A Harvard University professor and one of the US’s most distinguished orators yesterday delivered a far-ranging lecture about the historic relationship between Cambridge and Harvard to commemorate Cambridge’s 800th anniversary.
A Harvard University professor and one of the US’s most distinguished orators yesterday delivered a far-ranging lecture about the historic relationship between Cambridge and Harvard to commemorate Cambridge’s 800th anniversary.
The Reverend Professor Peter J Gomes’ lecture, Mature Reflections of a Child, addressed the relationship between Cambridge as parent and Harvard as child. Harvard University was first endowed by John Harvard in the 17th century. Harvard was an alumnus of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
The lecture was given at the Queen’s Building, Emmanuel College, where Professor Gomes is an Honorary Fellow and has a lectureship named after him. It forms part of a commemorative lecture exchange between Cambridge and Harvard.
Professor Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and the Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church at Harvard University. He also teaches a course at Harvard on the History of Harvard and Its Presidents which is described as "an exploration of the intellectual and institutional history of America's oldest college through the examination of four pairs of its 27 presidents".
At the beginning of his lecture, Professor Gomes presented Dr Jonathan Nicholls, Registrary of the University of Cambridge, with a scroll from the President and Fellows of Harvard: “On behalf of the President and Fellows of Harvard College in recognition of the long-standing, special intellectual and ancestral relationship between our two institutions, we offer warm congratulations and best wishes to our esteemed colleagues at the University of Cambridge on the splendid occasion of their 800th anniversary.”
In response, Dr Gordon Johnson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, President of Wolfson College and Provost of the Gates Cambridge Trust, will give a keynote lecture at Harvard’s Memorial Church on 3rd December.
Dr Johnson will speak on the theme of Universities and Society: Contemporary Cambridge and Harvard in their Historical Contexts and will explore the reasons great universities become great, and how they have to work to sustain that position.
Dr Johnson said: "This is an excellent opportunity to consider the factors involved in creating two such vibrant and long-lasting institutions and to explore how these have been developed and nourished over the centuries."
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