of admitted students accepted offers to enroll. About 1000 applicants for the Class of 2015 were waitlisted, compared to 722 students for the Class of 2014. Of the students who chose to remain on the waitlist this year, only 26 (3.6 percent) were admitted.
Emily, always.
Emily Obert ’11 fell on a clear warm day almost exactly like today. The kind of day when, in her faint Virginia twang, she might order you to stop sitting around and go outside.
Help Desk relocates to E17
Help Desk will soon have a new home. The MIT IS&T Computing Help Desk is relocating to the first floor of Building E17 at 40 Ames St. Help Desk’s N42 location will close at 1 p.m. today, and weekday walk-in hours from 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. will resume Monday in E17. Additional customer service operations are moving to the sixth and seventh floors of E19.
News Briefs
Theresa M. Stone SM ’76, MIT’s executive vice president (EVP) and treasurer, announced on May 17 that she would step down from her position in the fall, which she has held since February 2007.