More importantly, they say the Altom suicide was a wake-up call to the students themselves: working together and being supportive of each other is the best way to combat an overly competitive department.
Still, despite the change, graduate students and professors alike say the department is not in an ideal place yet. Students are still under pressure to produce results, knowing that if they don't, both their own future and their advisor's reputation will suffer.
Alan Long, director of the laboratories of the Department of Chemistry, says that breaking down some of the walls and creating lines of communication within the department has been the key to change.
"But I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a competitive place," Long says. "The people we bring in here are competitive by nature. Harvard is Harvard."
Mending the Wounds
Altom wrote three suicide notes, one to Corey, one to his parents, and one to the chair of the chemistry department. In those notes he suggested numerous reforms to the structure of the department and ways to improve the lives and relieve the stresses of those in it.
The department has listened to Altom.
Read more in News
Game Should Be Free, Council SaysRecommended Articles
-
Suicide Spurs GSAS, Chem. Department To Review AdvisingA fifth-year graduate student in the chemistry department drafted a plea for administrative change before taking his own life last
-
Chemistry Dept. Changes Ph.D. Advising SystemWeld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry James G. Anderson, chair of the department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, announced major changes
-
The Alchemy of AdvisingGraduate students in the chemistry department take the intensity of their lives for granted. While undergraduates enjoy three long months
-
Chemistry Department Hires Private PsychiatristA recent University-wide study of Harvard's mental health resources found them under-staffed and inefficient. The Chemistry department, which has been
-
Chemistry Grad Student DiesJason D. Altom, a fifth-year graduate student in the chemistry department, was found dead in his Somerville apartment last month,
-
Chem. Dept. Priorities Reflect Larger Harvard ProblemTo the editors: I graduated from the chemistry department this spring, and I was a classmate and friend of Jason