Radcliffe Quarterly—Summer 2006

Degrees of Success: Studying the Choices of Highly Educated Women Deborah Blagg Are some professions more favorable for combining career and family? Economists Claudia Goldin RI ’06 and Lawrence Katz RI ’06 examine the data on graduates of the nation’s top colleges and professional schools. A Universe of Surprises: Astronomers Make New Discoveries Madeline Drexler Our solar system may not be typical in the universe. Read about this and other surprising discoveries. Artists Sarah Sze RI ’06 and Ann Carlson RI ’06 Ivelisse Estrada Two visual artists talk about their work. War and Displaced Populations: Lessons from the Front Lines Deborah Blagg In Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan, an estimated 20 million to 25 million people are displaced within their own countries. A majority of these people are women and children, and they are often victims of rape, hunger, and illness. A Worldwide Environmental Emergency Madeline Drexler Seven scientists from a range of disciplines gathered at Harvard to discuss “Biodiversity in the Anthropocene.” Their conclusions were uniformly grim. Departments From the Executive Dean Announcements Zadie Smith Wins Orange Prize for Fiction Executive Dean Louise Richardson Publishes Three Books on Terrorism Radcliffe Mentor Program and Externship Program Move to Harvard College Harvard Graduate Students to Participate in Radcliffe Community Two Radcliffe Fellows Awarded Pulitzer Prizes Institute Explorations Fellow Update Natasha Trethewey’s “Native Guard” Around the Institute News from the Schlesinger Library Lecture Presentations New Books A Family Daughter: A Novel by Maile Meloy ’94 A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor RI ’03 The Whole World Over: A Novel by Julia Glass RI ’05 My Father Is a Book by Janna Malamund Smith ’73 Intuition by Allegra Goodman ’89, RI '07 Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families by Leslie Morgan Steiner ’87 Quick Study Alumnae/i News Names & Faces NEWSmakers

RADCLIFFE QUARTERLY

Editor
Pat Harrison

Associate Editor
Ivelisse Estrada

Books Editor
Sage Stossel '93

Editors Emeritae
Maryel Finney Locke '48
Aida Kabatznick Press '48
Diane Sherlock '78

Design
forminform llc

Director of Communications
Whitney T. Espich

Associate Dean for Advancement and Planning
Tamara Elliott Rogers '74

Dean
Drew Gilpin Faust

Summer 2006

Volume No. 91/No. 2

The Radcliffe Quarterly (ISSN 0033-7528) is published two times a year by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Copyright 2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The Radcliffe Quarterly is distributed free to alumnae/i, faculty, and fellows. For others, subscriptions are available with a gift of $25 per year ($35 foreign) to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at the address listed above.

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E-mail: quarterly@radcliffe.edu

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is a scholarly community where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts. Within this broad purpose, the Radcliffe Institute sustains a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society.