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Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences has officially voted to change the name of the Human Evolutionary Biology concentration during a meeting on April 1. Effective as of July 1, 2025 — when the academic year rolls over — the concentration will now be known as Human Biology, Behavior, and Evolution.
According to Daniel E. Lieberman ’86, chair of the Human Evolutionary Biology department, conversations regarding the name change have been underway since before the pandemic. The primary motivation was to clarify the breadth of content covered within the concentration.
“Human Evolutionary Biology is quite a unique department across higher education, and the mission is to explore human biology and behavior using evolutionary theory,” Andrew K. Yegian, the assistant director of undergraduate studies for the concentration, said.
“That is really the one and only goal, to clarify things for both first years and sophomores who might be looking around at concentrations — trying to figure out what interests them, but also post-grad, grad schools, employers, and so forth trying to help them interpret the transcripts of our students,” Yegian added.
Human Evolutionary Biology was formed as a separate department from the Biological Anthropology wing of the Anthropology Department in 2009, following the reorganization of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences into the three distinct divisions of humanities, social science, and science.
Due to its unique title, Human Evolutionary Biology faculty reported seeing confusion from undergraduates and the medical schools, employers, and graduate programs that concentrators applied to regarding what the concentration actually covers.
“We study how humans respond to climate change, we study developmental biology, we study health, we study the microbiome, we study brains, we study all kinds of aspects of human biology using evolutionary perspectives, but we don't just simply teach what we often call ‘stones and bones,’” Lieberman said.
The name change was an effort to “help our concentrators with their aspirations,” Lieberman said, and will be the only aspect of the concentration altered. In fact, according to Lieberman, many seniors were even disappointed that the name change would be reflected in their diplomas.
An email sent earlier in fall by the HEB program coordinator announced that the department was holding focus groups to receive student feedback regarding the name change and potential names for the concentration.
Lieberman noted that Human Evolutionary Biology was a “very happy concentration,” and that these renaming efforts were not in regards to issues with the concentration itself.
As a result, all concentration requirements will remain, and offerings will still have the same titles, numbers, and listings under HEB — as they are still offered within that department.
With the new name taking effect at the end of this academic year, Lieberman only sees one negative.
“I think HBBE is a little bit more of a tongue twister as an acronym,” he said.
—Staff writer David D. Dickson contributed reporting.
—Staff writer Ella F. Niederhelman can be reached at ella.niederhelman@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @eniederhelman.
