The year in photos
Academic and athletic highs, dramatic scenes on- and offstage, quiet moments, a changing of the presidential guard. The year 2023 added its imprint to the long Crimson line.
Postdoc William Allen performs research with lasers in the lab of Xiaowei Zhuang.
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
During the 2023 Wintersession, 12 students build a Japanese river skiff in an apprenticeship-style “silent” workshop. Sachiko Kirby ’26 closely examines the boat edge for straightness as she uses the plane tool. Lauren Chen ’24 (left) and Minjue Wu ’22 create charcoal drawings during a portraiture class.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
Chilly crowds join the Parade for Hasty Pudding 2023 Woman of the Year Jennifer Coolidge.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Alexander Yang (from left), Katherine Marguerite, and Leen Al Kassab receive their residency assignments during Match Day at Harvard Medical School.
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard Climbing Club members socialize before getting in a workout.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
The Harvard Foundation hosts the 37th Annual Cultural Rhythms celebrating 2023 Artist of the Year Issa Rae, flanked by Alta Mauro (left) and Sade Abraham (right). Devon Gates performs during the show.
Photos by Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Students strut during Eleganza, an annual fashion and talent show put on at the Bright-Landry Center.
Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
Poetry of the past and present intermingle. Harvard student poet Mia Word ’24 stands for a portrait outside Longfellow House on Brattle Street. She selected the location because of its connection to Phyllis Wheatley, the first African American published poet. Government concentrator Quinn Lewis '23 represents a new generation of graduates focused on climate solutions.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell and Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographers
A model poses wearing “Water of Life” during the Marine Debris Fashion Show.
Photo by Scott Eisen
Chloë LeStage ’23 is an undergraduate who trained to become a doula during a COVID gap year and is dedicating her thesis to doulas in prison. Henry Cerbone ’23 is blending studies of animals, philosophy, engineering, and robotics to understand how robotics can learn from biology and biology can, perhaps, be helped by robotics.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographers
A late afternoon sun creates distinctive shadows on the Carpenter Center.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Kelly Jenkins carries a large photo of her daughter Shea Jenkins ‘23, captain of the women's lacrosse team, across the street on her way to Commencement Exercises 2023. Harvard College Baccalaureate Service takes place in Tercentenary Theatre. Rakesh Khurana (from left), Larry Bacow, and Matthew Potts process to the event.
Photos by Jon Chase and Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographers
Harvard Commencement Exercises in Tercentenary Theatre. Katalin Karikó (left) and Tom Hanks are pictured as Hanks’ name is read as the “winner.”
Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
As part of the Mental Health and Wellbeing initiative, Goat Yoga on the QUAD is offered to Harvard Medical School students. Miriam Zawadzki (left) and Carla Winter, both M.D./Ph.D. students at HMS, react as goats join their poses. People with umbrellas pass beneath trees outside the courtyard of the Harvard Museum of Natural History on a rainy day.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell and Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographers
The columns of Austin Hall are reflected in the entrance to the building at Harvard Law School. Patrice Higonnet, Robert Walton Goelet Research Professor of French History, Emeritus, walks past the murals inside the Busch-Reisinger Museum.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell and Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographers
Little Amal is the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child at the heart of The Walk. Over the last year she has become a global symbol of human rights, especially those of refugees.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Anhphu Nguyen ‘25 shows a monocle inside the Harvard Science and Engineering Complex (SEC). Nguyen studies specialize in human-computer interaction. The Physics of Sports, taught by Kelly Miller, applies the laws of physics to understand the world of athletics. Students use motion trackers and sensors to analyze motion in its dynamical and kinematic aspects.
Photos by Kris Snibbe and Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographers
Students and faculty participate in conversation in the garden at the Center for Government and International Studies.
Photo by Dylan Goodman
Inauguration Arts Prelude features a performance by the Asian American Dance Troupe in Sanders Theatre.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard President Claudine Gay visits Harvard Archives to see the presidential insignia that will play an important ceremonial part of her Inauguration. Gay is pictured with the Harvard Charter of 1650.
Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
View of the procession into Tercentenary Theatre for the Inauguration Ceremony of Harvard President Gay.
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer
Harvard Professor Claudia Goldin is named the winner of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023. Goldin (pictured) speaks during a press conference.
Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
Cross-country star Graham Blanks. Ice T (right) speaks about the United Nations graphic in the Day One DNA: 50 Years in HipHop Culture exhibit at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art at The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.
Photos by Jon Chase and Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographers
Ryan Adams ’26 (left) and Max Bowman ’26 share a conversation on the rocks outside the Science Center.
Photo by Dylan Goodman
Students await the German National soccer team in Widener Library during their tour of the campus.
Photo by Dylan Goodman
The tower of Eliot House is pictured along the Charles River as rowers pass the Weeks Footbridge. Pierce Hall pictured at sunset.
Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer
Vanessa Valverde ’27, pictured in front of Memorial Hall, is a female veteran who served in the U.S. Marines.
Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographer
Overview shows the renovated roof of Sanders Theatre at Memorial Hall as below people cross the street.
Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer