Advancing Intercultural Understanding
Advancing Intercultural Understanding
We create opportunities for meaningful connection across communities and cultures at Harvard by fostering a commitment to our collective engagement.
Programming at the Harvard Foundation aims to encourage dialogue across difference and facilitate peer-to-peer learning to fulfill the promise of “building a community in which people of all backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences come together to learn, grow, and thrive” as stated by University president, Alan Garber.
Signature Programming
The Harvard Foundation is committed to offering a multitude of ways to engage with the Harvard community. Signature programming brings together students, staff, and faculty, year after year to create meaningful opportunities for connection, learning, and community-building across campus.
Cultural Rhythms
In Spring 2026, we will be celebrating the 40th Cultural Rhythms by hosting a series of events that highlight the richness of the cultures represented at Harvard and lead to meaningful intercultural engagement. We aim to uplift students as they share traditions from their own cultures and encourage them to learn about traditions from other cultures.
Women's Week
The Women’s Week initiative invites the entire campus community to celebrate International Women’s Day, engage with inspiring leaders through the Schmertzler Leadership Seminar, and collaborate with peers and partners to support community flourishing. Signature projects include a week-long series of events developed in partnership with student organizations and campus partners on topics ranging from athletics, negotiation, and entrepreneurship to the history of women in academia, the International Women’s Day Celebration, and military service, along with the annual Schmertzler Leadership Seminar featuring a leader advancing community well-being. Together, these programs spark dialogue, broaden perspectives, and empower students to help shape a thriving campus community.
Portraiture Project
The Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project commissions, curates, and uplifts portraiture that reflects the breadth of Harvard College’s community and contributions. By elevating voices historically underrepresented in campus imagery, the project advances intercultural understanding, fosters a sense of belonging, and integrates inclusive storytelling into daily campus life.
This project aims to increase representation of portraits across Harvard College and center storytelling through the art of portraiture. Portraiture humanizes history and serves as a powerful conduit to further conversation about the multiplicity of the human experience. A portrait invites each of us into our own transcendent conversation with the artwork that evokes empathy, introspection, and connection.
Community Conversations
Community Conversations is an annual program organized by the Harvard Foundation and supported by the First Year Experience (FYE) Office, with support from the Advising Programs Office. The Harvard Foundation leads a planning committee with members from across Harvard College in the development of training and facilitation material for one of the first entryway meetings for first-year students. While the Foundation Team prepares the material, the Proctors and Peer Advising Fellows lead the conversations with First-Year students during the entryway meeting. Proctors serve a vital role in fostering an inclusive community at Harvard College, and the Foundation Staff is available to consult.
Community Conversations itself is the entryway meeting that supports students' self-reflection, examination of different perspectives, and dialogue skillset as they begin to explore what it means to live in community with others. We aim to have this program ignite first-years’ initial conversations with their communities about their journeys thus far and equip them with the dialoging skillset to actively listen and learn from their new neighbors.
We hope this entryway meeting will bolster students’ understanding of self and remind them that they are all valued members of the community and each of them belongs in our community.
Community Building Programming
Throughout the year, the Harvard Foundation aims to offer programming that promotes intercultural awareness and understanding across the Harvard community. By highlighting the myriad of cultures and communities present at Harvard and intentionally engaging across differences, we provide opportunities for meaningful connection.
Foundation Fridays
The Harvard Foundation is here to serve the whole Harvard Community. We host monthly Foundation Fridays as open houses to encourage community members to come spend quality time with our staff and student workers, enjoy our space, and create connections together. These joyous occasions often feature food, crafts, and other engaging activities.
Ice Cream Socials
The Harvard Foundation hosted over 650 community members across two days in the Yard and on the Quad to welcome everyone back to campus and give people an opportunity to meet our team.