HSPH Catalog

Resources and Services for HSPH Students

The school’s main buildings for research, teaching, and administration are located in Boston’s Medical Area and Harvard University’s Longwood campus. The facilities adjoin those of Harvard’s Medical School,School of Dental Medicine, and Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine and are situated near Children’s Hospital Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and other Harvard-affiliated hospitals. The school is within walking distance of many cultural institutions, such as Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and public transportation is readily available to other parts of Boston and Cambridge, wwhere students may cross-register for courses at other Harvard schools and at MIT. A shuttle bus runs between the Longwood campus and Harvard Yard in Cambridge.

Below you will find information on the following:

Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine
The Countway Library is the principal provider of library services to the school and is open every day (except for holidays) for work and study. One of the largest medical libraries in the world, the Countway houses more than 630,000 bound volumes, 3,500 current biomedical journal titles, and 10,000 noncurrent titles. The library’s website provides access to additional full-text journals in the biosciences and medicine and to many electronic databases. HSPH students have borrowing privileges throughout the Harvard University library system. The Boston Public Library, MIT libraries, and other area libraries add to the total book and periodical resources available.

Instructional Computing Facility
The HSPH Instructional Computing Facility is dedicated to serving the coursework and research computing needs of the school’s students and faculty. Resources include more than 200 personal computers, laser printers, a scanner, and a high-performance research computing cluster; a wide array of software,  including statistical packages, programming languages, analytical programs, and word processing packages; and services such as antivirus software, email, wireless Internet connectivity, user assistance, short courses, and computer accounts for funded research. Many academic departments also provide computing resources for their students. Additional services – such as computer classes, user groups, technical support, and purchase of discounted hardware and software – are available through the offices of Harvard’s University Information System.

Office For Student Affairs
The Office for Student Affairs (OSA) provides a range of services for students, including assistance to students with disabilities, and offers educational, social, cultural, and academic programs to support and enrich the student experience at HSPH. Staff members are available to respond to the needs of individual students as they deal with the many demands of their academic and personal lives. The staff assists all students, both domestic and international, and their families in adjusting to life in Boston and the United States. Through a variety of programs, the office works to foster a sense of community for students across the school. OSA sponsors noncredit academic support seminars on topics such as time management and can refer students to other sources of academic and personal assistance. Staff members coordinate orientation and commencement activities as well as social and multicultural programming throughout the year, often collaborating with other HSPH offices. OSA works closely with HSPH Student Government and all student groups to support programs and students in achieving their mission. The office also works with the Shattuck International House manager and co-supervises its resident community advisers.

Student housing
The Henry Lee Shattuck International House, available to both domestic and international students, is operated by the school on a nonprofit basis for its full-time students and their families. In addition to providing living quarters, the facility offers a supportive environment; students serving as resident community advisers help organize house activities and provide assistance. Located within a ten minute walk of the school, the apartment complex consists of three buildings with seventy furnished one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments that accommodate single students, roommates, and families. Several apartments are accessible to those with disabilities. All apartments have private kitchens and baths, free Internet and email access via a data link to the school, and twenty-four hour security. Shared facilities include a computer room with a printer and copy machine, a library/reading room, an exercise room, a function room, a children’s playroom, a laundry room, an indoor bicycle storage area, a piano room, a TV room with satellite TV and DVD, a recycling area, and an outdoor playground. Harvard Real Estate Services also offers a wide range of housing options in both Cambridge and Boston.

Students with disabilities The Office for Student Affairs can provide students with documented disabilities a range of services, including interpreters, scribes, class notes, arrangements for accommodations and transportation, and other services as appropriate. For more information, contact the director for student affairs, see the Office for Student Affairs website under Support Services, and see the HSPH Student Handbook under “Disabilities, Services for Students with“.

Career Services Office
The Office for Career Services offers career counseling, job search resources, and networking opportunities to help students and alumni succeed in finding challenging and rewarding positions. The office invites numerous organizations to campus to present information sessions and to participate in four Career Fairs during the academic year. Organizations are encouraged to post jobs, internships, and fellowships and to review electronic résumé/curriculum vitae (CV) books for potential candidates. Students also can attend fairs and events sponsored by the career services offices of other Harvard graduate schools. The CSO team conducts workshops on résumé/CV and cover letter writing, job search strategies, and interviewing and negotiating skills.

The team also organizes panel discussions featuring HSPH alumni and public health professionals. Alumni career coaches are available to assist students with their networking and career planning. Students and alumni have access to current online job postings and to fellowship and internship opportunities. The Career Services Office offers comprehensive online career preparation resources and a library containing job listings, resource directories, and other career-related information. Additionally, the office provides an interactive site on which students can practice for job interviews. Students have the opportunity to network with graduates from other Harvard professional schools through the Crimson Compass, an online database of university wide alumni.

Office of Alumni Affairs
The Office of Alumni Affairs (OAA)  acts as a liaison among 12,000 HSPH alumni and HSPH faculty, students, and administrators. It develops and implements programs and initiatives to build the alumni network and serves as a catalyst for connecting students, alumni, faculty, and outside constituencies on local, regional, and international levels.

The Office for Alumni Affairs works closely with the Offices for Career Services, Student Services, and Educational Programs, as well as with individual academic departments, to provide input into curricula, locate and facilitate practice placements, connect students with alumni mentors, and act as a resource for possible career opportunities. The office also works with the HSPH Alumni Association and the Alumni Council, the association’s elected representative body, to organize educational and networking events in the United States and abroad. In addition to maintaining active social networking groups, the office has launched an online directory communications platform to help facilitate connections among HSPH students, faculty, and alumni.

Office of Diversity
The HSPH Office of Diversity supports activities that increase diversity and promote cultural competency among members of the HSPH community. The office has a student ambassador program that helps connect students of color with other students, faculty, and staff. The office assists with recruitment initiatives and hosts or cosponsors cross-cultural educational activities and events, such as unity receptions, speaker seminars, and Yerby diversity lectures in public health. In addition, the office participates in activities that represent the school’s diversity agenda within HSPH and the university as well as nationally. The office is also an informal gathering place for students, staff, and other members of the HSPH community.

Student Organizations
The numerous student organizations at HSPH provide opportunities for learning and camaraderie outside the classroom. These organizations reflect students’ diverse interests and backgrounds and include Latin Public Health, Africa Health Forum, Asian Club, Climate Forum, Health in Practice Student Organization, Queer Student Association, Jewish Students Association, Muslim Student Group, Christian Fellowship, Health Policy Forum, and Public Health and Technology Group. New groups can be formed if a currently existing group does not provide opportunities for students in a specific area.

The HSPH Student Government is an active student organization that represents all HSPH students and includes elected and appointed representatives from each department, the MPH program, and the Division of Biological Sciences. It meets regularly to discuss issues and plan activities related to student life at HSPH. The organization provides a mechanism for working with members of the school’s faculty and administration on schoolwide issues, sponsoring seminars and other educational programs, organizing social activities, and arranging for student representation on several of the school’s faculty committees. The Student Government frequently sponsors or cosponsors collaborative activities, such as neighborhood cleanups, with the school and the neighboring community.

Harvard International Office
During the 2011–12 academic year, about 35 percent of HSPH students came from outside the United States. The experiences that international students bring to the school lend an important dimension to the academic programs and add to the richness of the diverse environment. International students and groups organize many cultural events at the school.

In addition to the programs provided by the Office for Student Affairs, the Harvard International Office (HIO), located on the Cambridge campus, offers a variety of services to students from abroad, including orientations and newsletters. One program, the HIO Host Program, matches students with a person or family who will welcome them and ease their transition to the United States. An international student adviser from the Harvard International Office holds biweekly office hours at HSPH to assist students with visa matters and to advise them on immigration regulations and other issues.

Child Care Facilities and Work/Life Resources
A number of child care facilities are located near the Longwood and Cambridge campuses. Referrals and information are provided by the Harvard University Office of Work and Family. Arrangements should be made as early as possible, as facilities are quickly filled. The HSPH work/life liaison can provide some additional information on university- and school-sponsored support services and resources for students and their families.

Contact Information
For student services, please contact:
Stanley Hudson
Associate Dean for Student Services
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-432-4703
Fax: 617-432-2009

For student affairs or students with disabilities, please contact:
Andy Eisenmann
Director for Student Affairs
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-432-1036
Fax: 617-432-3879
Email: aeisenma@hsph.harvard.edu
Web: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/administrative-offices/student affairs

For Shattuck House and other housing, please consult:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/student-life/housing

For Harvard University Housing:
http://www.huhousing.harvard.edu/HarvardUniversityHousing/index.aspx

For career services, please contact:
Peter Crudele
Director of Career Services
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-432-1034
Fax: 617-432-3184
Web: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/careers

For the Office of Diversity, please contact:
Dale Trevino
Director of Diversity Programs
33 Wigglesworth Street
Boston, MA 02120
Telephone: (617) 384-5412
Email: dtrevino@hsph.harvard.edu

Additional contact:
Michael Grusby
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Diversity, Office of the Dean
Email: mgrusby@hsph.harvard.edu

For services offered by the Harvard University International Office, please contact:
Maria Hernandez
Adviser to Foreign Students and Scholars
Harvard International Office
1350 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-2789
Fax: 617-495-4088
Web: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/abouthio/locationandhours/offsiteofficehours

For more information about local child care centers:
Office of Work/Life Resources
Phone: 617-495-4100

For more information on services, resources, and programs for students and their families, please contact:
Work/Life Liaison
Phone: 617-432-7448