Resources for Current Scholars & Fellows

Every affiliate is assigned an individual, unique Harvard Identification (ID) Number and provided with an official Harvard ID Card featuring their picture and their ID Number.

Once you have received your HUID, please let Francesca know so she can give you access to HYI office space (which requires you to swipe your ID to enter). 

Visiting Scholars: Please pick up your ID from the Campus Service Center/ID Office on August 1 or later. In-person service hours are 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday (excluding University Holidays). Bring your passport and HYI invitation letter with you. The address is:

Campus Service Center/ID Office
Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center Room 807
1350 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge (Tel: 617-496-7827)

Visiting Fellows: Those of you living in GSAS housing may receive your HUID
upon checking in. If not, please head to the Smith Campus Center (described
above.)

Visiting Fellows (graduate students):

Beginning in August, you will receive a monthly stipend check. Please pick up your first check at the Harvard-Yenching Institute. You will use this (with your passport and I-20 form visa document) to set up a bank account at any local bank around Harvard University. Please make sure you update your local address via your my.harvard.edu account (as this is the address your checks will be sent). We recommend you sign up for direct deposit as subsequent monthly stipend checks are mailed to your residential address here in the United States. Once you have set up a US bank account you can receive your stipend checks directly in your bank account via a process called Direct Deposit. It is highly encouraged that you set up a US bank account in order to take advantage of direct deposit. Register for direct deposit using PeopleSoft.

Visiting Scholars (faculty):

Your stipends will be processed at the end of each month, so your first payment will be on August 31. Once you have set up a US bank account, you can receive your stipend checks directly in your bank account via a process called Direct Deposit. We highly encourage all scholars to sign up for direct deposit, as this is the fastest and most efficient way for you to receive your monthly stipends. Register for direct deposit using PeopleSoft. 

Harvard Key is your password which connects you electronically to resources at Harvard including full access to the Harvard University Library System and its collections. Obtain your Harvard Key at https://key.harvard.edu/.

Visiting Fellows: You will automatically receive a “g.harvard.edu” email address after registering your HUID.

Visiting Scholars: The Harvard Key process should direct you to the website you need to access the activation of a Harvard e-mail account for you. If you are not presented with this option right away when you sign up for your Harvard Key, you should be able to select an option on the https://key.harvard.edu page that allows you to activate your Harvard e-mail account.

You are in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) division at Harvard.
Your email extension will read @fas.harvarad.edu
You may also set up a Harvard gmail account with extension @g.harvard.edu

Set up a device that you have access to remotely for two-step verification. Search for “backup devices for two-step verification” on https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp.

Activate two-step verification

If you are a Visiting Scholar you must apply for a social security number (SSN). If you do not already have one, you will need to apply for one after you arrive. 

In order to apply for SSN, you will need to follow the SSN Application Instructions on the HIO website.

RSEA and those on F-1 visas will need to fill out the SSN letter request form, then gather the required documents (detailed on the HIO website), and visit one of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Offices.

The closest SSA offices are located at 10 Fawcett St, Cambridge, MA 02138 and 10 Causeway St, Boston, MA 02222.

If you have a social security card from your previous stay in the US, please bring the original card with you. If you no longer have the original card, you will need to apply for a duplicate. Even if you know your number, you must have an original card to present to Harvard’s Tax Office. 

You should receive an email from the Harvard Tax Office (support@online-tax.net) requesting that you complete a tax classification survey within thirty days of your appointment start date. You will need to complete this survey and then submit your I-94, DS-2019, passport and social security card (not a photocopy) to the Harvard University Tax Office. If you haven’t received this email by the end of August, please inform Susan. 

Visiting Fellows should begin taking steps to receive a Social Security Number or an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). This is necessary for United States tax purposes because you will be receiving financial support from the Harvard-Yenching Institute while you are in the United States. 

The Harvard International Office is a valuable resource for questions related to acquiring a Social Security Number or ITIN. We encourage you to explore their website to learn more about this process. Because you will be an F-1 visa holder and not planning to work on campus, you might need to apply for an ITIN instead. To learn more about the ITIN application process you should visit the following page on the HIO website (https://hio.harvard.edu/individual-tax-payer-identification-number-itin). 

Any questions you have related to the above materials may be directed to the HIO. 

Contact the following staff members for questions about:

• Health insurance: Susan
• Taxes and payments/finance: Susan
• Library resources: Ruohong
• Faculty mentors: Ruohong
• To request a leave of absence: Ruohong
• HYI’s research funding: Susan
• VS public talk arrangements: Francesca
• Building access: Francesca (Vanserg) or James (2 Divinity)
• Making an appointment with the HYI Director: James
• Updating your profile on HYI website: James
• Sharing about new publications/contributing a working paper: Lindsay
• Visiting Scholar (faculty) general questions: Francesca
• Visiting Fellow (graduate student) general questions: James

• HYI – Harvard-Yenching Institute
• HIO – Harvard International Office
• HUID – Harvard University ID
• HUIT – Harvard University Information Technology
• FAS – Faculty of Arts and Sciences
• RSEA – Regional Studies – East Asia
• HUHS – Harvard University Health Services (or just UHS)
• CGIS – Center for Government and International Studies
• EAS – East Asian Studies
• EALC – East Asian Languages & Civilizations
• GSAS – Graduate School or Arts and Sciences
• RSVP – “répondez s’il vous plaît” (French for “please respond” – in context, this is a request to confirm if you plan to attend an event or not.)
• ASAP – as soon as possible

If you need help, contact the HUIT (Harvard University Information Technology) Service Desk or visit the IT Help Portal:

HUIT Service Desk (617.495.7777 or ithelp@harvard.edu

Hours (EST): Monday – Friday: 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday: 12 p.m. – 4 p.m; Sunday: 12 p.m. – 4 p.m

Tools and resources for remote work

Local IT Help Desks (select FAS)

IT Help Portal

Permission from the Associate Director is mandatory if you will be absent from your local residence at any time for a period longer than nine days. The only exception is that permission is not required if you are planning to be absent during the holiday break (approximately two weeks) when the Institute and the University are closed for the winter holidays. However, you must receive permission from the Associate Director if you will be extending your holiday absence either before or after this period.

In general, we ask that you restrict your travel obligation so that you are truly in residence at the Institute. Please limit your domestic travel (for conferences and workshops in North America) to at most a couple of trips during the year.

You may sit in classes as an auditor with the course instructor’s permission. If there is a specific course that you are very interested in auditing, please directly get in contact with the course instructor/faculty. It is advisable to get in touch with the instructor one week to 10 days prior to the first meeting of the class, and ask them for permission. It will be very helpful to send a brief message to the instructor to introduce yourself and share your research interests and the reasons why you would like to take the course.

A publicly accessible Harvard FAS (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) course catalog is available.

Some other course catalogs are:

• Harvard Law School
• Harvard Kennedy School
• Harvard Business School

After you have received your Harvard Key, you can visit my.harvard.edu to view the FAS catalog.

A printer, scanner, and photocopy machine are available at HYI’s Vanserg Office during regular office hours, Monday – Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. Please ask a staff member for help finding the room.

Access to Vanserg Hall: Vanserg Hall offices are accessible using your Harvard ID card. The building/outside doors are usually open from 7:30 am to 10 pm. However, if the outer doors are locked, you may use your Harvard ID to enter the building

Access to 2 Divinity Avenue: Those with offices in 2 Divinity Avenue will be granted card access to the building. The exterior doors of 2 Divinity Avenue are unlocked during the Harvard-Yenching Library’s open hours. As their schedule varies during the semester, visit: https://library.harvard.edu/libraries?active_filter=1&library=yenching&weeks=1 to view the building’s hours. 

In a typical year we hold the following trips for our affiliates and their families:

Day trips:

• DeCordova Sculpture Park and Apple/Pumpkin picking (fall)
• Peabody Essex Museum/trip to Salem, MA (fall or spring)
• Newport, RI (mid/late-May)

Overnight trips:

• Ski Trip in Bretton Woods, NH (long weekend in mid-January)
• New York City trip (mid/late April, during school vacation week)

The Institute provides Visiting Scholars and Visiting Fellows with up to $5,000 towards research-related expenses for the period beginning August 1 through their residential stay but no later than July 31.

Research Funds may be used for the following purposes:

• Professional editing services
• Attendance at up to 2 conferences in North America. With the exception of the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, you must be presenting a paper at the conference in order to be eligible for funding.
• With PRIOR approval, short research trips related to your research topic. To apply, you will need to submit a detailed explanation of the purpose of the trip, including uniquely available materials, names of interviewees, etc.
• Support for research assistants (applies to VS only) to help with translation, library research, editing, etc.

To receive an honorarium for a presentation made at other universities, you must receive advance permission from the Institute. While there is no limit on the number of such talks at local area universities, the Institute asks that you restrict the number of presentations requiring you to travel outside the greater Boston area. Toward that end, the Institute will authorize a maximum of three such requests per scholar.

Each HYI Visiting Scholar is required to give a public talk on their research, with your mentor serving as chair/discussant.

Francesca will arrange the details with each Scholar and their mentor. She will be in touch via email.

In the meantime, we would like to emphasize a few key points:

• The talk is intended to build community and share general knowledge, rather than being very specialized. The audience will be interdisciplinary with many attendees outside of your specific field.
• We suggest choosing a talk title that appeals to a broad, interdisciplinary (non-specialist) audience

HYI encourages current visiting scholars in residence to organize small-scale, one-day workshops on a well-focused theme likely to result in an edited volume to be submitted for publication. A workshop should include no more than a dozen scholars drawn from Harvard and other universities in North America. Workshop organizers should seek academic advice and guidance from their mentors and other Harvard faculty members in the relevant field regarding themes and scholars to be invited. All logistics will be handled by the Harvard-Yenching Institute staff.

Ruohong distributes more information about workshops to visiting scholars each fall. Please contact her with additional questions.