Jazz Musician Esperanza Spalding to Depart Harvard

Prominent jazz musician Esperanza E. Spalding, a professor of the practice in Harvard’s Music Department, announced in a Monday email to department affiliates that she will depart the University following disapproval of her proposal for “decolonial education.”

Harvard CFO Thomas Hollister To Retire in June 2023

Harvard Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Hollister will step down and retire at the end of the academic year after eight years serving in the role.

Harvard Endowment Investment Returns and Benchmarks By Asset Class

Missing from Harvard’s Annual Endowment Report This Year: Underlying Data

Each fall, Harvard releases an annual financial report that provides insights into the University’s budget and investment strategy. For years, the endowment section of the report looked largely the same, with data on HMC’s targets, as well as returns across asset categories. But this fall, it abandoned the longtime practice of disclosing investment performance by asset class.

Harvard Ended Fiscal Year 2022 with $406 Million Budget Surplus as Revenues Exceeded Pre-Pandemic Levels

Harvard ended fiscal year 2022 with a $406 million budget surplus, its largest in at least the last two decades, as revenues rose above pre-pandemic levels following two consecutive years of decline.

Harvard Endowment Value Falls $2.3 Billion Following First Negative Returns Since 2016

The value of Harvard University’s endowment fell by $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2022 after the Harvard Management Company delivered a 1.8 percent loss on its investments — its first year of negative returns since 2016.

By the Numbers: Harvard’s FY 2022 Financials

In fiscal year 2022, the value of Harvard’s endowment dropped by $2.3 billion while the University’s revenue streams rebounded. See the highlights from Harvard’s Annual Financial Report below.

Harvard Has Reported Positive Endowment Returns for Five Straight Years. That Could Change this Year.

With high inflation and rising interest rates rattling financial markets, the Harvard Management Company, the University’s investment arm, could be on the brink of delivering its first negative annual returns in five years.

Harvard Says the Endowment Tax Is a Blow to Higher Education. Is It?

Harvard has decried a bill passed under the Trump administration that includes a tax on wealthy university endowments. But is the impact of the provision as significant as the University claims it to be?

Harvard Bolsters Investments in Google, Semiconductor Industry

The Harvard Management Company shored up its investments in the technology industry last quarter, boosting its shares of Alphabet — the parent company of Google — by nearly 40 percent while increasing its holdings in the semiconductor companies.

GOP Congressman Takes Aim at Harvard’s Potential Endowment Links to Chinese Companies

U.S. Representative Gregory F. Murphy (R-N.C.) called on Harvard to disclose and divest its endowment from any potential holdings in Chinese companies deemed a threat to national security by the federal government in a letter to the school last week.

Harvard Endowment Shares of Meta, Google Balloon in First Quarter

The Harvard Management Company more than tripled its shares of Meta Platforms — formerly known as Facebook — as it saw nearly all of its stock holdings decline in value during the first three months of 2022.

Harvard and the Fight for Foreign Collaboration

Debate over the regulation of foreign money in academia, once an afterthought, has become a microcosm of the U.S.’s attempts to remain the world’s top innovator, exposing a tension between the government’s efforts to remain competitive and academia’s goals to promote innovation and the free flow of ideas.

Unstandardized Admissions

Stakeholders throughout higher education — and Harvard itself — are split on the role that standardized tests like the SAT and GRE should play in admissions.

Harvard President Lawrence Bacow Made $1.1 Million in 2020, Financial Disclosures Show

Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow earned $1.13 million in 2020, a pay cut from his compensation during the first full year of his presidency in 2019.