UChicago News

UChicago names recipients of Diversity Leadership Awards

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 10:55 -0600

Advocating for the concerns of those whose voices aren't heard is a hallmark of diversity leadership. The University of Chicago’s 2018 Diversity Leadership Award recipients have dedicated their lives to helping support underrepresented communities: Faculty member Randolph N. Stone, alumna Sunny Fischer and staff member Scott Cook have their own areas of public service interests, but are united in their passion for equality and justice.

Regina Dixon-Reeves, assistant vice provost for diversity and inclusion, praised the commitment of this year’s awardees, who will be honored Jan. 16 during the University’s annual MLK commemoration. “We are extremely proud of this year’s recipients as their collective years of work and sustained engagement in support of marginalized populations demonstrates the inclusive excellence valued by the University of Chicago.”

Defending all communities

A lifelong advocate for the underrepresented, Clinical Professor of Law Randolph N. Stone is dedicated to supporting and representing disadvantaged individuals and groups in the Chicago area. As founder of the Criminal Juvenile Justice Project, he works with law and social work students to defend children and young adults who have been charged with criminal behavior, reform juvenile and criminal law policies, and improve the criminal justice system. He continues his child advocacy as a board member of the Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.

“We started the CJP because we wanted to help stop the movement to criminalize African-American children,” Stone said. “Illinois was a leader in transferring children out of juvenile court to the adult criminal court by curtailing judicial discretion, lowering the age of transfer, and increasing the number and types of crimes for transfer. Moving forward, we want to continue to help children and young adults be treated with compassion and fairness.”

In addition to working on programs devoted to fair child sentencing policies, Stone also serves on the advisory board of the Federal Defender Program and served on Chicago’s Police Accountability Task Force. Throughout his career Stone has mentored hundreds of minority students, chaired the American Bar Association’s criminal justice section and served as the public defender of Cook County, where he helped increase the number of minority and women lawyers hired to the office while improving the quality of representation.

Confronting stereotypes

Sunny Fischer, AM’82, has worked as a teacher, social worker and executive in philanthropy. After earning her master’s degree at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, she went on to work with abused women in the community. Learning how women-focused organizations were under-resourced, she helped start the women’s funding movement, serving as executive director of The Sophia Fund, the first private women’s foundation solely devoted to women’s issues. She also co-founded the Chicago Foundation for Women, and had leadership roles in the Women’s Funding Network and Chicago Women in Philanthropy.

Later in her career, Fischer served as executive director of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, where she focused on historic preservation, the arts, and architecture and design, especially in low-income neighborhoods. While at the foundation, Fischer helped start a public housing museum in Chicago. Fischer was enthusiastic about this opportunity, as it combines her commitment to social justice and the arts, and it challenges stereotypes of public housing residents and the role of public housing.

After 10 years of exhibits and programs as a “museum in the streets,” the National Public Housing Museum is expected to open in 2019 in its own building in Chicago. A former resident of public housing, Fischer knows how damaging stereotypes can be, and she hopes that the museum will raise important questions about race and poverty, and the true meaning of “home.”

Fischer reflects on her perseverance: “These years of labor have been worth it,” she said. “If you believe in social justice and that art and culture can bring deeper understanding and can be a call to action, then the belief is motivation enough.”

Bridging political and social gaps

A clinical psychologist who spent much of his life working to improve health care services for minority populations, Scott Cook works at the University of Chicago Medical Center and Biological Sciences Division to help achieve culturally competent health care and reducing health care disparities across all communities.

“Health care disparities are immediate for me because the physical and emotional suffering that they create harm the people that I love the most in this world—my family, community and friends,” said Cook, who is a quality improvement and clinical transformation strategist. “I try to use the power afforded to me by my privileged identities to address these problems and the problems of others in groups that I may not belong to.”

Cook also serves as the deputy director of Finding Answers: Solving Disparities Through Payment and Delivery System Reform, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation geared toward identifying and reducing health care inequities. Throughout his career, Cook has worked with underrepresented communities in rural Missouri, as an intern at Chicago Cook County Stroger Hospital and at the Howard Brown Health Center. At Howard Brown, Cook worked directly with the LGBTQ community to create health care programs and interventions, including a smoking cessation public health campaign.

At these organizations Cook said he “learned so much about how bias, discrimination and oppression play out in people’s lives and damage their health and well-being.” Cook uses this knowledge along with personal experiences to continue working toward health care equality.

Fourth-year student, alumna named Marshall Scholars

Mon, 04 Dec 2017 11:00 -0600

Fourth-year Pradnya Narkhede and Valerie Gutmann, AB’17, have won Marshall Scholarships to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom next fall. The highly competitive scholarships, announced Dec. 4, will enable 43 American students to study at the graduate level in any field of their choosing.

Narkhede will use her Marshall Scholarship to combine two one-year degrees: the first, at the University of Edinburgh in science and technology in society, and the second at Imperial College London in plant chemical biology.

“This award provides me with an unrivaled opportunity to probe the relationship between science and sustainable development,” said Narkhede, who is particularly interested in the role of agriculture. “Equipped with the tools I hope to gain from my studies in the U.K., I aim to become a globally engaged scientist, contributing innovative discoveries that shape intelligent policy and improve people’s lives worldwide.”

Gutmann plans to pursue a two-year MPhil in comparative social policy at the University of Oxford. She hopes to eventually attend law school and study how social welfare policy can be most effectively designed to help the most vulnerable populations.

“I’m interested in the ways to use a legal degree and a policy perspective to design and implement social welfare policy—in ways that effectively augment human dignity, which is what underlies everything I care about,” Gutmann said. “This is an opportunity to comparatively study welfare systems, not just in the U.S. or the U.K. but in international societies more broadly.”

Narkhede and Gutmann are the 24th and 25th people affiliated with the University of Chicago to win Marshall Scholarships since 1986. It’s the first time since 2010 that the University has had two Marshall Scholars in a single year; it had three winners in 1999.

“We are thrilled for Pradnya and Valerie’s accomplishments,” said John W. Boyer, dean of the College. “Marshall Scholarships are awarded to students anticipated to be their country’s future intellectual leaders. Pradnya and Valerie’s rigorous pursuit of knowledge in global sustainability and social welfare policy epitomizes the scholarly leadership the University strives to foster. We are very proud of these students.”

The pursuit of global sustainability

Born and raised in rural India, Narkhede grew up visiting her family’s sugar cane farm—an experience that “beckoned an early fascination with the natural world,” she said. Years later that led to work that directly affects the lives of Indian farmers: Since May, Narkhede has served as a senior consultant at the Indian National Commission on Farmers, where she analyzes and designs initiatives to improve both environmental sustainability and agricultural productivity for smallholder growers. She also works to promote the use of science and appropriate technologies in attaining sustainable crop production.

In 2015, she founded and now directs Sustainable Soils, an initiative to serve remote Indian agricultural villages by providing soil testing for smallholder farmers and advice on crop rotation and fertilizer recommendations, while also engaging in the pilot installation of small-scale biogas and water-delivery systems. The award-winning program has garnered a $50,000 United Nations Development Programme sponsorship.

Narkhede also has received numerous research-related awards and fellowships. This past year, she spent several months as a research scholar at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, which allowed her to conduct water research as part of an international collaboration between Blaustein, the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. As part of that fellowship, she oversaw fieldwork in Uganda piloting an irrigation implementation project. Earlier this year she also won a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, an award that honors undergraduates in the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science and engineering.

Previously, Narkhede worked as a virtual research intern at the U.S. Department of Defense and was a 2016 Institute of Biophysical Dynamics Scholar with UChicago’s Department of Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, researching single-cell epigenetics. She plans to graduate in June with honors in chemistry and biological chemistry.

During her time at UChicago, Narkhede has taken part in numerous clubs and activities, including serving as president of the group Out in STEM, treasurer and co-director of Women in Science—both committed to the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups in the sciences—and as a teaching assistant in the Biological Sciences Division. She has participated as a varsity rower/coxswain with UChicago Crew and currently volunteers as manager of a local community garden that provides nutritional education and produce to low-income families in the Hyde Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods. She is also an award-winning pianist.

Chief among her activism, though, is her commitment to science: “In examining and engineering plant, microbial and other living systems, I hope to advance the prospects for food and energy security as well as human health by developing more stress-tolerant crops, robust sources of renewable biofuels and living factories for life-saving medicines,” Narkhede said. “There is incredible power in harnessing the tenets of biochemistry to promote sustainable development, and I hope to be at the forefront of this movement.”

Working to address housing issues

Gutmann became interested in social welfare issues, particularly housing, while a first-year student in the College. As a caseworker with Health Leads, a nonprofit that aims to address the social determinants of health, Gutmann volunteered at federally qualified health centers on Chicago’s South and West sides. She connected medical patients to social service agencies and charitable organizations in the city. “The most common problem patients faced was housing insecurity, and there was nothing I could do for them on that front,” said Gutmann.

“I grew up in a household that had a strong emphasis on what it meant to be physically together in a space, what it meant to understand home as a place of security and refuge and understanding and support,” said Gutmann, who was raised in suburban Long Grove, Ill. “That sense of home seemed really contrary to the kind of housing situations people were facing when they came to Health Leads for help.”

At UChicago, Gutmann took a class on housing, earned a grant from the Pozen Center for Human Rights and eventually decided to major in sociology with a focus on urban inequality. Gutmann wrote her BA thesis on the landmark 1966 case Gautreaux et al. v. Chicago Housing Authority, in which the courts ruled that the CHA was perpetuating racial segregation through its building practices. She examined the contemporary implications of the case, interviewing dozens of attorneys, housing advocates, residents and CHA employees.

Gutmann currently works as a reporting analyst for a private contractor of the CHA that administers 27,000 subsidized housing vouchers in Chicago. She said the job allows her to understand how the private and public sectors work together to serve the public—issues raised in the aftermath of the Gautreaux case.

“When they filed Gautreaux, the ACLU thought that the result would be the building of public housing developments in predominantly white neighborhoods. That didn’t happen. The CHA’s solution to desegregating wasn’t creating concentrations of poverty in more affluent places, it was de-concentrating poverty, which I think has a lot of really interesting sociological complications,” Gutmann said. “I wouldn’t have an appreciation for the work I’m doing now if I hadn’t studied the shift toward subsidized housing vouchers through the course of my thesis.”

While a UChicago student, Gutmann was a research assistant for two School of Social Service Administration scholars. Along with Assoc. Prof. Evelyn Brodkin, Gutmann examined legislative issues in Sweden and Denmark during the European refugee crisis. She also researched Puerto Rican musicians in Woodlawn during the mid-20th century as part of Assoc. Prof. Bill Sites’ upcoming book on music and community building.

The summer after her first year, Gutmann co-founded the nonprofit South Side in Focus, which aims to amplify the voices of South Side community members through public art exhibits. “With every opportunity my goal has been to listen and to learn, instead of assuming that I know what is best for people in situations I have never had to face,” Gutmann said.

Both scholars secured university nomination and application support through the College Center for Scholarly Advancement, which guides undergraduates and College alumni through rigorous application processes for nationally competitive fellowships. Additional support is provided by the British Awards faculty nomination committee; their ongoing service is a critical part of our students’ success at the national level.

Alumnus and activist Rami Nashashibi wins MacArthur grant

Wed, 11 Oct 2017 15:00 -0500

Chicago social justice activist Rami Nashashibi, AM’98, PhD’11, was announced on Oct. 11 as one of the 24 winners of a prestigious MacArthur Foundation grant.

In its citation, the foundation honored Nashashibi for “confronting the challenges of poverty and disinvestment in urban communities through a Muslim-led civic engagement effort that bridges race, class and religion.”

Nashashibi is the founder and executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a nonprofit agency working across religious, ethnic, generational, income and other boundaries for social justice and human dignity on Chicago’s Southwest Side. IMAN was incorporated in 1997 and now has a $3 million annual budget. It operates a free community holistic health clinic, provides job training and transitional housing for formerly incarcerated men, develops youth leadership and civic engagement skills, and incorporates arts and cultural programming to inspire growth and change.

Unlike most winners who receive a phone call, Nashashibi was actually invited to the MacArthur Foundation offices under the pretense of a meeting on criminal justice. MacArthur President Julia Stasch then informed him he had won the award.

“I think then I went into a fog,” Nashashibi said. “It was very surreal disbelief that it was really happening. But I had a range of emotions—from not quite understanding the extent of it, to feeling profoundly grateful and humbled to be even considered.”

Nashashibi said he will use the $625,000 prize for a number of projects, including increasing national awareness of IMAN as well as expanding the nonprofit to other urban centers. In the coming year, Nashashibi also is committed to making the Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as completing a longstanding project to write a book about the work he has been doing for the last 20 years.

“IMAN is very deliberate in its own ability to both be rooted in this large, broader American Muslin experience, but also broadly informed and inclusive of the many different traditions that we interact with every single day,” Nashashibi told the MacArthur Foundation. “We believe we have the possibility of being a catalytic force of igniting that passion to do this type of work in urban centers across the country.”

Graduate experience shapes community-driven approach

Nashashibi said his graduate studies at UChicago “forever shaped” his approach to community outreach, allowing him to step away from the day-to-day duties of running a nonprofit to think more critically about the “layers of community life” and to gain “a better understanding of the failures” of communities.

“It’s where I learned to embrace the discomfort that comes sometimes with social change,” he said.

Nashashibi said he enjoys engaging with leading experts and researchers at the University.

“I’ve always kept one foot in academia,” he said, frequently teaching as an adjunct at several Chicago institutions. Currently he is a visiting professor of sociology and theology at the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Omar McRoberts, UChicago associate professor of sociology and a faculty member on Nashashibi’s dissertation committee, recalled Nashashibi’s academic and community work.

“Rami Nashashibi was a brilliant graduate student who produced a remarkable dissertation on ‘ghetto cosmopolitanism,’ which explains how poor urban communities participate in broader metropolitan and global cultural currents,” McRoberts said.

“What is more remarkable is that during his time as a doctoral student,” McRoberts added, “Rami was emerging as one of the most important community organizers of his generation. Through his work with the Inner City Muslim Action Network, Rami has brought his sociological learning about urban inequality, religion and inter-group conflict and cooperation into the realm of active social change, and has made a tremendous impact.”

Nashashibi acknowledged the indelible mark his time as a UChicago graduate student made on his career.

“There are people and institutions along the last 20 years that have a had profound impact,” he said. “My time in sociology at UChicago profoundly impacted every part of my life and how I do this work.”

—This story is adapted from a 2016 UChicago News article.

Prof. David Nirenberg awarded Laing Prize from UChicago Press

Thu, 11 May 2017 10:10 -0500

The University of Chicago Press has awarded the Gordon J. Laing Prize to Prof. David Nirenberg for Neighboring Faiths, his examination of the interactions of Muslims, Christians and Jews in the Middle Ages that provides new insight into how the faiths relate today.

The Laing Prize is the Press’s top honor, awarded annually to the UChicago faculty author, editor or translator of a book published in the previous three years that brings the Press the greatest distinction. Nirenberg, dean of the Division of the Social Sciences and the Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Distinguished Service Professor in History, Social Thought, Romance Languages and Literatures, is the 54th recipient of the award.

“Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today is the rare historical work that, in looking backward, can help point a way forward,” said Garrett Kiely, director of the UChicago Press. “Now, more than ever, we need scholars like David to remind us of our shared religious past and of our shared future. I am very pleased that the Board of University Publications conferred the Laing Prize on this outstanding work of scholarship.”

In his research, Nirenberg explores how the interactions of the three religions help shape how they define themselves and each other. He describes his work as getting closer to an understanding of what it meant for a Muslim in Christian Spain to convert to Judaism in the 14th century, or how Muslim and Christian readings of Hegel in the 20th century have shaped how members of these faiths perceive the other.

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2017 Laing Prize ceremony

In Neighboring Faiths, Nirenberg examines how the three religions interact by focusing on medieval Spain, but finding overlaps in more recent times from Pope Benedict XVI to the leaders of Hamas.

“How these three faiths interact with each other—and take shape through each other—is crucial to our current world and animates a huge amount of our geopolitical energy,” Nirenberg said. “Although the book is largely medieval, it begins with and ends with meditations on how this process of co-production among the three faiths is still going on.”

Writing in the London Review of Books, Carlos Fraenkel described Neighboring Faiths not as a “feel-good story” about the faiths getting along, but instead an argument for why ideas matter and how they can harden over time, requiring a study of the past to inform future relations.

What inspired Nirenberg to write Neighboring Faiths was a curiosity that emerged from his own background as a Latin American immigrant to the U.S. of Jewish descent. Further impetus came more recently when he taught an undergraduate course in Jerusalem.

“It was there, discussing the scriptures of Islam, Judaism and Christianity with a class evenly divided between all three faiths, that I first began to perceive the possibility, and perhaps even the importance, of such a project,” Nirenberg said.

Nirenberg is also author of Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages; Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition; and Aesthetic Theology and Its Enemies: Judaism in Christian Painting, Poetry and Politics. His honors include receiving the Historikerpreis der Stadt Münster this year, awarded for outstanding works in historical sciences.

Rhodes scholar to examine higher education policy in southern Africa

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 15:30 -0600

Lilian Dube, AB’15, has won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford next fall. A native of Zimbabwe, Dube is the 51st student from the University of Chicago to receive the award and the second to win this year, joining Law School student Joshua Pickar.

She will pursue two master’s degrees at Oxford—one in education and the other in English—with an eye toward higher education policy and curricula in southern Africa, particularly the tensions that exist between the humanities and technical-skills education. Dube was named one of two Rhodes scholars from Zimbabwe this year, it was announced Nov. 26. She will join the Class of 2017 Rhodes Scholars, including the 32 U.S. students who were named on Nov. 19.

“Oxford has phenomenal support in both disciplines I seek to pursue,” said Dube. “I hope to give back to the education system from which I emerged.”

Dube is currently teaching high school in Hong Kong, where she has designed critical thinking and writing lessons on topics ranging from poetry to ethics.

“Lilian’s plan to integrate the humanities with the work of technical education in Zimbabwe shows great depth, reflection and insight into what humanistic study is for and what it can accomplish,” said John W. Boyer, dean of the College. “This is an example of the rich and unique perspectives that our international students bring to our curriculum, and how it can be applied after they leave the College. We commend Lilian on this great accomplishment.”

At UChicago she studied English literature, winning the Elsie F. Filippi Memorial Prize in Poetry for her thesis on violence and gender in the work of the Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta. During her time in the College, Dube served as course assistant for a graduate linguistics class researching Northern Ndebele, one of Zimbabwe’s 16 official languages, and translated portions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest into that language. In 2012, she participated in an eight-week summer program in Ukrainian language and culture at Harvard University, and the following year she studied Renaissance literature and Russian poetry at Oxford. She was a member of the International Students Advisory Board and the African and Caribbean Students Association, and served as a resident master’s assistant for Booth-Phoenix house.

Dube would eventually like to pursue doctoral studies in education, enabling her to one day teach literature, education and writing at the university level. “I would love to mentor well-rounded African academics who have the potential to produce regionally and globally impactful scholarship,” she said, “especially among traditionally underrepresented groups.”

Dube was assisted by the College Center for Scholarly Advancement in applying for the Rhodes Scholarship. The CCSA supports undergraduates and alumni through the highly competitive application processes for national scholarships and fellowships.

James Heckman earns international honor for his research on poverty

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 11:30 -0600

Nobel laureate James Heckman is one of this year’s recipients of the Dan David Prize, an international honor which encourages innovative and interdisciplinary research, for his scholarship on poverty.

Heckman was among three world-renowned economists recognized in the category of “combating poverty,” along with Profs. Sir Anthony Atkinson of the London School of Economics and François Bourguignon of the Paris School of Economics.

According to the Dan David Foundation in Tel Aviv, which announced the awards Feb. 11, Heckman’s work “promotes the importance of early childhood education, nurture and well-being. His findings fundamentally refocus policy attention, claim wide generality and will influence the discussion of global poverty worldwide.”

Prof. David Nirenberg, dean of the Division of the Social Sciences, praised Heckman’s work, saying, “It is impossible to overstate the significance of Prof. Heckman’s achievements and his enormous contribution in the fight to eradicate poverty. His research addresses key topics crucial to our understanding of socioeconomic success and human flourishing more broadly, and has led to effective policies for the improvement of child and social welfare in the United States and around the world.”

Heckman is director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago, which uses rigorous empirical research to determine effective human capital policies and program design. One of the center’s capstone projects is the Pritzker Consortium on Early Childhood Development, which finds that investing in early educational and developmental resources for disadvantaged families leads to a more capable, productive and valuable workforce.

“I am deeply honored to be recognized for what is, ultimately, a career-long passion—to understand the origins of inequality and the determinants of social mobility,” Heckman said. “This generous gift will help mobilize further research that will shed light on how we can best invest in early childhood development so that even our most disadvantaged populations can reach their highest human potential.”

Named after the late Dan David, an international businessman and philanthropist, this year’s prizes honor laureates in three categories: social history, combating poverty and nanoscience. Past recipients include cellist Yo-Yo Ma, former Vice President Al Gore, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, AIDS virus co-discoverer Robert Gallo and artist William Kentridge.

The laureates, who donate 10 percent of their $1 million prize money toward 20 doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, will be honored at a May 22 ceremony at Tel Aviv University.

UChicago celebrates the promise of Chicago youth

Fri, 22 May 2015 15:10 -0500

Though Daweed Abdiel always has been intellectually curious and a good student, college wasn’t always on his radar. Most of his older family members had started college but never finished. In his first two years of high school, “I wasn’t thinking about college too much,” he said. “I was a good student, but I had no direction.”

That changed after Abdiel joined the Upward Bound program offered through the Office of Special Programs-College Prep. Staff members who lead the program encouraged him to apply to colleges. “This program helped me determine I wanted a small liberal arts college.” With Upward Bound showing the way, he got what he wanted. In August, Abdiel will attend Denison University with the support of two prestigious awards: a Gates-Millennium Scholarship and a Posse Scholarship.

“We have young people who develop a real sense of confidence and self-awareness about who they are and their ability to meet challenges and be successful,” said Dovetta McKee, director of the Office of Special Programs-College Prep. “It changes their mindset about the leadership role they can play in their communities, and makes them models for young people who follow behind them,” she said.

Abdiel was one of about 60 Chicago high school seniors honored at the 2015 Student Recognition Night, sponsored by the Office of Civic Engagement. The seniors took part in one of two programs: Upward Bound or the Collegiate Scholars Program, which prepares talented Chicago Public Schools students to succeed in the nation’s top colleges and universities.

In addition, University students who have served with the Neighborhood Schools Program received recognition for their work in local public schools and community programs. All three efforts are part of UChicago Promise, the University’s multi-pronged effort to increase college access and success for Chicago youth.

Increasing college access and success starts young. The Neighborhood Schools Program connects 375 UChicago students with 3,000 students in the surrounding neighborhoods. Many are still grade-schoolers, and tutoring can make a real impact on their future prospects.

“We leaned on NSP quite a lot and they came through,” said Ed Kajor in a video shown at the event. Kajor, a learning behavior specialist at Burke Elementary in Washington Park, credits tutoring from volunteers like Amanda Weisler, a third-year sociology major, for boosting the school’s scores on standardized tests.

“Our program is one of a few that is truly receptive to local school needs, said Shaz Rasul, director of community programs in the Office of Civic Engagement. “If a principal tells us she needs help with third grade, we will find tutors for the third grade who can be available during the school day. This is important because schools are often judged by what happens in the classroom, not enrichment time after school.”

University students benefit, too. Real-world experience has led more than one NSP volunteer into a career in education, including Sara Stoelinga, clinical professor of the Committee on Education, who was honored at the event with the Don York Faculty Initiative Award, and keynote speaker Geoffrey Aladro AB’06, who is currently Miami-Dade’s Teacher of the Year. Stoelinga also received a 2015 Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

When Aladro discovered his long-held dream of corporate work wasn’t all he thought it would be, he changed gears and chose teaching because of his NSP experiences. “I haven’t really worked since I became a teacher,” he told the crowd, “because I love my work.”

Fourth-year Jonathan Fifer, who volunteered with NSP throughout his College career, intends to follow in their footsteps. His next goal will be to earn a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he’ll study early childhood education. “I’ve always been interested in the little kids,” he said. “Even when they’re crying or being bad, you can see their thought process. I can’t be mad at them.”

While teaching high school students about the college application process gets them started on their higher education journey, the Upward Bound and Collegiate Scholars programs also support young people’s intellectual growth. Ivelise Colon, a Collegiate Scholar, has chosen Whittier College’s alternative liberal arts program, where she will design her own major, incorporating elements of psychology, sociology and early childhood education. “I want to do my own thing,” she said.

“The hallmark of Collegiate Scholars is the interaction with faculty. We are one of very few institutions in the country where there is intentional engagement between University faculty and public school students from across the city,” said Abel Ochoa, interim director of the Collegiate Scholars Program. “It really elevates a student’s frame of thinking to be taught by a professor who has written a textbook, done concrete research, or is considered a world-renowned expert in his field.”

Like Colon, Abdiel has seen his intellectual interests shift over time, from physics to chemistry with a generous side helping of economics and African-American Studies. He credits his Upward Bound mentors for exposing him to the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics and for staying the course with him as his interests evolved. “They won’t tell you what to do, but they’ll ask you questions,” he said. “They’ll help you find your passions.”

Fourth-year hopes fellowship will lead to career addressing disparities in education

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 13:15 -0500

When Mikaela Betts earned a scholarship in fifth grade to an exclusive California private school, her eyes were opened to educational disparities based on income—and on race.

Betts, whose mother is African American, was among only a few students of color; she found herself navigating a world of wealth and privilege very different from her public school upbringing. “I was one of the lucky few who got that opportunity, and I’m grateful,” said Betts, a fourth-year majoring in sociology and public policy. “But the experience made me very cognizant of the inequalities between school systems.”

Betts never forgot her public school peers, many of whom were also racial and ethnic minorities from low-income families. It bothered her that they would not enjoy the same resources and opportunities. “That’s when I decided I wanted to do something about public education,” Betts said. “And I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Betts has won the Woodrow Wilson Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowship for Aspiring Teachers of Color—one of only eight fellows selected this year from a national pool of 48 applicants. The fellowship will provide a stipend to pursue a master’s degree in education as well as mentoring and professional training in a high-need public school.

Betts will attend the two-year University of Chicago Urban Teacher Education Program this fall, and after graduation she hopes to teach middle school English language arts in Chicago. “Middle school can be a ‘make you or break you’ kind of time,” Betts said. “It’s so important to show students how much they are valued; it’s an ideal time to get involved in their lives.”

She already has a taste of what that work would be like. Betts is a teacher’s assistant at Fiske Elementary School, a placement she received through UChicago’s Neighborhood Schools Program. For the past three years, she’s coached girls softball at the University of Chicago Woodlawn Charter School.

Eventually, Betts would like to move into an administrative role that would involve closer interaction with education policy. “She has great potential to teach, to instruct teachers, and to manage schools and even school systems,” said Ross M. Stolzenberg, professor of sociology, who served as Betts’ thesis advisor. “She shows outstanding motivation to use her social and intellectual skills to build organizations that help and protect others who have suffered from disadvantage.”

For now, Betts’ sights are set on effecting change in the classroom. “I’ve realized more and more the impact that a good education has on life outcomes,” she said. “I think the biggest crime is that there are such great disparities in education—I keep asking, ‘How do we make it better? How do we spread the wealth?’”

Former director of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to receive Alumni Medal from UChicago

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:30 -0500

The University of Chicago Alumni Association and the Alumni Board of Governors announce that leading physicist, Edward C. Stone, SM’59, PhD’64, will be awarded the Alumni Medal at the 74th Annual Alumni Awards Ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, 2015, in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.

The Alumni Medal recognizes achievement of an exceptional nature in any field, vocational or voluntary, covering an entire career. In addition to the Alumni Medal, the University will recognize distinguished alumni and faculty members who have made exceptional contributions to the University, to their professions and to their communities, across five different categories. This year’s 14 alumni award recipients include a visionary in the media industry, a renowned mathematician, a pre-eminent psychologist and a benefactor of the arts in Chicago.

The awards ceremony, which is free and open to the public, is a highlight of the University of Chicago’s Alumni Weekend. The 2015 alumni award recipients include:

Edward C. Stone, SM’59, PhD’64, Alumni Medal
Edward C. Stone is the David Morrisroe Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and vice provost for Special Projects. He was director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1991 to 2001, and since 1972, he has served as the chief scientist for the Voyager Mission. From 1985 to 2009, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the California Association for Research in Astronomy, which is responsible for building and operating the W. M. Keck Observatory. Stone is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the past president of the International Academy of Astronautics and past vice president of COSPAR. He also serves on the board of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Among his numerous scientific awards and honors, Stone received the National Medal of Science in 1991.

Louis Gordon Crovitz, AB’80, Professional Achievement Award
Louis Gordon Crovitz is a visionary in the media industry at a time of rapid change. He is the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, where he led the transformation to digital from print publishing and where he writes the weekly “Information Age” column. He is also co-founder of Press+, a software service that enables hundreds of news publishers around the world to generate digital subscription revenues.

David Eisenbud, SB’66, SM’67, PhD’70, Professional Achievement Award
David Eisenbud is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. Eisenbud’s mathematical interests range widely over commutative and non-commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, topology and computer methods. His contributions include research, mentoring students, writing influential texts and creative leadership in the mathematics community.

Paul Ekman, EX’52, Professional Achievement Award
Paul Ekman, professor emeritus in psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, is the researcher and author best known for furthering our understanding of nonverbal behavior, encompassing facial expressions and gestures. A pre-eminent psychologist and co-discoverer of micro expressions with Friesen, Haggard and Isaacs, Ekman was named by TIME Magazine in 2009 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Harvey Levin, JD’75, Professional Achievement Award
Harvey Levin is an American television producer, lawyer, legal analyst and celebrity reporter. He is the founder of entertainment news website TMZ.com. Prior to this, Levin worked in various legal roles in the entertainment industry. He has been in front of the camera as a legal reporter and host of The People’s Court.

Paul Beaver, AM’75, PhD’76, Public Service Award
Paul Beaver is a conservationist who is best known for his work in the Amazon and the protection of habitat and the social dimensions of conservation. He founded Amazonia Expeditions in 1981, one of the most respected Amazon tour companies in Peru. His company has become a vital member of the indigenous communities, constructing a clinic and school as well as creating a foundation to provide scholarships.

Howard Gottlieb, PhD’47, Public Service Award
Howard Gottlieb is general partner of Glen Eagle Partners, Ltd., a family private investment firm. He is a major contributor to the extended community in Chicago, serving on several trustee boards, and is credited for helping shape the landscape of the arts in the city. As an accomplished violinist, much of his work has focused around music.

Juri Taalman, SB’63, Public Service Award
Juri Taalman is a partner at the law firm of Brignole, Bush & Lewis, following ten years of international experience, which included serving as the American Bar Association’s liaison to the Republic of Estonia. When Estonia gained independence, Taalman was instrumental in its development of both legal and commercial structures as the special advisor to the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia.

Kathleen Abbott, AB’95, Alumni Service Award
Kathleen Abbott received the Young Alumni Award in 2005 for her service to the Bay Area Alumni Cub, and has continued to be a strong leader even as she transitioned from San Francisco back to Chicago. She held many different leadership roles for the Chicago Club, and has been a great mentor to the current board members as well as students through the Student Alumni Committee.

Christopher Rupright, AB’86, Alumni Service Award
Christopher Rupright has been noted as an alumnus who leads by example, and who takes action without seeking recognition for his efforts. He and his wife have put the University at the center of their philanthropic goals and have taken a holistic approach, from interacting with prospective students, parents and peers; sitting on the Visiting Committee on the College and Student Activities and in many other ways.

Sean Ahmed, AB’06, Young Alumni Service Award
Sean Ahmed started “Go Maroons” with several classmates during their undergraduate studies. As sports editor of the Maroon newspaper, Sean was able to leverage his close ties to the athletic teams and find a way to fill a gap in delivery of information to alumni, parents and friends, who weren’t able to watch the teams on game days, through his broadcast and commentary.

Gahan Christenson, AB’03, Young Alumni Service Award
Gahan Christenson has been a consistent leader in the alumni community in the Washington area, where she is a trial attorney for the federal government. Alumni in the D.C. area look to Christenson as a source of information for all things UChicago-related, allowing for robust and innovative programming for community members.

Leo Kocher, MBA’87, Norman Maclean Faculty Award
Leo Kocher was hired in the fall of 1979 as a faculty member in the University of Chicago’s Department of Physical Education and Athletics. At UChicago he has served as an assistant football coach, taught in the Physical Education curriculum and has been the head coach of the Intercollegiate Wrestling Program for his 35 years with the University.

William C. Wimsatt, Norman Maclean Faculty Award
William C. Wimsatt is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and is on the Committee on Evolutionary Biology and the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science. Wimsatt teaches and publishes work centered on the philosophy of the inexact sciences and the study of complex systems. He is recognized for his ability to help students contextualize problems that are otherwise too “messy” to be tractable within any one academic field, using an interdisciplinary lens.

Nizar Ibrahim named 2015 TED Fellow

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:49 -0600

Paleontologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Nizar Ibrahim has been named a 2015 TED Fellow—the first paleontologist in the history of the program.

Ibrahim, a postdoctoral scholar in organismal biology & anatomy, searches through ancient riverbeds in the deserts of Northern Africa for insights about life in the time of the dinosaurs. He has contributed to numerous major discoveries, including Spinosaurus, a semi-aquatic predatory dinosaur that was larger than the T. rex, and a 95 million-year-old flying reptile with an 18-foot wingspan.

As one of 21 newly appointed 2015 TED Fellows, Ibrahim joins a network of more than 300 international thought leaders who have demonstrated remarkable achievement and impact in their fields. Fellows are drawn from all disciplines, from music to astrophysics to cancer research.

“It’s a wonderful award,” Ibrahim said. “It’s a real privilege and I am very excited to be part of this group of mavericks, frontier pushers and innovators.”

TED fellows will participate in either the 2015 TED or TEDGlobal conferences, where they will present their own TED talk. Short, powerful and thought-provoking, TED talks have been viewed online more than one billion times worldwide. Previous TED speakers have included luminaries such as Steve Jobs, Malcolm Gladwell and Stephen Hawking.

This won’t be Ibrahim’s first experience with TED. This past November, he gave a talk for TED Youth at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

“I really believe in putting your research out there and sharing it with as many people as possible, especially young people and budding scientists,” he said. “I don’t think scientists should work in a bubble. I hope that the fellowship will allow me to share my love for science, adventure and exploration with as many people as possible.”

The fellowship also offers networking opportunities with other TED fellows, unique skills-building workshops, mentorship from world-renowned experts and the myriad resources of the TED community. Many past TED fellows have been awarded prestigious prizes.

“This large-scale exposure is great news for paleontology, as well as Africa, where I carry out most of my fieldwork,” Ibrahim said. “I also hope that my work with TED is going to inspire future explorers and scientists.”

Ibrahim is still planning the subject of his TED talk, but he already has some ideas.

“It’s going to include a journey into the deep past of our planet—that much I can tell you,” he said.

Crime Lab receives $1 million MacArthur Foundation award in recognition of creativity, impact

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:43 -0600

The University of Chicago Crime Lab is one of seven nonprofit organizations around the world to receive a $1 million award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in support of nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated creativity and impact in their work.

The award, called the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, will help the Crime Lab advance its mission of studying interventions to prevent violence. Founded in 2008, the Crime Lab is being recognized in part because it already has produced benefits disproportionate to the organization’s small size. Using “gold standard” research techniques, Crime Lab researchers have found that targeted tutoring and mentoring programs can help improve school outcomes and reduce violence among high school students.

“Our scholars continue to show that new ideas and outstanding research can make a positive impact in the world,” said University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer. “I congratulate the Crime Lab for this recognition of its important efforts in building knowledge about violence prevention.”

Crime Lab leaders said they plan to use the award for new projects in Chicago and beyond.

“Our work is motivated by the idea that it is not a lack of innovation, good ideas or hard work that has hindered long-term progress on urban crime and violence and the related problem of school dropout, but rather it is a lack of rigorous scientific evidence about what works, for whom and why,” said Crime Lab Director Jens Ludwig, the McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law and Public Policy. “We launched the Crime Lab in 2008 to work in close partnership with nonprofits and municipal agencies on the front lines of these issues in order to begin to co-produce the scientific evidence necessary to help guide policy and practice.”

“This generous support from MacArthur will allow us to be more nimble in seizing project opportunities that require a rapid response,” Ludwig said. “It will allow us to explore innovative research projects and gather evidence about their effectiveness.”

The Crime Lab partners with government agencies in Chicago and around the country to provide rigorous scientific evidence about the effectiveness of strategies to reduce crime and violence. One of Crime Lab’s main activities is the design and coordination of randomized trials of the sort that are standard in medicine but remain rare in the public policy area. The Crime Lab is a leader in using this approach, together with benefit-cost analysis and behavioral science, to help reduce the social harms that crime imposes on society. The ultimate goal is to inform policymakers about which strategies do the most social good for the cost.

Researchers at the Crime Lab have extended this empirical approach to a range of social challenges in Chicago, including gun crime, school dropout rates, and social programs to reduce violence involvement.

Crime Lab conducted an evaluation of Chicago’s “Becoming a Man” counseling/mentoring program (developed by Youth Guidance and World Sport Chicago), finding that it decreased violent crime arrests of participants by 44 percent.
Crime Lab is collaborating with criminal justice agencies, including the Chicago Police Department to identify and interrupt sources of crime guns, and the U.S. Department of Justice to study the effects of placing more police on city streets.
Working with Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services, the Crime Lab has evaluated One Summer Plus, an employment program for at-risk youth, finding that violent crime arrests among participants dropped by 51 percent.
Crime Lab is partnering with ideas42 to carry out several randomized trials in New York City that apply insights from behavioral science to improve probation outcomes and enhance the effectiveness of policing strategies.

According to the MacArthur foundation, the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions is not only recognition for past leadership and success but also an investment in the future. Crime Lab will use its $1 million MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions funding to establish an “innovation fund” to allow the organization to engage in new projects and explore innovative ways of conducting its research. A small portion of the funding will be allocated to forming an operating reserve.

Organizations that receive the award “share in common their demonstrated impact in improving the lives of people and communities,” said MacArthur President Robert Gallucci. “MacArthur hopes these investments will sustain and expand the reach of that impact.”

School of Social Service Administration recognizes professors for outstanding teaching

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:04 -0500

The School of Social Service Administration has recognized the outstanding work of two faculty members for their teaching and mentoring.

Asst. Prof. Alida Bouris received the William Pollack Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Assoc. Prof. Julia Henly received the school’s first Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring.

Bouris said that establishing an environment in which everyone in the classroom holds each other in high esteem is a fundamental aspect of her teaching style.

“I respect my students and try to make the classroom an open environment where different opinions can emerge,” she explained. “The students can challenge each other, voice different opinions and voice their struggles, and I can do the same.”

She said she finds it useful in her teaching to be open to feedback, making changes and trying new ways of teaching.

“Lawrence Levine, a history professor from UC Berkeley, has always been an inspiration. I had the great fortune to take a class with him while I was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. He had a great passion for teaching, he set high standards and he held his students in high esteem,” she said.

At SSA, she said Assoc. Prof. Gina Samuels also has been a great inspiration. “I'm always impressed by how seriously my colleagues approach their teaching.”

Critical thinking is an important part of the task of learning theory and practice in social work. “'Learning and doing’ social work is much more challenging than students anticipate, and I want them to appreciate the complexities of what they are learning, how they are learning it, and how they are applying it,” she said.

She also helps student cultivate their identities as social workers and learn to distinguish social work from other helping professions.

“I want my students to leave my class with a strong identity as a social worker—not as a therapist or clinician, but as a social worker,” she said. By encouraging engagement with research, students can learn that their practice decisions can be guided by the wealth of knowledge on how social workers can better support their clients to meet their goals.

Henly finds herself guiding students toward their PhDs, both in and out of the classroom as they go through the dissertation process.

One of the courses Henly teaches is titled Informal Helping Systems in Low Income Communities. She said the course "covers a subject matter that I study, so it’s something that I care passionately about and can easily keep up to date." Henly also researches the economic and caregiving strategies of low-income workers and policy and social network responses to family poverty.

She finds herself mentoring a range of students—those whose interests greatly overlap her own as well as students whose work is further afield. But whether it is collaborating with students on shared research projects or assisting others with research in less familiar areas, some of the requirements of mentoring remain the same, she said.

“When working with students on their dissertations, I try to help them figure out what their passion is, and assist them in carving out a particular topic to pursue that is both feasible and interesting,” she explained.

Students working towards a social work degree have a wide range of topics to choose from, and many of them draw from diverse academic disciplines. Being able to decide what kinds of data are appropriate to answer particular questions and knowing how to narrow questions to a manageable level, Henly said, are key parts of keeping the dissertation process going smoothly.

“I really don’t tell students what to do, but I try to help them see what is possible,” she said. One of her students, for instance, is conducting a fascinating dissertation about the informal survival strategies of homeless youth in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Despite the challenges involved in collecting data on this population, Henly encouraged him to pursue this thesis because of his passion for the topic, the theoretically grounded questions he chose to pursue, and the unusual access he had to gathering a remarkable amount of information on a population which few people have bothered to understand and which few services support.

“He had already started studying this population before returning to graduate school. He went back to Bangladesh and continued doing his research. It will be a valuable piece of work when he is done,” she explained.

Faculty members honored for excellence in graduate-level teaching

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 10:28 -0500

The UChicago professional schools have announced honors for graduate-level teaching for the 2012–13 school year. Click on the schools below for stories on the award winners.

University of Chicago Booth School of Business awards

European and Asian Hillel J. Einhorn Excellence in Teaching Award — Ron Burt, the Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology and Strategy

Global Hillel J. Einhorn Excellence in Teaching Award — Linda Ginzel, Clinical Professor of Managerial Psychology

Faculty Excellence Award, Evening MBA and Weekend MBA programs — Erik Hurst, the V. Duane Rath Professor of Economics and John E. Jeuck Faculty Fellow

Emory Williams Award for Teaching Excellence — Douglas Skinner, John P. and Lillian A. Gould Professor of Accounting

Hillel J. Einhorn Excellence in Teaching Award, Executive MBA Program North America — Kevin Rock, Clinical Professor of Finance

Harris School of Public Policy

Best Teacher in a Non-Core Course — Jens Ludwig, the McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law and Public Policy

Best Teacher in a Core Course —James Sallee, assistant professor

Law School

Class of 2013 Graduate Students Teaching Award — Saul Levmore, the William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law

School of Social Service Administration

William Pollack Award for Excellence in Teaching — Alida Bouris, assistant professor

Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring — Julia Henly, associate professor

Pritzker School of Medicine and Biological Sciences Division

Distinguished Educator and Mentor Awards — Vineet Arora, associate professor of medicine; Marshall Chin, professor of medicine; Lianne Kurina, assistant professor of Health Studies; Peggy Mason, professor of neurobiology

Lifetime Achievement Award — Javad Hekmat-panah, professor of surgery and neurology

Faculty Physician Peer Role Model Award — Anne Hong, assistant professor of medicine

Doroghazi Outstanding Clinical Teaching Award — Michael Marcangelo, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience

Outstanding Basic Science Teaching Award — Husain Sattar, associate professor of pathology

L.D.H. Wood Pre-Clinical Teaching Awards — James O’Reilly, senior lecturer, Organismal Biology and Anatomy; and Scott Stern, professor of medicine

Hilger Perry Jenkins Award — Adam Mikolajczyk, resident in medicine

Martha Nussbaum honored with Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:26 -0500

Martha C. Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Law School, Philosophy Department and Divinity School, has received the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences. The award is given by Prince Felipe of Spain to those whose work in various disciplines “constitutes a significant contribution to the benefit of Mankind.”

Nussbaum was chosen “for her contribution to the Humanities, the Philosophy of Law and Politics and for her ethical conception of economic development,” according to the Foundation, which is based in Oviedo, Spain.

“One of the most innovative and influential voices of contemporary philosophy, Martha C. Nussbaum advocates a universalistic conception of human dignity and women’s rights to overcome the limits of cultural relativism,” the jury that chose Nussbaum said.

“Her theories are based on the belief that those who have a different understanding of what good is can agree on a number of universal ethical principles that are applicable whenever a situation of inequality and injustice arises. Martha C. Nussbaum defends the role of the humanities in education as an essential element for the quality of democracy.”

Previous winners of the Social Sciences Award include Howard Gardner, the Harvard University professor who developed the theory of multiple intelligences, the archaeological team of the Warriors of Xi’an (Terracotta Warriors), and British broadcaster David Attenborough. Nussbaum joins Prince of Asturias Award Laureates in other disciplines, including Al Gore (2007, international cooperation), Leonard Cohen (2011, literature), Bob Dylan (2007, arts), and Google (2008, communication and humanities).

Nussbaum will travel to Spain in October to receive the award from Prince Felipe, who is the heir to the throne of Spain. The award comprises a diploma, a Joan Miró sculpture symbolizing the Prince of Asturias Awards, an insignia bearing the Foundation’s coat of arms and a cash prize of 50,000 euros.

“I’m totally surprised and thrilled by this prize,” Nussbaum said. “I think it’s particularly important for philosophy to be honored for its contributions to creating a better world at a time when philosophy and other humanities programs are being cut back all over the world. I do want to thank all my colleagues in both the Law School and the Philosophy Department for the stimulus of their criticisms and the challenge of their own creative work. It’s wonderful to be part of this intellectual community. And I plan to donate part of the award to the Law School — after I do a little shopping!”

Dean Michael Schill said he is thrilled but not surprised that Nussbaum has received this prestigious award.

“We are always happy when the greatness we see everyday at the Law School is recognized in the outside world, and particularly in such a prominent way,” Schill said. “Martha is an extraordinary scholar and humanist, a wonderful example of the interdisciplinary scholarship and ‘life of the mind’ that make the Law School great.”

Dean Neil Guterman receives social service award on behalf of SSA

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:33 -0500

Neil Guterman, Dean of the School of Social Service Administration, received the Leadership in Academics recognition on behalf of SSA during the Champions for Recovery Awards program held recently by A Safe Haven Foundation.

The award recognized Guterman's leadership and that of SSA in helping the Chicago area’s populations experiencing homelessness, poverty and crisis.

“I am honored to accept the Champions for Recovery award on behalf of the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago,” Guterman said. “SSA and A Safe Haven Foundation are joint partners with a common aim, and we are especially honored to be recognized for the research, education and expertise we provide here in Chicago and across the nation, so that effective services can help lift the lives of those struggling with addiction and homelessness.”

The foundation’s president Neli Vazquez-Rowland expressed her appreciation for the work of SSA. “We are grateful for the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration’s quality work, research and support for Chicago’s underprivileged families and communities. Together, I hope to collaborate on further initiatives to solve the issues of poverty and homelessness plaguing the Chicagoland communities.”

Guterman, the Mose & Sylvia Firestone Professor in SSA, is a leading national expert on child abuse and neglect and on children’s exposure to violence more broadly. He is the author of Stopping Child Maltreatment Before it Starts: Emerging Horizons in Early Home Visitation Services (2001) and co-editor of the forthcoming reference volume, Child Maltreatment Prevention.

Guterman was among other national leaders being recognized for taking action and advocating for individuals and families seeking to recover from homelessness and its associated issues of addiction and other crises.

A Safe Haven Foundation, based in Chicago, was founded in 1994 and provides integrated supportive housing, case management, addiction treatment, education, and life skills, with a network of affordable housing, industry training and job placement for the homeless. It has 16 sites throughout Cook County.

Harris professor receives grant to study recession’s effects on parents’ use of time

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:46 -0500

Ariel Kalil, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies, has been awarded a research grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study the impact of the recent recession on parents’ behavior.

Kalil’s project will study how the recession might have affected parents’ use of time, especially the time they spend with their children, and whether this differs for mothers and fathers. The research aims to understand whether these changes in family patterns could lead to long-term consequences for child development and family well-being.

The grant is part of the Russell Sage Foundation’s Social Effects of the Great Recession initiative, a new program area at the foundation, which awards grants to “research projects that go beyond the simple description of trends to examine unanticipated implications of the Great Recession.” Kalil’s is one of 10 awards made by the foundation in first-round funding for this initiative.

The Russell Sage Foundation was established in 1907 with a mission to improve the social and living conditions in the United States. One of the oldest American foundations, it strengthens the methods, data, and theoretical core of the social sciences to help diagnose social problems and improve social policies.

Kalil is director of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy at Chicago Harris. She also is affiliated with the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center.

Wulczyn to receive USC’s Flynn Prize for social research

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:58 -0500

Chapin Hall Research Fellow Fred Wulczyn is the 2011 recipient of the James E. Flynn Prize for Research, an international award that recognizes “interdisciplinary studies that have profoundly shaped modern social policy or social programs.”

The award, given by the University of Southern California School of Social Work, was established in 1999. The award is intended “to elevate the awareness and appreciation for significant achievements in social research and is presented to a scholar whose work has created a demonstrable change in the lives of vulnerable populations.”

Matthew Stagner, Chapin Hall Executive Director, noted, “For those of us devoted to this work, there is no higher goal than ‘creating demonstrable change’ for vulnerable children and families. Fred’s body of research has been—and continues to be—of tremendous benefit to scholars, policymakers, and agency directors in their efforts to improve the circumstances for vulnerable children.”

In a career spanning nearly 25 years, Wulczyn’s work has focused on defining social problems, developing social policy, and assessing the impact of public investments, all with an eye toward improving the lives of vulnerable children. Marked by an interdisciplinary perspective, his work draws inspiration from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, population biology, sociology, system dynamics, and social work.

Wulczyn is a pioneer in the analysis of electronic records for the purposes of better understanding the experiences of children and families in the nation’s child welfare system. He was the architect of Chapin Hall’s Multistate Foster Care Data Archive, which is housed at the Center for State Foster Care and Adoption Data.

The archive, which leverages state investment in information technology, expands the ability of states to analyze key child welfare outcomes, compare outcomes across jurisdictions, project future service patterns, and test the impact of policy and service innovations. In collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory, Wulczyn’s latest work connects the center’s data resources to agent-based simulation models, further expanding the research base in the field.

In the area of public policy, Wulczyn designed two major social experiments: the Child Assistance Program and the HomeRebuilders project, both in New York. The former was honored with Harvard University’s Innovations in Government award. The latter led to the nation’s first proposal to change the federal law limiting the ability of states to design innovative child welfare programs. That proposal led to the development of the Title IV-E waiver program used by states to undertake system reform in child welfare programs. Wulczyn continues to lead the field in developing alternative approaches to financing child welfare programs.

His published work, Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child Well-Being, and the Evidence for Policy Reform (Aldine, 2005), written in collaboration with a diverse group of colleagues, has helped shape how the child welfare field integrates the concept of well-being into policy and practice. His most recent work on racial disparities and social context is helping to shift the debate around children of color and their contact with the child welfare system.

Wulczyn is the 2006 recipient of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators’ Peter Forsythe Award for leadership in public child welfare. He also is co-editor of Child Protection: Using Research to Improve Policy and Practice (Brookings 2007).

Wulczyn received a Ph.D. from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

The Flynn Prize is the first of its kind in the social work profession and is awarded by an international panel of judges drawn from the world’s most highly regarded institutions. The prize recognizes research and scholarship that is: rigorous and creative, focused on severe and persistent problems in society, interdisciplinary in method and substance, and of demonstrated value to advancing human welfare.

The Flynn Prize will be presented to Wulczyn at a special ceremony in April at the University of Southern California School of Social Work. In addition, Wulczyn will deliver the school’s Rhoda G. and Bernard G. Sarnat Endowed Lecture.

Jeanne Century shares award for research in science teaching

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:11 -0600

The University of Chicago’s Jeanne Century and two of her colleagues have received the 2011 Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award for their article on “Inquiry–Based Science Instruction — What is it and does it matter? Results from a research synthesis years 1984 to 2002.”

Century is director of research and evaluation and science education at the Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education. Her article with Daphne Minner and Abigail Jurist Levy of the Educational Development Center Inc. (EDC) in Massachusetts appeared in the April 2010 issue of the journal, which is published by the National Association of Research in Science Teaching.

The co–authors analyzed 138 studies on the impact of inquiry–based instruction on K–12 student learning and retention, and found generally positive outcomes. The inquiry–based approach incorporates hands–on activities to help students to learn scientific concepts, while the traditional, more passive approach emphasizes student recall of facts, concepts and theories.

“This overall finding indicates that having students actively think about and participate in the investigation process increases their science conceptual learning,” wrote Minner, Levy and Century.

Shevell to receive Verriest Medal for contributions to color vision research

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:19 -0600

The International Colour Vision Society has announced that it will present its 2011 Verriest Medal to Steven K. Shevell, the Eliakim Hastings Moore Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology.

This award, which honors outstanding contributions in the field of color vision, will be presented in July at the 21st Biennial ICVS Symposium in Kongsberg, Norway. It was established in 1991 in memory of the founding member of the society, Guy Verriest.

For more than 35 years, Shevell has contributed to the vision and particularly the color vision community in breaking new ground in research, training new researchers and providing service to the community, the ICVS noted in making the announcement.

“In his experimental work, he has carefully integrated theoretical and experimental approaches in studies of how early mechanisms and context influence color perception,” the award announcement read. “He has artfully exploited the technique of hue cancellation to study adaptive processes, spatio–temporal constraints, memory and binocular integration in color perception.”

Shevell also has appointments in Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Surgery, and the Committee on Computational Neuroscience. He is the immediate–past chair of the Integrative Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University.

In addition, he has served, over the years, on editorial boards of leading journals, review panels of leading granting agencies and on the boards of major research societies. He is currently a member of the Directors’ Board of the ICVS.

Two UChicago students awarded Marshall Scholarships

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:48 -0600

Two University of Chicago students have been awarded prestigious Marshall Scholarships for graduate study in the United Kingdom.

The recipients are Matthew Jones, a biological sciences and Germanic studies major from the Class of 2011, and Ben Umans, who graduated with the Class of 2010 with a degree in biological sciences and economics.

In all, five University students this year have received one of the major competitive scholarships for study in the United Kingdom – in addition to the two Marshall Scholars, three students received Rhodes Scholarships this year.

Jones, 21, refers to cancer as both a “disease and an intellectual puzzle.” After completing his Marshall Scholarship, he plans to attend medical school and hopes to work as a physician scientist. He aspires to a career that combines research in oncology with treatment of patients with cancer.

The idea is to “not only use the lab to help the clinic, but to use the clinic to help the lab,” Jones said. “I think there can be a dialogue between the two.”

Umans, 22, recalls being thrilled by the opportunity to study at UChicago. “I was looking forward to participating in seemingly disparate areas of inquiry, without sacrificing seriousness or facing a contradiction of intellectual purpose,” he said.

A native of Hyde Park, Umans currently works as a research technologist in the lab of Jerrold Turner, Professor and Associate Chair of Pathology. After studying at Oxford Umans intends to pursue a career as a biologist.

Zagajewski earns European Poetry Prize

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:54 -0600

Adam Zagajewski, a visiting professor in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought and a prominent Polish poet and essayist, has received the European Poetry Prize, awarded biannually by the Cassamarca Foundation in northern Italy.

Zagajewski’s poem “Try to Praise the Mutilated World,” published in The New Yorker’s Sept. 11 memorial edition, enhanced his reputation, the foundation pointed out in making the announcement.

His most recent collection of poems, Eternal Enemies, was published in 2008 by Farrar, Straus, Giroux. He is currently working on a new volume of prose, tentatively titled Slight Exaggeration.

Zagajewski, one of Poland’s most accomplished poets, has received numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2004. Other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Tomas Tranströmer Poetry Prize. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000.

Zagajewski was born in Lvov, Poland (now Ukraine) in 1945, and grew up in the industrial town of Gliwice. He studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he received MAs in psychology and philosophy in 1968 and 1970, respectively.

Zagajewski actively participated in the democratic opposition movement in Poland during the late 1970s. He was among the signers of the “Letter of 59,” a document written by a group of prominent Polish intellectuals opposing changes to the constitution proposed by the Communist party. At the invitation of the Berliner Künstlerprogramme (the Artists–in–Berlin Program), a world–renowned residency program, he left Poland for Berlin in 1979.

Zagajewski moved to Paris in 1982. There, he met and befriended the Nobel Prize–winning poet Czeslaw Milosz. Milosz later wrote the preface to Tremor, Zagajewski’s first collection of poems published in the United States, and the two remained close friends until Milosz’s death in 2004.

Prior to joining the UChicago faculty in 2007, Zagajewski taught creative writing at the University of Houston. At UChicago, he has taught courses on contemporary poetry and the work of Milosz. This quarter, he is teaching two graduate seminars, “Poets in their contexts” and, with David Wellbery, “Three Generations.

The Cassamarca Foundation aims to promote academic activities in various fields, including scientific research, culture, art, education and health. Founded in 1913 by a former Italian bank, it operates in Treviso, northern Italy and is based on the motto “Beautiful is useful.” The award presentation ceremony occurred Oct. 29 in Treviso.

Public policy student receives mathematics fellowship that honors late math education leader Izaak Wirszup

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:00 -0500

Juliette Keeley, a fourth-year student in Public Policy Studies, is carrying on a proud tradition of service and scholarship as the 2010 Izaak Wirszup fellow. The annual fellowship – established to honor the late Professor Wirszup and his tireless work as a national leader in mathematics education – recognizes a distinguished College student for outstanding work in improving mathematics in schools.

“The education of children in all fields is one of the most important things we do as a society,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “Isaak’s innovative programs and approaches have created opportunities for millions of students around the country to experience mathematics in a dynamic and interesting fashion,” said Zimmer, who also is a Professor in Mathematics.

“To this day, his efforts have a profound effect on the way mathematics is taught in our schools.”

Keeley entered the College with the intention of studying physics, but she soon became interested in public service after tutoring and mentoring CPS students in the Neighborhood Schools Program. As a result, Keeley, a French-American who attended high school in France, switched her concentration to Public Policy Studies.

She began tutoring at Reavis Elementary School as a volunteer during her first year in the College. At Reavis, Keeley learned the value of giving focused attention to students who were struggling in school.

“I could hone in on their personal misunderstandings, improve their self-esteem, and make mathematics relevant to their experiences. While tutoring does not address the underlying problems that public education faces, I believe it has enabled me to help children who are in dire need of individualized attention,” she said.

Last year, Keeley tutored middle school students on the South and West sides through the University of Chicago Polk Bros. Foundation Program for Improvement of CPS Mathematics Teaching, a project that Wirszup brought to the University in 1999.

“Many of the disengaged students I taught felt that mathematics required learning recipe-like formulas that had no relation to their lives,” Keeley said. “To show students the practical applications of math, for example, I brought in slides of famous buildings and blueprints to calculate areas and volumes. With the Polk Bros. Foundation program, I can creatively enrich mathematics lessons.”

Keeley currently is doing research on an alternative high school program for non-violent offenders at the Cook County Jail.

“I worked there all summer, collecting information on young inmate participants in the High School Diploma Program, which offers online high school courses for credit,” Keeley explained. “Based on a study of the students’ academic history, results in online classes, and social surveys of participants and the jail staff, I am evaluating this new program’s social, political, and economic costs and benefits to both inmates and society.”

The 2010 Izaak Wirszup fellowship was announced at a luncheon Friday, Oct. 22, attended by members of the Wirszup family, including his widow, Pera Wirszup.

“Izaak was a historical figure in mathematics education,” said Robert Fefferman, Dean of the Physical Sciences Division and the Max Mason Distinguished Service Professor in Mathematics. Fefferman pointed out that Wirszup was a founder of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, which went on to became the nation’s largest university-based mathematics curriculum program for kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Today, millions of students study with materials produced by the project.

“He was influential in convincing Congress to take definitive action to improve science and mathematics education in the nation’s public schools,” Fefferman said. The interest Wirszup was able to generate in Washington for the problems of mathematics education helped lead to funding from the National Science Foundation for UCSMP.

The University of Chicago Polk Bros. Foundation Program for Improvement of CPS Mathematics Teaching, in which Fefferman teaches, prepares Chicago public school teachers to better teach mathematics through an open-ended approach intended to promote mathematical reasoning and avoid heavy reliance on math drills.

—William Harms

Alumni Award winners span varied careers and achievements, from economics to medicine to winemaking

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:00 -0500

Nobel Prize–winning economist Gary Becker will receive the Alumni Medal, the highest honor the Alumni Association can bestow, while 16 other distinguished alumni will receive awards in a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 5 at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

The University’s Alumni Board of Governors invites all alumni, faculty, students, parents and friends to attend the event, which recognizes alumni and faculty who have made exceptional contributions to society, the University and their professions.

Some of this year’s winners include Myron Scholes, MBA’64, PhD’70, Nobel laureate in economics; Bruce Beutler, MD’81, who has made significant contributions to the medical fields of infectious disease and rheumatology; Academy Award–winning film and television editor Lisa Fruchtman, AB’70; California winemaker Warren Winiarski, AM’62; and corporate governance expert Nell Minow, JD’77, editor and co–founder of The Corporate Library.

Here is a full listing of the 2010 Alumni Award winners:

Gary Becker, AM’53, PhD’55, Alumni Medal

Becker has made extraordinary contributions as University Professor in economics, sociology and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and his research illuminates how economic decisions influence people’s lives. Becker received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992, the National Medal of Science in 2000 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2007.

Pat Rosenzweig, AB’61, Alumni Service Medal

Rosenzweig has shown dedication to students and alumni in her years of tireless volunteerism. Some of Rosenzweig’s most prominent contributions have been to Career Advising and Planning Services, while helping countless students and alumni professionally by volunteering weekly. She also played a pivotal role in founding UC2MC, the Chicago alumni club, and volunteers in support of her College reunion class.

Paul McCudden, AB’83, Alumni Service Award

McCudden has been an effective and innovative chair of one of the University’s largest Alumni Schools Committees and for his leadership in Los Angeles–area alumni club activities.

James McQuaid, SB’60, Alumni Service Award

McQuaid has shown commitment to his College reunion class by serving as gift chair and class agent, and dedication to students in establishing the James D. McQuaid Scholarship Fund. He has distinguished himself by serving as international president of Delta Upsilon, and also led alumni volunteer activities.

Coleman Seskind, AB’55, SB’56, SM’59, MD’59, Alumni Service Award

Seskind has been a leader who has made numerous contributions to the Biological Sciences Division and Medical Center, including serving on the Visiting Committee, the Alumni Senate, and the BSD Alumni Association Executive Committee. He also chaired the editorial committee for Medicine on the Midway and served as class chairman of the Pritzker School of Medicine’s Class of 1959.

Tak Lo, AB’02, Young Alumni Service Award

Lo has made creative contributions as vice president of the Washington, D.C. alumni club, helping plan and organize events. He also has served on his College reunion committee, as a CAPS Metcalf Internship application reviewer, as Alumni Schools Committee chair and as a leader in young alumni participation efforts.

Mary Tang, AB’00, Young Alumni Service Award

Tang has shown relentless support to the University through her efforts on behalf of the alumni community in Washington, D.C. This includes serving as the Alumni Schools Committee chair and showing a strong commitment to her College class by serving as class correspondent and on her reunion committee.

Bruce Beutler, MD’81, Professional Achievement Award

Beutler’s research on isolating tumor necrosis factor led to his invention of a drug that is now used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. His work also solved a basic scientific problem about how we perceive infections, which led to one of the greatest discoveries in the history of immunology. His contributions have dramatically improved the practice of medicine in the fields of infectious disease, rheumatology, ophthalmology, dermatology and gastroenterology.

Lisa Fruchtman, AB’70, Professional Achievement Award

Fruchtman is an Academy Award–winning editor who has worked in both feature film and television. Among her many film projects are Apocalypse Now, The Right Stuff, Children of a Lesser God, The Godfather Part III, The Doctor, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Dance with Me, A Love Song for Bobby Long and The Woodsman. Her awards and honors include an Oscar for The Right Stuff, Academy Award and BAFTA nominations for best editing for both The Godfather Part III and Apocalypse Now, and an Emmy nomination and a Cable ACE Award for Truman. She was also sole editor of Children of a Lesser God, which was nominated for best picture.

Cristián Larroulet, AM’80, Professional Achievement Award

Larroulet played a critical role in public policy and the economic transformation in Chile. Together with a small group of Chicago–influenced professionals, he created Libertad y Desarrollo, one of the most prestigious think tanks in Latin America, which has come to serve as a model for many others. Larroulet is also a founder of Universidad del Desarrollo, which is ranked internationally as the top institution for entrepreneurship in Latin America and is a leader among Chile’s universities. He has served as dean of the university’s School of Economics and Business since its creation. In 2010, President Sebastian Piñera named him secretary general to the president, a cabinet–level position.

Nell Minow, JD’77, Professional Achievement Award

Minow helped transformed the field of corporate governance. She has authored more than 200 articles and coauthored three books on securities law, shareholder rights and the modern corporation, including the leading business school text. She is editor and cofounder of the Corporate Library, an independent corporate governance research and analysis organization. She has testified before Congress and played a role in drafting some of the key legislation that affects American corporations. Minow was named one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance by Directorship magazine in 2007 and was dubbed “the queen of good corporate governance” by BusinessWeek Online in 2003.

Myron Scholes, MBA’64, PhD’70, Professional Achievement Award

Scholes has made significant contributions to economics, including co–authoring the Black–Scholes equation. In 1997, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for this model, which provides the fundamental conceptual framework for valuing options. It has become the standard in financial markets globally. During his career, Scholes also worked closely with the University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices, helping to develop and analyze the center’s important database of high frequency stock market data. His later research interests have concentrated on the economics of investment banking and tax planning in corporate finance.

Warren Winiarski, AM’62, Professional Achievement Award

Winiarski had a historic role in elevating the prestige of the fledgling American wine industry to global significance, which transformed how Californian wines are viewed worldwide. During graduate school at the University, Warren spent a year studying in Italy, and it was there that he discovered winemaking. In 1976, a bottle of Winiarski’s second vintage from his Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was selected for competition in the historic Paris Wine Tasting, where it won first place among the ten French and California red wines. The story has been documented in the 2006 book: Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine.

Ann Goodman, AB’72, AM’73, PhD’81, Public Service Award

Goodman is cofounder and executive director of the Women's Network for a Sustainable Future. Goodman pioneered global efforts on behalf of women in business, corporate responsibility and sustainable development. She also worked with governments and NGOs in making a wide and lasting impact in these enterprises.

Roy Prosterman, AB’54, Public Service Award

Prosterman has conducted research, teaching and field work (in 27 developing countries) on legal issues in land reform and economic development—all toward the goal of alleviating world poverty. Twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Prosterman has received the Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award at Harvard University (he was selected by a board of judges that included former United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shimon Peres, Mairead Maguire, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Adolfo Perez Esquivel).

Amy Kass, AB’62, Norman Maclean Faculty Award

Kass is a Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Collegiate Division. In support of her nomination, her former student Agnes Callard, AB’97, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Philosophy, wrote: “I arrived as a physics major … I was interested in physics because I was interested in truth, and I thought that the natural world was the place to find it … What Mrs. Kass showed me, as a freshman in her Common Core “Human Being and Citizen” class was that there is another kind of truth—there are truths about how shame and courage are related, what death means for life, why eating matters—not to our bodies, but to our souls … Mrs. Kass taught me this—she taught me that there was such a thing as the study of human truths, or ‘the humanities.’ She changed my intellectual orientation, and thereby, my life.”

Frank Reynolds, AM’63, PhD’71, Norman Maclean Faculty Award

Reynolds is Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions in the Divinity School and in South Asian Languages and Civilizations. A former student, John Clifford Holt, PhD’77, now the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Religion and the Humanities at Bowdoin College, wrote: “Frank Reynolds was a veritable institution for more than a generation of graduate students in history of religion and Buddhist studies at the University of Chicago. Frank had an extraordinary career shaping the lives of scores of Divinity students. I can’t think of another individual who could be more deserving of this award than Frank.”

Howell Murray Student Medals

The Howell Murray Awards were first given in 1961 to recognize graduating students for their outstanding contributions to extracurricular programs on campus. The awards were named in honor of Murray, PhB’14, a distinguished alumnus and Trustee of the University.

This year’s winners are Ashtin Berry, Agnes Bugaj, Alicia Bushman, Antonia Clifford, Jonathan Currie, Benjamin Field, Tsion Gurmu, David Klein, Jillian Lenson, Angelina Liang, Brittany Little, Abimbola Oladokun, Aviva Rosman, Bradley Trotter, Adama Wiltshire and Race Wright.