UChicago News

Live webcast: “Class Day” at 2:00 p.m. CDT on June 8th

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:56 -0500

Class Day is a student-orchestrated event that celebrates the graduating class, its achievements, and its unique contributions to the UChicago community. Class Day serves as an intimate celebration for graduating seniors to reflect on their undergraduate experience and time in the College. The ceremony featured student speakers representing the graduating class, student and faculty awards, student photo montages, and a keynote address from Valerie Jarrett.

Live webcast: “SSA 2018 Hooding Ceremony” at 10:00 a.m. CDT on June 8th

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:44 -0500

The School of Social Service Administration hosted an annual Hooding Ceremony, where graduates in our doctoral and masters’ programs were individually recognized and hooded with their official academic hood which denotes their institution and field of study in which they have received their degree.

Live webcast: “531st Convocation of the University of Chicago” at 9:15 a.m. CDT on June 9th

Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:37 -0500

The University Ceremony of the 531st Convocation of the University of Chicago took place on Saturday, June 9, 2018, on the Main Quadrangle. The University of Chicago Pipe Band led distinguished faculty and graduating students in a procession, followed by opening remarks from President Robert J. Zimmer. Provost Daniel Diermeier introduced Professor Marianne Bertrand, who delivered the Convocation Address, “Mind The Gaps.” In the second half of the ceremony, President Zimmer bestowed honorary degrees upon distinguished scholars and conferred degrees upon candidates in the College, graduate divisions, and professional schools. The program also included performances by the University of Chicago Motet Choir and the Millar Brass Ensemble.

Live webcast: “UnCommon Core | The Undergraduate Entrepreneur” at 3 p.m. CDT on June 2nd

Tue, 29 May 2018 14:18 -0500

Starr Marcello, AM’04, MBA’17, Executive Director, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Chicago Booth
Join Starr Marcello for a dive into entrepreneurship and innovation on the UChicago campus. Get an inside look at the expanding innovation ecosystem (including the Polsky Center’s resources for alumni) and be immersed in an experiential entrepreneurship class based on Marcello’s new course for undergraduates, Special Topics in Entrepreneurship: Developing a New Venture, which is part of the undergraduate track of the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge, recognized as the top university accelerator program in the country. This session will include “shark tank” style pitch presentations from the top two entrepreneurial teams from this year’s class, giving you the opportunity to provide real-time feedback and advice directly to the founders. Attendees will leave with heightened skills for thinking like an innovator and a direct connection to the newest student enterprises on campus.

Live webcast: “22nd Annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge Finals” at 8:30 a.m. CDT on May 30th

Fri, 18 May 2018 12:39 -0500

Live webcast: “2018 John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) Finals” at 10:00 a.m. CDT on May 22nd

Fri, 18 May 2018 12:03 -0500

Live webcast: “Energy Start-Up 101: Beyond Innovations” at 5:30 p.m. CDT on May 16th

Mon, 14 May 2018 11:48 -0500

Every good company begins with a great idea. But how do you turn your great idea into a successful company? This process is difficult for any entrepreneur, but those in the energy industry take on the additional difficulty of addressing complex and long-term problems. Watch EPIC and the Polsky Center for a conversation on what it takes to build an energy start-up and survive—from what makes a good pitch and how to get funding to the unique challenges energy entrepreneurs face today and the opportunities presented by falling energy costs.

The panel discussion included Amy Francetic the managing director at the Invenergy Future Fund, Manoj Kumar, the CEO and co-founder of Social Alpha and head of innovation at Tata Trusts, and Charles Murray, the president and co-founder of the energy start-up Switched Source. Steve LeVine, Future Editor at Axios, moderated the panel. Bala Srinivasan, interim head of the Polsky Center and vice president of global initiatives and strategy for the University of Chicago, gave opening remarks.

Live webcast: “The 2018 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture” at 5:00 p.m. CDT on May 1st

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:21 -0500

A Lecture entitled “Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, and Future” was given by Richard Thaler, the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics and the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

Live webcast: “The Fracking Debate: The Pros, Cons, and Lessons Learned from the U.S. Energy Boom“ at 5:30 p.m. CDT on April 17th

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:23 -0500

Hydraulic fracturing is perhaps the most important innovation in the energy system in the last half century. As a result of this innovation, U.S. production of oil and natural gas has increased dramatically. This has led to abruptly lower energy prices, stronger energy security and even lower carbon dioxide and air pollution emissions by displacing coal. That is certainly good news for our climate, and our health—with large reductions in air pollution dispersed around the country.

But, while there are relatively few coal mines, conventional oil drilling sites and nuclear plants in the United States, tens of thousands of hydraulic fracturing wells have been drilled over the past few years from Pennsylvania to Colorado, Texas to North Dakota. With it being an everyday experience for many Americans, the practice has raised questions about the local impacts. Communities have reached very different conclusions about the benefits and costs, with some places banning it and others embracing it.

Two recent studies have shed light on the impacts. On the benefits side, one study by EPIC Director Michael Greenstone and his coauthors found that fracking increases economic activity, employment, income and housing prices, with the average household benefitting by about $2,000 a year. However, if people’s understanding of the health impacts were to change, it is likely that this would alter the net benefits of allowing fracking. Since health is such a critical factor, Greenstone decided to dig in further by looking at the health of those born near fracking sites. He and his coauthors found that infants born to mothers living up to about 2 miles from a hydraulic fracturing site suffer from poorer health. The largest impacts were to babies born within about a half mile of a site, with those babies being 25 percent more likely to be born at a low birth weight.

The United States’ continued access to the widely-dispersed benefits from hydraulic fracturing depends on local communities allowing it. How should we as a nation balance this challenge? What options do policymakers have at the federal, state and local levels? Join Greenstone and EPIC’s inaugural policy fellows, Jeff Holmstead and Sue Tierney, as they explore these questions and more in a conversation with Axios energy and climate reporter Amy Harder.

Live webcast: The Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Annual Lecture featuring Jonathan Powell at Noon CDT on April 16

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 12:04 -0500

This annual lecture provides an opportunity to hear directly from leaders in international policy who have worked in peace and conflict. Jonathan Powell is Director and Founder of Inter Mediate, a charity that works on conflict resolution around the world. Mr. Powell was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair from 1995 to 2007 and was Chief British Negotiator on Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007, during which he played a key role in the peace process that led to the Good Friday Agreement. The agreement ended thirty years of sectarian violence known as The Troubles.

Live webcast: “Q&A WITH AI WEIWEI” at 4:00 p.m. CDT on April 29th

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 12:41 -0500

Directed by internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, Human Flow is a sprawling and heartbreaking exploration of the global refugee crisis. Captured over the course of a year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent stories that stretches through Afghanistan, Greece, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico, Turkey and beyond. From teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders, Human Flow witnesses its subjects’ desperate search for safety, shelter, and justice. This event was part of a nationwide simultaneous screening of Human Flow and the live Q&A with Ai Weiwei was livestreamed to institutions across the country.

Live webcast: “Chicago Booth Executive MBA Program Graduation 2018“ at 4:00 p.m. CDT on April 13th

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 16:51 -0500

EMBA Graduation Ceremony

Live webcast: “Regulating Artificial Intelligence: How to Control the Unexplainable” at 5:00 p.m. CDT on April 12th

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 16:45 -0500

The technologies we broadly call “AI” are changing industries, from finance to advertising, medicine and logistics. But the biggest hurdle to the adoption of artificial intelligence lies in how well this so-called black box technology can be governed and controlled. This talk will suggest a framework for how artificial intelligence can be created, tested, and deployed ethically—and how its benefits can be harnessed fully in medicine and beyond.

Live webcast: “Pathways to Peace: Sustaining the Long Peace” at 6:00 p.m. CDT on April 10th

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 16:39 -0500

Since World War II, the world has become healthier, more prosperous and more peaceful than at any time in history. Yet sustaining this “long peace” is no easy task, as recent political, social and economic upheavals have shown. Join us to hear from the next generation of peace builders who are working in communities around the world to ensure that today’s challenges - from a record migrant population, to increasing unrest with global institutions of governance - do not reverse the hard-won gains of the last century. Rotary Peace Fellows and Harris Public Policy alumni shared their stories in TEDx style presentations at the home of Rotary International.

Featured Speakers:

Rotary Peace Fellow Alumni

Abdikheir Ahmed Director of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg Program, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg

Susan Stigant Director of Africa Programs, United States Institute of Peace

Harris Public Policy Alumni

Kristen R. Hajduk, MPP ’07 Adjunt Counterterrorism Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Hafsah Lak, MPP'17 Deputy Team Leader, Chief Minister's Strategic Reforms Unit, Punjab, Pakistan Business Development Lead, Cambridge Global Advisors

Live webcast: "The Day Dr. King Died" at 12:00 p.m. CDT on April 4th

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 20:01 -0500

Half an hour of music of the civil rights era played on the carillon ("Melodies for Dr. King") by University Carillonneur Joey Brink, followed by "A Conversation with Professor Timuel D. Black". Dr. Bart Schultz, executive director of the University of Chicago Civic Knowledge Project, talked with "Brother Black" (as Dr. King called his friend) on the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq6G0-JU1IE

Live webcast: TRANSITION TO NEW INTEREST RATE BENCHMARKS: SOFR, AMERIBOR AND BEYOND at 12:15 p.m. CDT on April 3rd

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 09:30 -0500

The choice of new benchmark interest rate should be of special importance to practitioners as well as academics that study law and economics. As new alternative rates are being considered in the United States, this half day conference, co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Law School, brought together leading academics, as well as representatives from banks, law firms, swap dealers, regulators and others to share their views on design and implementation of new indexes in loan documents, swap agreements and other financial contracts. Speakers also discussed the potential outcomes when existing documents do not specify a backup benchmark if Libor ceases to be published.
The conference kicked-off a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the implications of this transition and develop a set of practical lessons that can inform the debate around this important topic. Following each panel session, moderators summarized a set of takeaways for further dialogue.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk0edNZLFuU

Live webcast: A Conversation with U.S. Senator Mark Warner at 2:30 p.m. CDT on April 2nd

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:42 -0500

The U.S. economy is in the midst of rapid structural and technological change. The past decade has been marked by a continued decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs and a more recent increase in the number of Americans engaged in the “on demand” or “gig economy.”

With the labor market tightening and higher skilled workers in increasing demand, too many workers are still left behind. Many lack the skills or experience to be job-ready, or do not have access to jobs with the potential for advancement, raising a host of issues about the roles of government and the private sector in workforce training.

Join the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) in welcoming U.S. Senator Mark Warner for a conversation about these and other challenges facing American workers and the U.S. economy more broadly. BFI Director Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and the College, and the Harris School, will moderate the discussion.

Senator Warner has been a leading voice in Congress for bi-partisan approaches to addressing the nation’s fiscal challenges. He also actively supports practical solutions to help the changing 21st century economy work better for more people, through new opportunities to support workers in the gig economy and quality education and training programs for the jobs of the future.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtrSy1cfp2Y

Live webcast: Neubauer Collegium Director’s Lecture: Charles Taylor on “Democratic Degeneration: Three Easy Paths to Regression” at 5:00 p.m. CDT on March 26th

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:17 -0500

Charles Taylor (Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University) is the author of many influential books, including Sources of the Self, A Secular Age, and, most recently, The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity. Professor Taylor has been honored with numerous awards, including the Templeton Prize (2007), the Kyoto Prize for Thought and Ethics (2008), the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity (2015), and the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture (2016). At this event, part of the Neubauer Collegium Director’s Lecture series, Taylor discussed ““Democratic Degeneration: Three Easy Paths to Regression.”

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWq6TABAHhw

Live webcast: The Storm After the Storm: The Long-Run Effects of Natural Disasters at 6:00 p.m. CST on February 28th

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 16:37 -0600

Long after a natural disaster strikes, its fingerprints can be seen on a society. This lecture used Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria as a case study to examine the long-term costs of natural disasters.

In this lecture, Amir Jina discussed his, and others', findings on the long-run effects of disasters on economies and human well-being. In particular, what effects we see and how we measure them, and what do we know about strategies to reduce the negative effects of disasters in the long-term. Amir highlighted the case of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, his recent experience of working with the US government there to predict the trajectory of their economy going forward, and the enormous structural challenges facing them as they attempt to rebuild.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXs71vR51GU

Live webcast: 2018 Illinois Democratic Gubernatorial Forum at 6:00 p.m. CST on March 1st

Fri, 23 Feb 2018 16:22 -0600

The IOP will be partnered with WBEZ Chicago and POLITICO to present a live public forum featuring the 2018 Illinois Democratic gubernatorial candidates discussing their respective visions for the future of our state.

The forum was held on Thursday, March 1 from 6 - 7:30 PM CT at the Logan Center for the Arts.

The forum was moderated by WBEZ Chicago’s Melba Lara with a panel of three reporters: WBEZ Chicago’s Dave McKinney and Tony Arnold, and POLITICO's Natasha Korecki.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxiqoXAqqtU

Live webcast: New Hope in the Fight against Inequality at 6 p.m. CST on February 21st

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 15:41 -0600

Watch Harris Public Policy's timely conversation with three of Harris’ very own: Professor Chris Berry, Associate Professor Damon Jones, and Jennifer Tescher, MPP'96.

Each, through the lens of their own important work, explored barriers that worsen inequality and some promising, new approaches — spanning government and the private sector — that can help make progress on these persistent, far-reaching challenges.

Watch our three distinguished speakers as they ponder how national and local government, as well as private sector responses, can make a difference.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08O8MRvA0E

Live webcast: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics at 4:30 p.m. CT on Feb. 7

Mon, 05 Feb 2018 14:11 -0600

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada spoke at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics’ fifth anniversary event.

Video is available here: http://politics.uchicago.edu/news/entry/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-of-canada

Live webcast: Energy Development in the Trump Administration: Changes and Their Implications at 5:30 p.m. CDT on January 24th

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:42 -0600

The Trump Administration has undertaken efforts to expand fossil fuel development on federal lands by lifting a moratorium on new coal leasing, scaling back certain protections on federal lands, and moving to open up new areas for offshore drilling. At the same time, the Administration is moving to alleviate regulatory burdens on industry operations, most recently by proposing to roll-back certain safety requirements and structural reforms put into place after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. What are the implications of the Trump Administration policies? Join EPIC for a conversation with Tommy Beaudreau, former Chief of Staff at the Department of Interior and the first-ever Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The conversation will be moderated by Mark Templeton, director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at UChicago Law School.

Live webcast: 2018 MLK Commemoration Celebration at 6:00 p.m. CST on January 16th

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:48 -0600

Journalist and author Dorothy Butler Gilliam, who was the first African American female reporter at the Washington Post, offered the keynote address at our 28th annual MLK Commemoration Celebration. The program also featured performances by the Chicago Children’s Choir.

Live webcast: Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Turning Inefficiencies into Opportunities at 5:00 p.m. CST on January 10th

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:09 -0600

Whether you have a background in healthcare, information technology, or start-ups, or have had a personal experience that has sparked an idea for improving the healthcare system, you will hear from three experts who share their experience with:
   •   Opportunities in the healthcare sector
   •   Identifying healthcare problems
   •   Innovative solution design
   •   Pitching the business concept to potential investors
   •   Learn more about our Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics and hear about recent entrepreneurial projects coming out of the program.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=_8EVZPzM0Ow