On July 1, Samuel M. Allen PhD ’75 succeeded Tom A. Kochan as the chair of the faculty.

Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then led a cultural transformation in the way music, movies, and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, died Wednesday. He was 56.

Postdoctoral researchers at MIT have decided to take matters into their own hands. Postdocs will be represented by the new, autonomous Postdoctoral Association (PDA) instead of the Postdoctoral Advisory Council (PAC), which was organized by the office of the vice president for research. The move gives MIT postdocs an organization more similar to the Undergraduate Association or the Graduate Student Council.

Economy Hardware — formerly the value hardware store of choice for many MIT students — still seems to be “spring cleaning.” Though it began renovations last December, a store representative said that Economy Hardware plans to reopen its location in Central Square by the end of this month. The store originally hoped to be open this spring.