A fireside chat with the dean
Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds recently welcomed 25 students into her home for a fireside chat with Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. as part of a series of events designed to foster interaction between undergraduates and faculty outside the classroom. Hammonds, Gates, and the students discussed topics ranging from his childhood in small town West Virginia and how he got the nickname “Skip” to his world-renowned scholarship and the famous “Beer Summit” at the White House. “Being able to engage with a brilliant and famous scholar like Professor Gates is what a Harvard College education is all about,” said Hammonds, the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies. “I was thrilled to invite students into my home for that kind of opportunity to meet and discuss ideas with a faculty member, and I look forward to the next fireside chat later...