Lizzie Thompson ’12 had likely never thought about Shakespeare and disco in the same sentence—until now.

Having signed up for a class in modern Shakespeare this past semester, though, Thompson soon found herself at a performance of The Donkey Show, a thoroughly modern interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream being shown now through January 2 at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.). Besides being part of her coursework, the show—set in what looks like a 1970s nightclub—is the creation of Diane Paulus, the theater’s artistic director and one of her two professors for the course.

“We look at Shakespeare, but we also look at how the theater is moving in modern directions,” Thompson says of the class which compares Shakespeare’s original works with modern interpretations performed live at the A.R.T.

The course, called “Theater, Dream, Shakespeare,” is just one example of the new General Education curriculum–an updated, more dynamic approach to teaching that offers today’s students a more interactive, hands-on educational experience.

Click the image above to watch the Gen Ed course trailers

The Gen Ed curriculum, composed of liberal arts classes taken outside of an undergraduate’s concentration, replaced the Core system that had been around for more than 30 years until this fall semester. Of the 244 classes that are now part of the Gen Ed curriculum, many are Core classes that have been revised significantly. Others—including classes like “What is Life? From Quarks to Consciousness,” which covers the underlying physics of the natural world—are completely new.

According to faculty involved in the genesis of Gen Ed, the new curriculum connects in-class learning to its broader implications—not only across disciplines, but beyond the classroom as well. Several of the courses are co-taught by faculty from different departments.

“We have created a curriculum about connecting,” said Evelynn Hammonds, Dean of Harvard College and Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies.

With the new curriculum, students take one class in each of the eight new course categories. The new framework also encourages professors to take more risks—in the form of field trips, hands-on experiments, guest speakers, and more creative assignments—and encourages students to take risks as well.

Assignments will often involve working with multimedia, as in Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History Shigehisa Kuriyama’s comparative class on European and Asian beliefs regarding medicine and the body. Instead of a traditional “paper,” students create short online videos on what they’ve learned.

Stephanie Sandler, the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, said the new goals mean the students in her “Poetry Without Borders” class learn how to be better readers of poetry through a variety of methods.

“We go to poetry readings on campus, and visit the Poetry Room at the Lamont Library,” she says. “But we also explore websites that make poems, poets’ voices, and poets’ performances available online.”

For Thompson, her class on Shakespeare gave her a chance to learn from someone she might never run across in a traditional classroom situation.

“I’m really looking forward to hearing more from Diane Paulus as we continue,” she said of the artistic director. “It’s fascinating to learn from someone who is actually living in the world of theater, because it’s a very different viewpoint from most people’s.”

For some, the number 13 is a harbinger of doom, synonymous with black cats and broken mirrors. For this year’s incoming class, however, the digits have lost their power to jinx.

“Thirteen is a magical number. You are proof of that,” Harvard President Drew Faust told the Class of 2013 at the University’s first-ever Freshman Convocation, held on September 1 in the Tercentenary Theatre the day before classes began.

Until this year, Harvard had sponsored Opening Exercises, a modest indoor ceremony that also included music, singing, and speeches by Harvard’s top administrators. But despite everything that occasion provided, the ceremony lacked alumni participation and the kind of pomp and circumstance associated with Commencement—the other ceremonial “bookend” to students’ time at Harvard.

“Before, people assembled, but it wasn’t very dramatic. We want the event to fire them up,” Dean of Freshman Thomas Dingman said. A 2005 Report of the Freshman Orientation Advisory Committee proposed a convocation ceremony as a way of making students’ first days more welcoming and festive.

The goal of creating a more memorable introduction finally took shape that sunny afternoon. Students gathered around the Yard according to dorm. Alumni, who had come to participate as marshals, handed out class pins to wear and to keep, courtesy of the Harvard Alumni Association. When the time came, marshals led the students into the Theatre amid music from the Harvard Band and raucous cheers from current upperclass students.

Once attendees were seated, University leaders urged students to take risks over the next four years, and to challenge themselves both inside and outside the classroom. They told the class that it was natural to feel a bit nervous.

Olivia Weeks, an 18-year-old from Corning, New York, admitted that she was in awe of becoming a Harvard student. “I still can’t believe I’m a part of this,” she gushed—but that any feelings of apprehension had mostly dissipated thanks to those she has encountered since setting foot on campus.

“Most of the people I’ve met have been very kind and humble,” she said, just before darting off for the ensuing class photo.

Administrators also put the number 13 in historical context. Dingman noted that the Class of 2013 is actually the fourth Harvard class whose graduation year ends with the number 13. Faust told the students about the Class of 1913, who achieved greatness despite having “an unusual tendency to make noises and to throw food,” according to records from that time. One alumnus from that class played a major role in diabetes research, and another became President John F. Kennedy’s Latin America adviser.

Regardless of what they may go on to do, however, this time the new students began their years at Harvard with a proper sendoff from the alumni community. Roughly 80 alumni marshals of all ages were on hand, having traveled from as far away as Norway and Puerto Rico, and having graduated as long ago as 1950. As alumni, many of those marshals had interviewed members of the incoming class who had come from the same area.

Marcus Miller ’08, a professional musician from Brooklyn, said he came because he never saw much connection between students and alumni when he was at Harvard, and he wanted to play a role in changing that with the new class.

“I jumped at the chance,” Miller said. “I cleared all my sessions for the day.”

Staff photo Gail Oskin/ Harvard News Office

“Harvard opened my eyes and my mind to the world. It was because of Harvard’s language requirement that I spent the summer of 1933 in Germany and saw firsthand the ominous rise of fascism. And it was at Harvard that I first studied art history. Harvard provided me with an intellectual framework to understand what I was seeing and experiencing that has stayed with me for my entire life.”

- David Rockefeller ’36, LLD ’69, discussing his $100 million gift to Harvard to expand students’ international experiences and participation in the arts.

When David Rockefeller announced his stunning gift in April 2008, he expressed his hope that it would “help enable future Harvard undergraduates to experience similar opportunities to learn about the world in which they live.” Scarcely more than a year later, 426 students are dispersed throughout 65 countries this summer, in an exhilarating pursuit of knowledge as wide-ranging as Andean prehistory and neurobiological research.

Two of those students, Kelly Brock ’11 and James Danner ’12, are taking us along for the ride. Brock, a budding scientist from Greenwood, South Carolina, and Danner, an aspiring opera singer out of New York City, will share their experiences—and an occasional photograph—in the Yard Online student blog. Over the next month, we will read firsthand accounts of Brock’s research at the RIKEN Center for Allergy and Immunology in Yokohama, Japan, and Danner’s immersion in German language and culture in Munich, followed by his lieder music studies in France.

Their stories are made possible through the new David Rockefeller International Experience Grants Program, under the auspices of Harvard’s Office of International Programs. The grants afford undergraduates the opportunity to embark on a significant international learning experience, regardless of financial constraints.

Thanks to David Rockefeller’s extraordinary generosity, Kelly and Jamie can now move about the world. Please take a moment to join them.

Kelly Brock ’11

Hometown: Greenwood, South Carolina
Concentration: Engineering Sciences SB
House Affiliation: Leverett
International Field of Study: Immunogenomics Research
Destination: Yokohama, Japan

James Danner ’12

Hometown: New York, New York
Concentration: History and Literature
House Affiliation: Leverett
International Field of Study: German Language and Art Song
Destination: Munich, Germany, and Nice, France

Kelly Brock ’11

Hometown: Greenwood, South Carolina
Concentration: Engineering Sciences SB
House Affiliation: Leverett
International Field of Study: Immunogenomics Research
Destination: Yokohama, Japan

Even though I’ve already been here for seven weeks, I still have moments when I look around and say, “Holy cow, I’m in Japan!” They may be triggered by walking past a little old lady wearing a full kimono ensemble, or seeing large anime advertisements (and sometimes anime characters) in the street. Japan is like everything I’ve been imagining since I was a kid, but even more–more gigantic, more ancient, more contradictory, and more breathtaking–than I expected. For example, I thought I was going to explode from either happiness or exhaustion during the second weekend in July! The weekend started with a blast– or at least a fibroblast–since we (Andrew, Denise, and I) attended an international immunology symposium in Yokohama that Thursday and Friday. The speakers were terrific, even though some of the science went over my head. Afterward, the managers at the conference building told us that we had to leave the premises by a certain time, and police were everywhere. As we later found out, the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan had come to attend an environmental conference. I can now say that I have been close to royalty!

The next day, I went to Kamakura for my Japanese language class field trip. The morning was very hot, both temperature-wise and food-wise; I accidentally ate a large gob of spicy wasabi, which almost knocked me off the stool at the sushi bar. After recovering somewhat, I trekked with the other students to see the Daibutsu, a 40-foot-tall Buddha statue dating from the 13th century. We even got to climb inside of it!

After spending the day taking in all the history and temples and wasabi I could handle, I returned to my dorm room and I was almost asleep before I hit the pillow. The next day, however, was just as magical–I went to Tokyo Disneyland with two of my lab coworkers. I love Mickey Mouse, especially when he sings in Japanese! I recognized several rides from Disneyworld in Florida, but some things–like octopus pizza–were definitely Tokyo-specific. I even learned how to sing “It’s a Small World” in Japanese, although I have a bad feeling that the song is going to be stuck in my head for months to come.

The fun wasn’t confined to that weekend, however. In my first blog post, I talked about going to a maid café; I thought I should continue the trend of unusual restaurants by going to a cat café last weekend. For approximately $10, you can go into a café, have unlimited drinks, and play with any and all of the 10 resident cats for one hour. Cat toys were everywhere, and the tables were very low on the ground so that the patrons could more easily frolic with the felines. The downside to the low tables, however, was that one particularly rambunctious cat kept trying to drink my green tea latte–the situation almost turned cat-astrophic!

In short, I love Japan–where else can you find ancient temples, Mickey Mouse, and cat cafés concentrated around a few subway stops? So many places have history, a weight of tradition that counterbalances the newer, and sometimes stranger, additions. I would need a novel to describe all of the little eye-opening moments that have defined my stay. Maybe by the time my summer program ends, I will no longer be surprised by anything about Japan. However, I highly doubt it.

Kelly

James Danner ’12

Hometown: New York, New York
Concentration: History and Literature
House Affiliation: Leverett
International Field of Study: German Language and Art Song
Destination: Munich, Germany, and Nice, France

Nice is as beautiful as ever. It seems as though I left Munich at just the right moment—it dropped to 13˚ C just as I left! After spending a truly wonderful weekend in London with two of my close friends from Harvard who are working there, I journeyed on to the Riviera, and boy am I happy to be here. The schedule is very flexible, but still quite intense in terms of what is expected. Every other day, I have a master class with my professor, Lorraine Nubar, which now for the second two weeks will alternate with Dalton Baldwin’s master class. On those days, I also have private coachings and lessons with Alessandro Zuppardo and Cynthia Sanner—two incredible teachers who studied with Dalton and Lorraine respectively—I owe them so much! Lorraine is one of the most incredible people, not to mention professors—I have ever met. She is a consummate artist, a performer, and so incredibly caring. She really knows how to teach to each individual and values all of our participation and ideas in master class. Dalton is, well, a musical titan. When you’ve recorded all of Poulenc, Fauré, Debussy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Schubert, Schumann, Duparc, Ravel, and countless other composers were on the list as well, you start to just get music, at an utterly fundamental level (and perhaps just a touch crazy). I have been working on Strauss lieder and Korngold (Dalton was actually the first person to ever record the Korngold songs, so it’s really amazing to get his guidance), and while they are grueling technically (and some would say I should wait about two or three decades to really sing them…), they are truly so beautiful and a joy to sing. Dalton has asked for many of Poulenc’s cycles (he is the foremost expert on Poulenc in the world, in my humble opinion), and so I have been singing a few songs from them as well.

Nice is, as I said, gorgeous. The beach is well, rocks—but the sun is glorious and the water is so wonderful! It is so great to be singing in such a beautiful place! I am also so happy to see a lot of my friends from Juilliard here—I really don’t get to see them hardly at all during the year, and they have all progressed so beautifully over the past year. Coincidentally, there is another Harvard student here in the program! John Kapusta ’09, about whom I knew quite a lot, he being in the dual degree program with the New England Conservatory (a program to which I was just accepted), a senior, and having sung John Adams’s The Wound Dresser for Adams himself (an amazing concert for which BachSoc played equally as wonderfully) in a really moving rendition—I certainly did know who he was! He was quite surprised when he found out I went to Harvard, and funnily enough, we have such a similar repertoire! Of course, our voices are very, very different—and his is much more developed (he does have a few years on me!), with a very well placed top that simply soars—rare for most baritones, especially his age. In any case, he is studying here and then journeying to Paris for the year on a Fulbright (!!!!!!!!), which is just so cool. I can only hope to do that and to study at the Conservatoire!

Being surrounded by so much music again is always a comfort, and slightly nervewracking in that adrenaline-infused performing way as ever, but things have been going quite well. I am working a lot on my breath support and getting more core and resonance into the sound so that I have those high frequencies to shoot over an orchestra in the future. (Physicists reading this, opera is a miracle—you should read about it. Sung vowels are absolutely fascinating from a biophysical perspective! Really they are!) In any case, I am floored by the fact it is nearly August! I have been gone for so long, and I really do miss home at this point. I saw a dollar the other day, and it just looked so foreign, I couldn’t process it, but I wouldn’t trade being here for the world. It’s such an amazing learning experience—it’s like you improve effortlessly in the hands of these professors who are like magicians!

Very excited for the next few weeks and for the final concert (with pictures from Nice and Munich to come very soon, I promise!)

Jamie

Jamie Danner (photo: Jazmin Perez)

Munich is finally warm! Summer, as it seems was the case back in the States, was particularly wet and hovering around 15˚C, which was really quite upsetting. However, now it has been beautiful and blue for a week or so, the way Bavaria is supposed to be, so summer is truly here. I have already been here for over a month, and so much has happened! The group of kids is really great, it’s been a blast being here with them—particularly discovering the city whilst simultaneously discovering the language, very daunting without partners in crime. In particular, I have had the incredible luck of being here with another student, Victoria Crutchfield, a senior in Currier next year, who is an opera director. Naturally, once we found out that we were going together, we both upped the ante in terms of the operas that we wanted to see. We spent two weekends out of Munich and have been to the Vienna Kammeroper to see Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave, a harrowing antiwar tale based on the Henry James story, and to the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden to see Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte—a production that took most of its visual cues from one of the original productions, and featured the base Rene Pape as Sarastro, which was incredible (look for him on iTunes and YouTube if you don’t know who he is). The opera festival is currently under way here in Munich, though we technically saw some operas that weren’t part of the festival proper as well. Initially, we had expected not to see anything here, as all of it was ausverkauft (sold out in German, loads of fun to say during intermission…), but there is a really incredible culture of standing room scalping—that is to say, no one makes any money selling the tickets—in fact, most of the time they discount them (perhaps due to the economy?), which is great for us—so we have seen several operas here! We saw Edita Gruberova (who is 64!!!) star in a simply amazing production of Lucrezia Borgia by Donizetti, Werther by Massenet, Jenufa by Janacek, and Lohengrin by Wagner, which was possibly one of the most musically fulfilling moments of my life. To see singers just be perfect is a sheer joy, in addition to being given (for free) a real seat for my first (five-hour) Wagner opera. The production elicited (well-deserved) boos, but the audience clapped for Anja Harteros, who sang Elsa, for 20 minutes.

This was beyond encouraging for me, simply because I’m hoping to return as a singer sometime in the next decade, and the enthusiasm just proves that opera will be alive and well in this part of the world for a while yet. Additionally, some of the more archaic grammar and vocabulary have been perfect for reading supertitles in German, which has been my most entertaining German exercise—particularly while seeing a Czech opera [Janacek]—talk about a language barrier! But I did manage to understand quite a lot of it, a testament to the program for sure. We also managed to get some really phenomenal seats to a concert of Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (the Brad and Angelina of the opera world, minus the children…or marriage), which was outdoors in the Königsplatz, which is surrounded by a Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian temple on three sides—truly awe-inspiring! We also saw a very modern production of La Bohème, which actually was quite interesting (phew!); a Liederabend (song recital) sung by Diana Damrau that was incredible—and for my birthday I met my brother (who has just left Munich, after studying German here for three weeks) at the Gasteig, where the Philharmonie plays, to see a concert of Szymanowski, Chopin, and Prokofiev: eight euros apiece for third-row seats.

Neue Rathaus (photo: Jim Reuter)

So, a little bit about Munich and academics; the program is incredibly informative and there is in fact a lot of work, though it might not sound like it from the above—most of the operas have been on the weekends! We are translating a history book about Munich, through which we are becoming acquainted with practical (somewhat practical…formal, certainly) application of the grammar and a whole load of vocabulary and lovely details about Munich’s history. Since we arrived in early June, our German really has gotten much, much better! We are generally in class 9:30-11:00 for grammar, 11:00-12:00 for writing, 12:00-1:00 for lunch, and 1:00-3:30 for either history, walks around the city, smaller field trips outside the city, or to museums. Pretty much every week, we have gone for a day somewhere really cool— for example, this past week, we went to Nuremburg, and, two weeks ago, to Schloss Neuschwanstein (the famous fairy tale castle). All told, the museums—particularly, the Pinakotheken (the major art museums) all have really incredible collections that span about 800 years of art. Because it is Munich, I have to mention the beer—it’s actually really incredible here, and perfectly analogous to those cheap, delicious wines one hears about in France. Also in abundance are schnitzel, lederhosen worn without a shred of irony (I bought some, very excited about that), sausages, a few more types of sausages, and three places where you can actually get a really good salad—something I never thought I would crave, but I guess after so much sausage, mustard, and bread, something happens…

In sum, I can really understand most German now, which is very exciting! I can speak it as well, but that is still a bit more difficult for me. But working on my lieder for the conservatory program that begins very soon (eek!) has proved linguistically much easier (however, the lack of a piano has been close to heartbreaking).

Till next time,
Jamie

Continue Reading Part 2 »

Kelly Brock '11

Japan has always seemed like a dream to me, a macrocosm of the floating world inhabited by the romanticized figures of geisha and samurai. Since elementary school, my greatest loves have been science and the possibility of learning about new cultures, particularly Japan’s. This summer, I have an amazing opportunity to combine these two childhood dreams through the Harvard summer study abroad program at the RIKEN Center for Allergy and Immunology in Yokohama. Thanks to generous support from the David Rockefeller grants program and the Asia Center, I am becoming a DNA-recombinant technology expert by day and soaking up Japanese culture by night.

As far as my daytime activities go, I’m beginning to think that science is like trying to go to every shopping district in Tokyo in a day. As I now know – from firsthand experience, no less! – seeing everything in the metropolis in 24 hours is impossible, but making the attempt to do so is irresistible. The odd little discoveries I’ve made here – the tiny Buddhist temple next to my dorm or the correct protocol to culture mammalian cells – have been some of the highlights of my three weeks here. I am so excited to continue learning about gene networks, mathematical modeling, and fluorescent microscopy for the next seven weeks! As an engineering major, working in the lab just reaffirms my love affair with science.

Like my day job, the best part of Japan itself has been in the details. Our first weekend here, we (Denise Ye and Andrew Hardigan, the other two Yokohama RIKEN summer students) went into the Shibuya, Akihabara, Harajuku, and Ueno areas of Tokyo. The food was the most immediate culture shock – I tried takoyaki (fried octopus balls), green tea ice cream, and many types of raw fish. Everything was so oishii (delicious), but I didn’t have the courage to try the horse meat at the restaurant! We also wandered into a maid café in Akihabara, which is exactly what it sounds like: a very cute restaurant where all the waitresses wear maid costumes. I’ve been told that butler cafés also exist – I’ll have to keep searching for them, though! I’ve also been having some difficulty figuring out the toilets, of all things. Many have strange buttons that I am too scared to push, and the kanji explanations don’t help very much either. Apart from the bathrooms, though, everything feels incredibly safe. Japan has some of the lowest crime rates in the world, and even when I’m cringing while riding my bike down the left side of the road, I feel like I’m back in my small hometown. Traveling here has always been a dream for me, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to sit on a dorm balcony in Tsurumi and type up a first-person report about conducting scientific research in Japan.

Kelly

Continue Reading Part 2 »

Objects of art—19th-century European paintings, 17th-century Native American bows, and vases from Greek antiquity—speak to cultural historian Ivan Gaskell, and he wants students to hear what they have to say. Harvard’s vast collections are as much an integral part of the University as are its chemistry labs.

Motley took a course on Rubens with Ivan Gaskell, Margaret S. Winthrop Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts in the Harvard Art Museum and senior lecturer in history, and worked with paintings, prints, and coins the way she had always dreamed of—by closely studying the originals. Gaskell transformed the museum into a classroom for his students, meeting them at the Fogg.

“In one class, we went to the Straus Center to see an original Rubens,” Motley says. “Professor Gaskell removed it from the frame, showed us what it looked like on the back, and pointed out other details.” Gaskell’s requirement for the course research paper was to locate a piece in Harvard’s collections. Once again, no passport was required. Instead, Motley recalls, “I just went back to the Fogg and got the print of a Rubens original.”

During Motley’s first year, she had toured the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute, where she discovered an extensive archive. The Image of the Black in Western Art Research Project and Photo Archive, a collection of 30,000 photos spanning 5,000 years, examines how people of African descent have been perceived and represented in art. That had planted the original seed for her thesis topic.

After studying Rubens’s representations of Africans, she decided to focus her thesis on 18th-century portraits of Africans living in England. Not surprisingly, Gaskell became her adviser. “As both a curator at the Fogg Museum and a history lecturer, he appreciates both kinds of evidence that I used in my thesis—paintings as primary sources as well as books and articles.”

Gaskell is currently designing a graduate seminar for the upcoming fall semester with 300th Anniversary University Professor Laurel Ulrich on “Harvard’s Collections and World History,” and eventually plans to launch a new undergraduate course on the same topic. Their partnership is part of a program called Graduate Seminars in General Education which seeks to integrate Harvard College’s need to develop innovative courses in the new General Education Curriculum with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ objective to help graduate students fully prepare for the rigors and rewards of teaching.

In courses like this one, Gaskell’s philosophy about teaching with and learning from art objects will come to life. “It’s not the objects themselves, but the scholars who work with them through their research and teaching who add the greatest value,” he says.

Raphael Quintanar ‘10, a chemistry concentrator from Dallas, Texas; Tracy Spetka ‘10, a psychology concentrator, from New Hartford, New York; and Andres Castro Samayoa ‘10, a women, gender & sexuality concentrator from Merliot, El Salvador, discuss advising at Harvard.

Advising Fortnight kicks off each spring in Annenberg Hall with a “walking dinner” that enables students to roam around a room full of tables filled with information and faculty from each of the concentrations. Following that, undergraduates are invited to visit individual concentrations through open houses, panel discussions, lunches, ice cream socials, and teas throughout the two-week period.

“The goal is to get students thinking outside of the preconceived notions they have about what they will do in life,” says Assistant Dean of the Advising Programs Office Inge-Lise Ameer. “We make it as easy as possible to bring students and faculty together in conversation.”

Three years ago, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences undertook a comprehensive curricular review that examined all aspects of undergraduate education, including topics such as the timing of concentration selection, study across disciplines, study abroad, and scientific and technological literacy. The curricular review process also resulted in new General Education requirements—a revised set of mandatory courses that went into effect this fall with the Class of 2013. As part of the discussion around concentrations, faculty evaluated data of the past 20 years that showed that a significant number of students changed concentrations during the course of their academic careers.

“The faculty realized that seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds need more information, more time, and more advising to make the right decision,” says Ameer. “The Advising Programs Office opened to help organize and centralize the process.” Today, students can declare a concentration in the middle of their sophomore year as opposed to the end of their freshman year.

Since then, advising administrators have received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the new system. A recent freshman survey indicated that advising conversations are the most helpful activity for selecting a concentration, and a survey of sophomores indicated that Advising Fortnight ranks among the best events.

The setting: Quincy House dining hall. The competitors: Thirty students divided into six teams hungering to display their consummate culinary skills. The challenge: Incorporate three locally harvested Georges Bank sea scallops into each delectable, beautifully presented plate. And so, with the clock running, Quincy’s fourth annual Iron Chef competition, modeled after the popular Food Network television show, began.

The event is the brainchild of Quincy Co-Master Deb Gehrke, Quincy Chef Production Manager Dianna MacPhee, and Quincy Dining Manager Mark Hayes. Each team receives a small budget to purchase groceries, which supplement items from the dining hall kitchen. Celebrating the chef is nothing new for Harvard University Dining Services head Ted Mayer, who has spearheaded a movement to shift the University’s food culture from institutional dining to chef-based, sustainable cooking.

Mayer served as one of the judges who, like their TV counterparts, did not sugarcoat their criticism. Verdicts included “perfect, except that it was served stone-cold” and “who lost the salt shaker?” The biggest demerits went to teams whose ingredients ignored the seasons, including asparagus shipped up from the Southern Hemisphere.

Ultimately, Team Pickled Penguins, captained by Erin Chenyan Yu ’10, prevailed with a seasonal plate of scallops wrapped in bacon with caramelized pear. Yu attributed their success to the talents of teammate Marcelo Cerullo ’10, who said, “I’ve learned to cook from trial and error, plus watching my mom.” Judge Paul O’Connell of Chez Henri restaurant pronounced their dish “perfectly seasoned—creativity does not mean throwing in every available ingredient.”

Overall, the judges stressed that “simple is always better,” in Mayer’s words, as he praised the Golden Skillet–winning side dish of butternut squash risotto with saffron. Nearby, spectators tasted the leftovers and copied the recipes, perhaps already planning their own future delicious meals.

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