PLEASE NOTE: In keeping with Harvard’s Coronavirus Guidelines, the University’s New Employee Welcome and Orientation program has changed from being an in-person session to a virtual online session. Please use the links on the right to sign up for an upcoming Orientation session.  A few days before your scheduled session, you will be sent instructions for accessing the online Orientation. If you have already signed up for an upcoming session, no extra steps are required.

Introduction to the structure...

Wondering if a certificate is right for you? Join us for a webinar on Thursday, February 18 at 1 p.m. to hear all about these graduate-level credentials.

In this live session, we’ll cover all the basics, including:

• Why certificates are valuable tools for building new skills
• How to design your path and earn your certificate
• Which Harvard resources are available to you
• How a certificate can be a stepping stone to a master’s degree

Click...

This workshop by the Harvard University Archives will introduce methods for gaining control of email and managing it according to Harvard records policies as well as provide tips on how to organize your email.

Who should attend: All employees who want to effectively manage their email.

What you will learn

• Methods of controlling email
• The application of the General Records Schedule to email...

This workshop by the Harvard University Archives will present the step-by-step process of sending records to off-site storage at the Harvard Depository. We cover everything from how to pack a box to how to complete the deposit paperwork.

Who should attend: Employees who have not yet sent records to storage as well as anyone in charge of packing and depositing boxes who would like a refresher course.

What you will learn...

Have you ever wondered, "How long do I need to keep my office records? Can I throw them away when I am done with them?" This workshop by the Harvard University Archives provides tools and advice to help you determine how long to keep your records and what to do when you no longer need to hold onto them. Whether you feel like you’re drowning in information or you're concerned that you're keeping records too long or not long enough, this workshop is for you.

Who...

Maya female ceramic figurines from the island of Jaina in Campeche, Mexico, produced in the Late Classic Period (600–900 CE) are admired for their lifelike, poignant, and sometimes amusing characteristics. Long assumed to be elite women or moon goddesses, these figurines reveal a complexity of Maya social life, especially for women, that is rarely seen in other painted ceramics or monumental sculpture. They also offer insights into the culture of Jaina Island, including disturbing enslavement practices. Mary Miller will discuss various interpretations of Jaina figurines—including...

How do we confront the history and legacy of Louis Agassiz’s extensive archive of images of African and Indigenous Brazilians made in Manaus, Brazil in 1865 and housed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum?

Five distinguished panelists reflect on the historical moment when these pictures were taken, discuss racist displays of Indigenous people in Brazil and elsewhere, and, by bringing to light respect for different epistemologies, explore ways to contend with them today. Panelists will be writer and historian Christoph Irmscher (contributor to the recent Peabody Museum Press book about...

Animals develop special characteristics that help them survive in their environments. From keeping warm to staying hidden, animals solve problems every day. Have you ever thought about how we humans do the same?

Get ready for a lively night of fun, games, and surprises when Javier Marin transports you back inside the Harvard Museum of Natural History. He will broadcast from the galleries pointing out some of the ways animals adapt to challenges they face in the wild. Then, you will look through your own homes in a problem-solving scavenger hunt. Your family will work together...

The prominence of powerful goddesses and queens in the Nubian Kingdom of Kush (now Northern Sudan) highlights the unusually high status of women in this ancient African society and serves as a fitting focus for the study of female power in the ancient world. Using temple inscriptions found in Egypt and Nubia, the rich funerary goods found in royal burials, and temple and tomb imagery, Solange Ashby will discuss how ancient Africans of the Nile Valley understood female power and presence. Songs from Beyoncé’s recent production “Black Is King” will be woven into this presentation on...

The last common ancestor of chimpanzees and modern humans is believed to have evolved in Africa six to eight million years ago. Finding fossil apes and hominins—extinct members of the human lineage—from this period has been challenging. Ashley Hammond will discuss her approach to identifying key evolutionary adaptations of this last common ancestor using 3D technology, analyses of known fossils, and field research at six-million-year-old sites in Kenya. Hammond’s research aims to clarify the origins of bipedality, a key adaptation in human evolution.

Evolution Matters...