Higher Education

Student Life

In addition to the formal curriculum, students at HGSE have a rich panoply of extracurricular opportunities for academic and professional development, social life, and community service. Students regularly have individual and small group conversations with national leaders in education who come to Harvard to speak in classes, to attend Harvard's executive education programs, or to consult with Harvard faculty. Informal career exploration conversations with senior administrators are scheduled throughout the year. Special career networking programs allow students to access the extensive Higher Education at Harvard alumni network. An active student organization, the Higher Ed Student Association (HESA), sponsors social activities, community service projects, and speaker series.

HGSE students can also take advantage of the extraordinarily rich offerings found throughout the Harvard University campus and the greater Boston area.

• Last year, when the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education held a public hearing in Boston, HGSE higher education students testified in front of the Commission, preparing remarks (22k pdf) together in advance of the session.

• Students supported fellow classmate, Jarrid Whitney (tribal affiliation: Six Nations Cayuga) at Harvard University's Native American Program's annual Pow Wow for an afternoon of dancing and celebration. Jarrid is currently Dean of Enrollment at Notre Dame de Namur University

• Five members of the higher ed cohort who were taking a statistics course together during the first semester created a weekly lunch group that lasted all year – selecting a different area restaurant to try each week. Pictured below (from left to right) is Grace Lee (Development Fellow in the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development, Harvard University), Jon Schwarz (Program Coordinator of the Office of Minority Education and Institutional Reserach, MIT), Shannon Houston (Director of the Office of the Certificate for Advanced Graduate Studies [CAGS] and Doctoral Studies, Cambridge College), Brent Evans (Assistant Director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance), and Scott Barge (Ed.D. in Higher Education candidate, HGSE).

• Higher Ed student Donna Vivar collaborated with other HGSE students to create a day-long workshop on "Privilege and Identity in Higher Education" that was open to the entire Harvard community. Donna is currently Assistant Director of First Year Experience at Boston College.

• In addition, Higher Ed students have brought numerous guest speakers to HGSE, attended the Harvard-Yale football game, participated in a local weekly Trivia Night, and organized various outings into Cambridge and Boston.

For a sample of Harvard programs, see:

• the Harvard University Events Calendar
• the Harvard College Events Calendar
• KSG Today
• the Askwith Forum

Links to Harvard Square and Cambridge:

• Harvard Square
• Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Map of Harvard
• Harvard Virtual Tour