UChicago News

Faculty and alumni honored for teaching and service at Alumni Weekend

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 09:45 -0500

The 2018 Alumni Service and Faculty Awards, presented by the University of Chicago Alumni Association and the Alumni Board during the most recent Alumni Weekend, honor those who have shaped the world and strengthened UChicago’s global community.

The Norman Maclean Faculty Award recognizes emeritus or senior faculty for extraordinary contributions to teaching and to the student experience of life within the University community. This year’s recipient is Doyal “Al” Harper, professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the College.

The Alumni Service Awards recognize the achievements of individuals working on behalf of the University through service in alumni programs, on advisory committees and through efforts made to ensure the welfare of the institution. The Young Alumni Service Awards acknowledge and encourage service to the University by alumni aged 35 and younger.

Norman Maclean Faculty Award

Prof. Doyal “Al” Harper has mentored and supported countless students in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and in the College and has been an enthusiastic research adviser to both undergraduate and graduate students at UChicago. Students have benefited in particular from the wide range of research opportunities he provides—they are able to do hands-on work in the laboratory, design and build instrumentation, carry out observational programs at ground-based and airborne observatories, and develop and employ computational tools for data analysis.

Harper’s research addresses problems in the formation of galaxies, stars and planetary systems; the physics of the interstellar medium; and the properties of interstellar dust. His experimental research group constructs and operates infrared instrumentation and pioneered airborne infrared astronomy and astrophysical observations from the South Pole.

Alumni Service Medal

John McGinn, AB’90, MBA’93, is a former member and president of the Alumni Board (2001–08), McGinn's innovation, dedication and service to UChicago were apparent to fellow volunteers on the Alumni Board, and his efforts on the board culminated in his role as chair of the Joint Task Force on Alumni Relations. This task force laid the groundwork for the expansion of the University’s alumni relations efforts from 2008 to 2014 and inspired the current campaign engagement goal of 125,000 alumni. While serving on the Alumni Board, McGinn cultivated budding talent regionally as well as on the board, pushing future leaders to take on big roles.

McGinn has also volunteered in leadership roles with the Alumni Club of New York City and his College reunions, and he has interviewed prospective students as part of the Alumni Schools Committee and hosted College Admissions events key to recruiting and welcoming new students to UChicago.

Alumni Service Awards

Martina Keller, AB’87, benefits current, future and former students with her commitment to the University of Chicago. Through her leadership roles with College reunion committees, she has inspired fellow alumni to remain engaged and driven in their support of the University. Keller has generated consistent and regular participation by the reunion committees and made a further impression with her innovation of multicity pre-parties for reunion classes to build momentum toward reunion goals. The Class of 1987 has received the Green Gargoyle Award, presented to one class each year that has gone above and beyond for its reunion—multiple times, thanks largely to Keller’s vision and dedication.

Keller serves on the College Advisory Council, supporting fundraising efforts for student programs, including Metcalf Internships and Odyssey Scholarships. She has interviewed prospective students on behalf of College Admissions, spoken at high schools about the unique attributes of the University and sponsored Metcalf Internships for the past several years.

Carol Trautschold, AB’61, and Jerry Trautschold, MBA’61, have demonstrated volunteer and philanthropic support for the University for more than two decades. Together they have made student recruitment and financial aid a cornerstone of their engagement activity, while thoughtfully helping to fundraise for—and build awareness of—programs in support of students. Jerry is a past member of the Booth Alumni Board, and Carol has served on the College Advisory Council. They have both focused on funding and supporting Odyssey, Metcalf and Booth student scholarships. Additionally, Carol interviewed prospective students with the Alumni Schools Committee and held leadership roles for her 45th reunion.

Carol and Jerry’s support of the Jeff Metcalf Internship Program includes a record of creative events and opportunities to bring interns, alumni, faculty and employers together. They hosted one of the first summer Metcalf receptions in Washington, D.C., partnering with the Institute of Politics and Career Advancement to bring together more than 60 interns for an evening social at the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute. Other projects that have benefited from their support are the Gleacher Center, the John and Barbara Boyer House and the renovation of the organ at Rockefeller Chapel.

Paul Wang, LLM’94, JSD’99, has served as a volunteer for the Alumni Club of Beijing for more than a decade. During much of that time he was the club’s president, and he has been influential in the regional alumni community. Prior to the 2010 opening of the UChicago Center in Beijing, Wang led efforts to bring alumni together, build the community and connect prospective students to alumni and the University. As a result, the center was able to open with an already well-established alumni connection in the city and throughout China.

In 2015, Wang successfully hosted the UChicago China Summit—attended by President Robert J. Zimmer and more than 200 alumni—by recruiting alumni volunteers, securing funding and sponsorships, and handling many of the individual event details himself. In another project, Wang led a group of alumni and students in producing a promotional video about the University of Chicago for the Chinese audience, which has been viewed more than 23.4 million times to date.

Young Alumni Service Awards

Daniel Arking, AB’05, got his professional start with the help of a former classmate from preschool. This opportunity sparked Arking’s interest in networking, mentorship and career development. For the Alumni Club of New York City, Arking organized networking events to showcase industries of interest to local alumni. And as the career chair for the Alumni Club of Washington, D.C., Arking hosted panel discussions focusing on a variety of career-related topics, including an introduction to networking skills and advice on crafting a competitive resume. Arking also worked to connect club members to other UChicago volunteer opportunities, including affinity groups and the Institute of Politics’ Summer in Washington Program, for which he helped match more than 50 current students with local UChicago alumni.

Arking founded the Resume Exchange, which tapped the collective knowledge of the alumni community to help fellow alumni and current students improve the quality and competitiveness of their professional résumés. The Resume Exchange has enabled more than 60 alumni working in diverse fields to advise nearly 350 fellow Maroons.

Candace Wang, AB’07, has served as class council chair for the Class of 2007 for the past 11 years, including in the role of reunion chair for her fifth and 10th reunions. Most recently under her leadership, her class successfully surpassed its 10th reunion participation goal to establish the Class of 2007 Odyssey Scholarship Fund. Wang has created multiple Metcalf Internships and hired recent graduates from the College.

She continually seeks out opportunities to engage in alumni activities, either through attending events sponsored by the Alumni Club of New York City, interviewing prospective students as part of the Alumni Schools Committee or spearheading the launch of an affinity group as president of the Alliance for the Civil Society. Additionally, she has served as a panelist at Taking the Next Step and as co-chair for numerous Participate Chicago events and Phoenixphests in New York.

Chicago Booth entrepreneurs tap medicine, law, engineering for startup success

Mon, 04 Jun 2018 15:06 -0500

When it comes to startups, having the resources of a major university at your disposal can make a big difference.

Entrepreneurs who recently graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business shared their experiences during a May 17 lunchtime panel discussion at the Harper Center in Hyde Park as part of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s month-long UChicago Innovation Fest. The wide-ranging discussion was moderated by Mark Wilson, a senior writer for Fast Company.

“There were so many cross-disciplinary programs our company took advantage of while we were in school,” said Jennifer Fried, MBA’15, and co-founder and CEO of ExplORer Surgical, a digital playbook for operating room personnel. “I think that is very unique to the University of Chicago.”

Fried’s co-founder was a surgeon at the University of Chicago Medicine, and he also led a research laboratory within the Department of Surgery. Her startup team worked with the Polsky Center and the UChicago Startup Investment Program, an initiative in which the university invests alongside established venture funds in startups led by UChicago faculty, students, staff and alumni.

Brian Clark, MBA’17, co-founder of Ascent Technologies, a technology firm that helps companies build and manage regulation compliance programs, agreed. The opportunity to access programs and faculty from different disciplines “creates a sense of collectivism and community,” he said, that allows new ventures “not only to start, but to thrive and grow.”

For his part, David Rabie, MBA’15, co-founder of Tovala, a food technology company that pairs a steam-based oven with a meal-kit subscription service, hired his first product engineer thanks to a collaboration between UChicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Engineering. The partnership unites Chicago Booth students and entrepreneurs with top-tier engineering talent.

“Investors look to check certain boxes,” said Rabie. “Being able to say that one of our founders had experience building products from an R&D level to large scale production was really important.”

All three companies—Tovala, Ascent Technologies and ExplORer Surgical—competed in the Edward L. Kaplan, '71, New Venture Challenge, culminating in a daylong event where students present their ideas for new companies to a panel of investors and entrepreneurs and compete for over $1 million in cash prizes and in-kind services, in 2015 when their founders were Booth students. Tovala won first prize, ExplORer Surgical placed second and Ascent Technologies was a finalist. They were also among the first companies to receive funding from the UChicago Startup Investment Program, a $25 million investment fund created by the University in 2016 to invest in startups in the early round of fundraising, known as a Series A.

All three panelists said that they believe the NVC competition was integral to their later success in securing financing.

“The NVC conferred legitimacy and gave us commercial and personal credibility,” said Clark. “The NVC and Chicago Booth were big reasons why individuals felt comfortable investing in us.”

Rabie added, “As part of the NVC, you’re constantly being put on the hot seat in front of potential investors and forced to answer a wide range of questions about your business. A lot of fundraising comes down to your ability to do this well, and I feel like the training I received from the NVC gave me a strong advantage.”

The panel discussion touched on a number of issues common to startups, most notably financing as well as product development, marketing and personal growth.

On getting an investor to write that first check:

All three entrepreneurs agreed that getting the first check is the hardest. “Once the first domino falls, it gets a lot easier,” said Rabie. “Money follows money,” said Clark. “It’s the nature of the game.”

On the challenges of bringing a new product to market:

“We’re trying to fundamentally change the way people think about eating at home,” Rabie said. “We have customers as young as 20 and as old as 85, but our real target is young families. It’s a massive market and we’re still trying to figure out the best way to reach these customers. We haven’t cracked that nut yet.”

On the importance of knowing your limitations and empowering employees:

“You can’t really develop and empower other people if you don’t know what your own strengths and weaknesses are,” Clark said. “You have to be honest about that. And you also have to have to be supportive of your people. It’s about listening and trusting the process and ultimately creating a culture that allows people to succeed.”

On what advice you would give your younger self about surviving as a startup:

“I would tell myself, ‘Hey, this is going to be a crazy ride so just try and take it one day at a time,’” Fried said. “Because every day is a fire drill, every day there’s a crisis of some kind. You have to be able to prioritize what needs to be done right away, get it done and then move on. Knowing that would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights.”

Manifest wins first place in Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge

Thu, 31 May 2018 11:16 -0500

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago on May 30 announced the winners of the 22nd annual Edward L. Kaplan, '71, New Venture Challenge, a top-ranked accelerator program in the nation.

Eleven finalists shared in a $700,000 cash prize pool—the highest ever given at the New Venture Challenge, greatly surpassing last year’s prize pool of $400,000. Thanks to a recent gift from Chicago Booth alum Rattan L. Khosa, an additional $150,000 for the new Rattan L. Khosa First-Place Prize was included, as well as $240,000 that was added from various prize sponsors and distinguished judges during today’s deliberations.

“Every team that presented in today’s finals is a real and operational company that can grow beyond this program,” said Starr Marcello, executive director of the Polsky Center and adjunct professor. “We are proud of all the teams that presented to our investors today, and those that took part in the 22nd year of the NVC. We are excited to see them grow.”

Finalists presented to 27 distinguished judges—including Dan Caruso, MBA’90, founder and CEO of Zayo Group; Immanuel Thangaraj, MBA’93, managing director of Essex Woodlands Health Ventures; and Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Capital and U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama, among others.

Winners of the 2018 NVC include:

Manifest, a distributed ledger solution that will standardize 401(k) transfers, won first place and $315,000, including $150,000 from the Rattan L. Khosa First-Place Prize, $120,000 from individual distinguished judges, $25,000 from The Caruso Foundation and $20,000 for their acceptance into the Pritzker Group Venture Fellows Program this summer. Manifest, which is a member of the Polsky Incubator, is creating a network between 401(k) providers and streamlining the process to help eliminate the estimated $2.5B that providers lose each year due to these inefficiencies.

Mindful Urgent Care, a company offering same-day, non-emergent mental health and substance abuse psychiatric services to insured and cash-paying clients, took home second place and $125,000, including $75,000 from individual distinguished judges, $25,000 from The Caruso Foundation, $12,500 from the Polsky Center and $12,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund. Mindful Urgent Care was the winner of the 2018 Global New Venture Challenge and will be opening its first location in New York in the next month.

Coeus.ai, a company that empowers video game streamers and gamers by utilizing proprietary machine-learning algorithms to automatically create hundreds of highlights out of any video game stream and gameplay, won third place and $90,000, which includes $40,000 from OCA Ventures, $25,000 from The Caruso Foundation, $12,500 from the Polsky Center and $12,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund.

There was a tie between MUU and BrewBike, each taking home $45,000. Muu, a Brazilian ice cream that has less calories, more protein and less fat than traditional brands, took home $22,500 from the Polsky Center and $22,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund. BrewBike, a company that provides coffee to college communities, took home $20,000 for their acceptance into the Pritzker Group Venture Fellows Program this summer, $12,500 from the Polsky Center and $12,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund.

Oxalo Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based on University of Chicago research and committed to ending the epidemic of kidney stones, took home $25,000, including $12,500 from the Polsky Center and $12,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund.

nuBorn Medical, a company creating a smart baby bottle system to diagnose and treat feeding problems in preterm infants, took home $15,000 including $7,500 from the Polsky Center and $7,500 from the UChicago Innovation Fund.

Four finalists: Seurat Therapeutics, FORESEEaBill, Sweet Karma and Haystack ABI each took home $10,000, including $5,000 from the Polsky Center and $5,000 from the UChicago Innovation Fund. Seurat Therapeutics is a biotech startup developing a new medication that can stop migraines before they start. FORSEEaBill is an innovative platform technology that provides life sciences organizations with decision support in identifying the appropriate payer for every test, procedure and service performed during a clinical trial. Sweet Karma is a dessert company focusing on innovative dessert for health and fitness conscious people. Haystack ABI is a data-driven management platform for restaurants.

The New Venture Challenge finals is one of the marquee events of UChicago Innovation Fest. Now in its third year, UChicago Innovation Fest celebrates pioneering discovery and entrepreneurial endeavors at the University of Chicago. Led by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the month of events, workshops and accelerator programs highlights the breadth and impact of innovation at UChicago in the areas of entrepreneurship and research commercialization, scientific advancements and social impact.

Philip Roth, award-winning author and UChicago alumnus, 1933-2018

Wed, 23 May 2018 15:19 -0500

Philip Roth, one of the iconic voices in American letters who credited his debut novella to a conversation he had while a University of Chicago graduate student, died May 22. He was 85 years old.

Over a career that spanned six decades, Roth, AM’55, received almost every major literary prize, including the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, PEN/Faulkner Award and National Book Critics Circle prize. Other honors included the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal, as well as the Man Booker International Prize for his contributions to literature in English.

Roth received his master’s degree in English from UChicago in 1955 and taught in the College’s writing program from 1956-58.

In media interviews, Roth discussed the impact of his time at UChicago, where he took classes with former Dean of the Humanities Napier Wilt, became a protégé of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow, and studied alongside noted writer and editor Ted Solotaroff.

In a 1983 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Roth said of Chicago: “I’ve never felt as close to any other city I’ve lived in,” in part because of the young talent he met at the University—“the competition, the ambition, the stimulation, the talk.”

Also in that interview Roth said he owed his debut novella Goodbye, Columbus to Richard Stern, the late Helen A. Regenstein Professor Emeritus in English Language and Literature. Over hamburgers at a Hyde Park tavern in 1955, Roth told Stern of his middle-class upbringing in New Jersey. “Dick got a kick out of the stories. ‘Why don’t you write that down?’ he said. My head was so full of The Golden Bowl, I thought he was having me on. But when I went home, I did it.”

His talks with Stern, Roth said, “helped me to see that what was in front of my nose, though not as resounding as Conrad or as convoluted as James, qualified as fiction. That’s what I learned in Hyde Park, how to talk back to all those great books.”

Roth’s time at UChicago influenced his work in other ways as well. Nathan Zuckerman, the protagonist of several Roth novels, is a UChicago alumnus, while Roth described former Dean Wilt as his “greatest supporter.”

“I loved the University of Chicago,” he said in 2011 upon winning the Man Booker International Prize. “[It] was in a great city and had great faculty and it had very, very smart students.” Roth said Bellow’s writing had a deep influence on his work and experience of the city. “[Bellow’s novel] Augie March was my guide book, I read it like Fodor's guide to Chicago, y’know? Also it was so glamorous—it seemed to me, that I should be in this city that nourishes this guy.”

Roth’s debut collection, Goodbye, Columbus won the National Book Award in 1960. He is perhaps best known for his 1969 novel Portnoy’s Complaint, a comic novel that attracted both praise and controversy for its frank discussion of sexuality. His other novels include The Counterlife, for which he won the 1987 National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction; American Pastoral, for which he won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and Operation Shylock, The Human Stain and Everyman for which he won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1994, 2001 and 2007, respectively.

Big Brains podcast explores the future of energy, innovation with entrepreneur

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:30 -0500

Editor’s note: Big Brains is a new University of Chicago podcast in which some of the pioneering minds on campus discuss their groundbreaking ideas and the stories behind them.

When UChicago alumnus Michael Polsky first ventured into the field of renewable energy in 2003, he thought he’d missed the boat.

“When we got into renewables in earnest, I thought we were too late,” said Polsky, MBA’87, believing people were well ahead of him in building clean energy projects. Today, he said we’re barely in “the third inning” of the renewables game.

The founder and CEO of Invenergy, one of the largest renewable energy companies in North America, Polsky believes it’s not a question of if but when the United States becomes completely energy independent of fossil fuels.

It’s a seemingly unexpected turn for the former power plant engineer who arrived in the U.S. from the Soviet Ukraine in the 1970s and began his career designing power plants.

With his strong technical background, Polsky wanted to better understand the business side of the industry by getting his MBA from the Booth School of Business. He credits his time at Booth for launching him on a path to his current work, and driving his decision to support the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UChicago.

Polsky said he was ecstatic when the University approached him with the idea for the Polsky Center, calling it “a revelation” after years of preaching the importance of entrepreneurship.

On this episode of Big Brains, Polsky discusses his early days in the energy field, his current project to build one of the largest wind farms in the world and why he believes in the power of innovation.

Subscribe to Big Brains on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play. New episodes will be available Monday mornings through the Spring Quarter.

Playwright Martyna Majok, AB’07, wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 12:44 -0500

Editor’s note: Playwright Martyna Majok, AB’07, was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living. In the award, the play is described as “an honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perceptions of privilege and human connection through two pairs of mismatched individuals.” The play appeared Off-Broadway in 2017 and was called ‘immensely haunting’ by The New York Times.

The Polish-born Majok spoke with UChicago News in 2014 about another of her works, a comedy entitled Ironbound that appeared at the Steppenwolf Theatre, as well as her experience as a performer and playwright while at the University. The original story appears below:

Martyna Majok’s “Ironbound” is the story of the relationship between Darja, a struggling Polish immigrant, and three very different men. The play, she says, was inspired by the work of Marxist theorist Slavoj Zizek.

It’s also a comedy.

Despite its weighty subject matter, the last thing Majok wants is “for the audience to sit there for the next hour and a half thinking this is just drama. You have to give them permission to laugh.”

“Ironbound” emerged as Majok was preparing to marry her then-fiancé and reflecting on “who has the privilege to marry for love.” Both Majok and her husband grew up poor and chose to pursue careers in the arts. Majok says they feared they would never have economic security. “We know how hard it is to get out of a cycle of poverty.”

She began to reflect on the romantic choices made by her mother—like Darja, a working-class immigrant from Poland.

“She would make what ended up being the wrong decisions for all the right reasons, trying to do the best thing that she could for her children and for herself,” Majok explains.

Around the same time, Majok was reading Zizek’s Violence during long commutes between a residency and teaching position at a theater in New Jersey and Connecticut, where her fiancé was in graduate school. “What I took away from that is that capitalism makes us treat each other as commodities,” she says. “‘What can you do for me, what can I do for you’ doesn’t exactly equal love.”

With Zizek’s writing, her mother’s experience, and her own impending marriage all simmering in her head, Majok dashed off the first draft of “Ironbound” in just a week. The play follows Darja over 22 years, depicting her at different points in her three marriages and showing her fierce struggle to survive and provide security for her son.

After two workshop productions, she submitted “Ironbound” to Steppenwolf at the suggestion of the company’s literary manager, who had mentored Majok during an internship after college.

“Part of our deal was that if I came to Chicago, I had to bring him Polish food, so I just brought him three pounds of kielbasa and some pierogi. Hopefully he liked it. I haven’t heard back from him, so maybe it was too much,” Majok jokes.

Becoming a playwright was never Majok’s plan, although she always showed a flair for writing. She didn’t see her first play until high school, when she won $45 playing pool and decided to treat herself to a production of “Cabaret” on Broadway.

As a University of Chicago undergraduate, she tried out for a play and fell in love with the strong bonds she created with her castmates. “I loved the communities that you form—these little ridiculous, inside joke-y families,” she says.

Her love of theater flourished as she studied with David Bevington and Nick Rudall at UChicago. She delved into playwriting during a quarter studying abroad in Paris.

She describes her first play as “the 22-year-old play that you write about your family. It was a super dark and ungenerous and emo play.” University Theater ultimately produced the piece, and Majok decided she wanted to make playwriting a career.

“It’s the thing that I found challenging and exciting and I felt it had worth,” she explains. “Leaving some sort of permanence was attractive.”

Supported by a fellowship from the Merage Foundation for the American Dream, Majok spent the first two years after graduating from UChicago immersing herself in the theater community by watching, studying, reading and writing as many plays as she could. She went on to study playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.

Over time, she says, she’s worked to make her plays funnier and less self-serious than her earlier efforts, and to write rich, complex female characters. “Women with strong appetites and flaws—I would like to see these women on stage, and if I were an actor, I would want to play these women who go after something hungrily,” she says.

Her next project focuses on the women and families that continued to live near Chernobyl after the nuclear disaster, despite the risks to their health and safety.

Even when tackling the weighty topic of Chernobyl, Majok’s darkly comedic sensibility still shines through. “It’s a musical,” she says.

UChicago makes venture investment into popular Chicago food market

Thu, 15 Mar 2018 17:30 -0500

Foxtrot, the popular food and alcohol delivery service with four storefront locations in Chicago, is the fourth recipient of a venture investment from the UChicago Startup Investment Program. The company has received $450,000 from the University of Chicago as part of their $6 million Series A round, which is led by Fifth Wall.

Foxtrot joins ExplORer Surgical, Tovala and Ascent Technologies in receiving an investment from the University of Chicago through an initiative in which the University co-invests alongside established venture funds in startups led by UChicago faculty, staff, students and alumni. The University has set aside $25 million from its endowment to invest in startups raising early funding rounds.

Michael LaVitola, MBA’14, founded Foxtrot while in his first year at Chicago Booth. What started as a delivery service for fine food and alcohol has grown to four storefronts in popular neighborhoods across Chicago. When Foxtrot launched in 2013, the company had a mobile application that delivered a curated selection of items, often tailored for those entertaining—from craft beer, to fine cheese, to specialty ice cream. Two years later, Foxtrot opened their first brick-and-mortar location in Lincoln Park, and quickly followed with a space in the West Loop.

While going from mobile app to physical location might seem out of order, Foxtrot’s expansion to physical locations has allowed the company to expand their customer base while letting users interact with the products, while also serving as a distribution center. For their third location, Foxtrot also entered into a partnership with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream chain, featuring a “scoop shop” as part of their space on Armitage.

Like the three other recipients of the UChicago Startup Investment Program, LaVitola grew Foxtrot through the Polsky Center’s Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge.

“I came up with the idea of what became Foxtrot during my first year at Booth, but it was just an idea that I was kicking around,” said LaVitola. “I thought the New Venture Challenge would force us to get into the mix, and dedicate time to work on this plan. We were super early—all we had was a PowerPoint, though it was a good-looking PowerPoint.”

By the end of the three-month class, LaVitola had a technical cofounder to build the mobile app, a distributor to get the items and a delivery partner—the main ingredients needed to make Foxtrot a real company.

The Polsky Center’s support of Foxtrot didn’t end with the New Venture Challenge, or with LaVitola’s graduation from Chicago Booth. “Since I graduated, the Polsky Center has been extremely helpful. With things like introductions to venture firms or executives in the space or others who have been further along in the startup space, we’ve gotten a lot of our early traction through the Polsky Center network, which makes it a great place to always come back to,” said LaVitola.

Foxtrot plans to use their recent funding to grow their physical presence, with plans to finish building out Chicago and hopes to be in a new market by the end of the year. LaVitola owes much of this recent funding, which will also allow the company to grow their team from their very lean five employees, to the UChicago Startup Investment Program.

“The UChicago Startup Investment Program is a huge signal to the market. When I was out raising this round, having that commitment from the University that wasn’t a check tied to a competition but was a real investment that went through diligence from the Investment Office, sent a hugely positive signal.”

—This article originally appeared on the Polsky Center website

UChicago invests in tech startup company founded by Chicago Booth alumni

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 16:07 -0600

The University of Chicago has announced their next venture investments from the UChicago Startup Investment Program. Ascent Technologies, a regulation technology company that helps users build, manage and automate their compliance programs, received $315,000 from the University as part of their Series A financing rounds.

Announced in 2016, the UChicago Startup Investment Program is an initiative in which the University co-invests alongside established venture funds in startups led by UChicago faculty, staff, students and alumni. The University has set aside $25 million from its endowment to invest in startups raising early-funding rounds. The program is overseen by the University’s Office of Investments, which manages the $7.5 billion endowment, as part of its private equity and venture capital portfolio, in collaboration with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

To date, the program has made two venture investments. In October 2017, ExplORer Surgical, an interactive surgical playbook that promotes optimal teamwork in the operating room that is based on technology from the University of Chicago Medical Center, received a $500,000 investment as part of their $3 million Series A financing. And in December 2017, Tovala, a smart oven and meal-delivery service, received $500,000 as part of their $9.2 million round. Both companies are alums of the Polsky Center’s capstone program, the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge.

Ascent Technologies was founded by Brian Clark, MBA’17, and Aaron Droba, MBA‘16, while students at Chicago Booth. Part of the growing field of “RegTech,” Ascent uses innovative technologies to help companies better manage increasingly-complicated regulatory compliance risk. Ascent combines a SaaS platform with intelligent content to provide customized tools and targeted advice to customers. Using artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning, Ascent’s platform makes it easy for compliance officers in regulated industries to see exactly what is expected of their companies, then track and report on the steps they are taking to stay compliant.

After forming at Chicago Booth, Clark and Droba took Ascent through the Polsky Center’s New Venture Challenge in 2015‑placing as a finalist and winning $10,000 at the competition. As Clark describes, the benefits of the New Venture Challenge were far beyond the monetary prize.

“The New Venture Challenge helped put the structure around what was initially an ethereal and theoretical concept to use AI to simplify financial compliance,” said Clark. “The program provides the tools and infrastructure to turn raw ideas into a company, which has had a lasting impact for Ascent.”

Shortly after the New Venture Challenge, Ascent went on to close a $1.2 million seed round in 2016. In building its business, Ascent has continued to receive support from the Polsky Center and the University of Chicago community.

“The Polsky Center is more than the programs or even the information they provide: It’s the consistent support of the entire Polsky community,” said Clark. “As both a student and an alum, the ability to access to a community that not only is supportive, but actively seeks out ways that they can help entrepreneurs ... really helps us navigate the challenges of forming a startup and transforms what can be a middling experience to an exceptional one.”

Ascent’s latest round is led by Alsop Louie Partners. With this funding, Ascent plans to continue to invest in their automation engines to further decrease the regulatory compliance cost on businesses of all sizes. Additionally, they plan to hire significantly in the technology and sales and marketing sides of the business, and to expand their footprint in Chicago—an ecosystem they are committed to staying in and working alongside other Polsky Center-connected companies. According to Clark, the UChicago Startup Investment Program is further support for the ecosystem that the Polsky Center has helped create.

“The Startup Investment Program sets a foundation for a really intriguing model to support entrepreneurship as a student. This idea of entrepreneurship as a permanent discipline fits extremely well in the University of Chicago and Chicago Booth communities,” said Clark. “Aligning it and leveraging it with this significant capital availability is a logical extension of what the University is already doing in an excellent manner—providing resources, providing mentors, providing colocation. This is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to generating a really exciting ecosystem of entrepreneurs that is already paying dividends.”

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.

University honors alumni for exceptional professional achievements

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:01 -0500

The University of Chicago Alumni Association has announced honors for six distinguished alumni who have influenced both the University of Chicago and the global community.

The Alumni Medal recognizes achievement of an exceptional nature in any field, vocational or voluntary, covering an entire career. The Professional Achievement Awards, which the Public Service Award was merged into in 2016, recognize outstanding achievement in any professional field. The new Early Career Achievement Award recognizes alumni aged 40 or younger who have made an impact in their chosen career path.

The recipients of the Alumni Medal, Professional Achievement Awards and Early Career Achievement Award are the first to be announced in the academic year, with the recipients of the Alumni Service, Young Alumni Service and Norman Maclean Faculty Awards announced in the spring. Nominations for all alumni awards are accepted year-round.

Alumni Medal

Rochus “Robbie” Vogt, SM’57, PhD’61, is the R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Physics Emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Since 1962, he has served as chair of the faculty, vice president, provost and other positions at Caltech. His research has focused on astrophysical aspects of cosmic radiation, gamma-ray astronomy and gravitational wave astronomy.

Vogt received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his work as a principal investigator on the Voyager mission, and was chief scientist at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1977–78. He led the construction of Caltech’s Owens Valley Radio Observatory’s mm-wave interferometer, had a lead role in bringing about the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and served as vice chair of the board of directors of the California Association for Research in Astronomy. From 1987 to 1994 he served as the director and principal investigator of the Caltech-MIT Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory project, becoming a co-recipient of the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Professional Achievement Award

Mikel Arriola, LLM’06, was appointed general director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in February 2016 by the president of Mexico, a position he currently holds. His professional career developed mainly in the public sector.

In 2002 he was appointed litigation coordinator at Banrural. From 2003 to 2005, he held several positions at Financiera Rural, including regulatory compliance manager and deputy corporate director to the general director. In 2007 he joined the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, where he served as adviser to the minister; income planning general director of the undersecretary of revenue; and, since 2009, head of the tax legislation unit of the undersecretary of revenue. In March 2011 he was appointed federal commissioner for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks of the Ministry of Health, a position in which he was ratified in December 2012.

Herminio Blanco, AM’75, PhD’78, is the president of IQOM Inteligencia Comercial, a foreign trade intelligence company, and its subsidiary, IQOM Strategic Advisors. He is also the president of the board of Arcelor-Mittal Mexico and a member of the board of directors for Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, CYDSA and Fibra Uno, as well as a member of the Trilateral Commission.

Blanco served as secretary of trade and industry of Mexico, undersecretary for international trade and negotiations, and chief negotiator of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He was also responsible for the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the European Union, the European Free Trade Area, various Latin American countries and Israel. Blanco also launched the process that lead to the negotiation of a free trade agreement with Japan.

Charis Eng, AB’82, PhD’86, MD’88, is the founding chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute, founding director of the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare, American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor and the Hardis Endowed Chair of Cancer Genomic Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic, among other positions.

As a physician-scientist for more than 20 years, Eng has dedicated her life to patient-oriented research in genetics and genomic medicine. As founding chair of the Genomic Medicine Institute and founding director and staff physician in the Center for Personalized Genetic Healthcare, she implements evidence-based genetic- and genomics-enabled personalized health care, improving care for patients at genetic risk of disease nationally and globally. Eng is passionate about training and mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists, PhD clinical researchers and health care leaders and has founded a unique fellowship training program in cancer genomic medicine. She advocates for women and minorities in medicine and science and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Santa J. Ono, AB’84, is the president and vice chancellor of the University of British Columbia. As a professor of medicine and biology, Ono has worked at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University College London and Emory University. He was inducted into Johns Hopkins’ Society of Scholars, which honors former faculty who have gained distinction in their fields, in 2015, and into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences as a fellow in 2017. Ono’s research encompasses the immune system, eye inflammation and age-related macular degeneration—a leading cause of blindness.

As a university administrator, Ono is known for his vision beyond the laboratory. He was the first Asian-American president of the University of Cincinnati when he was appointed in 2012, having previously served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. Prior to that, he was senior vice provost and deputy to the provost at Emory University.

Early Career Achievement Award

Megan Driscoll, AB’02, is a strategic media and communications professional with nearly 16 years of experience in health care, aesthetics and dermatology. Driscoll has cultivated relationships with physicians, consumers, key opinion leaders and tastemakers to achieve national recognition for her clients.

Driscoll has worked with Medicis, Rita Hazan, IT Cosmetics, Tria Beauty, Clarisonic, Viviscal, AstraZeneca and Roche. Previously, she served as president of Behrman Communications and held senior roles at Emanate, Lippe Taylor, FleishmanHillard and Euro RSCG Life. As founder and CEO of EvolveMKD, her public relations agency, Driscoll provides day-to-day client counsel, strategic direction and insights.

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.

Aims of Education address to discuss legacy of first nuclear chain reaction

Mon, 18 Sep 2017 15:48 -0500

As a physicist and former director of Argonne National Laboratory, Prof. Robert Rosner has a unique perspective on the history of the first nuclear chain reaction, which was achieved Dec. 2, 1942 at the University of Chicago.

Rosner will discuss the scientific milestone and its complex legacy in UChicago’s annual Aims of Education Address on Sept. 19. His speech comes as the University begins a commemoration this fall of the 75th anniversary of the experiment.

“It was a unique moment in the history of the University, and the complexity of the kinds of issues that were raised in the experiment is really stunning,” said Rosner, the William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics.

The Aims address, which is given by a UChicago faculty member to first-year students, will take place at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. It will be webcast on UChicago’s Facebook and livestream pages starting at 6:30 p.m. CDT.

Rosner led Argonne, which grew out of the Manhattan Project, and is a member of the science and security board of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which was created by UChicago scientists to discuss the implications of atomic technology. In his address, Rosner will discuss the far-reaching impacts on science, medicine and energy, as well the development of nuclear weapons, which came from the first chain reaction.

The Aims address has been held during Orientation Week since 1962, providing incoming students an opportunity to reflect on the purpose and definition of education as they embark upon their collegiate years.

“I’ve gone to many Aims lectures myself and then participated in the dorms in the discussions,” said Rosner, who will lead a colloquium with first-years at Snell-Hitchcock Residence Hall following his address. “The students are always engaged and curious.”

Letter to Sen. Durbin on DACA

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 10:45 -0500

President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Daniel Diermeier sent versions of this letter to all members of Illinois’ Congressional delegation on Sept. 5, 2017.

September 5, 2017

The Honorable Dick Durbin
711 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Durbin,

One of the great strengths of higher education in the United States is our ability to welcome immigrants and the wide range of talents and perspectives they bring to this country. The University of Chicago has long been committed to bringing together some of the world’s most talented scholars and students, regardless of their backgrounds or countries of origin. One vital program in this effort is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which has made it possible for about 800,000 students who live in the United States to pursue opportunities that might otherwise be closed to them. Some of those students have attended the University of Chicago, where their flourishing benefits themselves, their fellow students, and their communities.

For all these reasons, we are deeply concerned by the administration’s announcement today that it plans to discontinue the DACA program in six months. Like their peers at the University of Chicago, our students who qualify for DACA are among the most intellectually promising students in the world. Our university community and our nation will be diminished if they are unable to continue contributing their talents here.

We greatly appreciate your consistent leadership on DACA and the understanding you have demonstrated concerning its impact on higher education, and by extension the potential effects on innovation and the economic vitality of our country. We would strongly support efforts by you and others in Congress to address this issue through legislation that protects the ability of DACA-eligible students to live in the United States and pursue their education and careers here.

Please do not hesitate to seek our assistance or further input as you and your colleagues in Congress pursue a solution for this important issue.

Yours sincerely,

Robert J. Zimmer
President

Daniel Diermeier
Provost

Alumni and faculty recognized for distinguished service to the University

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 12:10 -0500

The alumni awards, presented by the University of Chicago Alumni Association and the Alumni Board, honor those who have shaped the world and strengthened UChicago’s global community.

The Norman Maclean Faculty Award recognizes emeritus or senior faculty for extraordinary contributions to teaching and to the student experience of life within the University community. This year’s recipient is Prof. Emeritus Peter O. Vandervoort, AB’54, SB’55, SM’56, PhD’60.

Nominations for the Professional Achievement Awards, which recognize outstanding alumni contributions to their vocational fields, are due June 16. Nominations for all Alumni Association award categories are received year-round and can be submitted online.

2017 Norman Maclean Faculty Award winner

Peter O. Vandervoort, AB’54, SB’55, SM’56, PhD’60, is a professor emeritus in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, a position he has held since his retirement in 2003. Starting in 1961 and continuing to today, he has taught and individually guided many generations of undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and junior colleagues.

Vandervoort served as acting dean for the Division of the Physical Sciences, master of the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division, associate dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences and of the College, and associate chairman of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

2017 Alumni Service Award winners

Vincenzo Barbetta, AB’99, MBA’05, is a founding member and former president of the LGBT Alumni Network. Barbetta strengthened bonds among LGBT alumni and between those alumni and the University. In cooperation with the board of directors and steering committee, he pioneered several aspects of the chapter model now used to organize affinity groups nationally and globally. His aim was to have alumni remain connected to the academic work happening on campus and ensure that the group had a social mission.

Barbetta currently serves as the LGBT Alumni Network’s metro chair in San Francisco. From 2003 to 2010, he volunteered for the Alumni Club of Chicago in leadership roles including treasurer and vice president. He received the Dean’s Award of Distinction in 2005 upon his graduation from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Sean Singleton, MBA’08, is president of the University of Chicago Military Affinity Group and has led efforts to foster awareness and institutional support for veterans across the University community. His leadership has helped current students and alumni to connect their military service to their education, helping the University community understand the training and skill sets of its students and military-affiliated alumni.

Singleton also has given his time and talent to Chicago Booth as a judge for its Volunteer Leadership Program, presented a webinar for Alumni Career Programs titled “Navigating Career Transition for Military Personnel, and traveled to New York to sit on a panel during Volunteer Caucus.

2017 Young Alumni Service Award winners

Joe Anzalone, AB’04, is the president of the Alumni Club of Virginia. As an alumni volunteer, Anzalone began addressing questions and opportunities to reach unengaged alumni populations and help the Alumni Association meet its major engagement goals. His grassroots efforts toward building the Alumni Club of Virginia soon evolved into recruiting a diverse group of board members representing different regions, degrees, class years and industries.

Before his tenure as president of the Alumni Club of Virginia, Anzalone volunteered for the Alumni Club of Washington, D.C., serving as program chair and vice president. Additionally, he has held leadership roles for Phoenixphest DC and Participate Chicago, and has supported the alumni efforts of the Alumni Law Society and the Institute of Politics.

Jennifer Glickel, AB’08, has held various leadership roles as a board member of the Alumni Club of NYC over the past nine years, including Phoenixphest co-chair, programming committee co-chair, and most recently, engagement and outreach co-chair. She is a strong advocate for UChicago alumni and is credited with recruiting many of the current volunteers in the region.

Before graduation, Glickel was a leader with the Senior Class Gift Committee. She has since also acted as a leader for her class reunions, promoting alumni spirit and participation as co-chair for the Participate NYC events.

$20 million gift from Tandean Rustandy, MBA’07, to support social impact center

Mon, 22 May 2017 09:00 -0500

A $20 million gift from Tandean Rustandy, MBA’07, will support expanded research and programming in social innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago through the newly named Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation.

The Rustandy Center will serve as a hub at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for students and faculty tackling complex social and environmental problems, building upon the school’s grounding in business fundamentals, experiential learning and research-based insights. The center will work with nonprofit, for-profit and government organizations, serving as a resource for the University community as well as nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs and others committed to social impact. The center, previously known as Chicago Booth’s Social Enterprise Initiative, has been renamed in recognition of Rustandy’s generosity and its expanded mission.

“The Rustandy Center will provide a rigorous setting for students, faculty and colleagues to confront pressing challenges through social enterprise and innovation. The generosity of Tandean Rustandy will help to expand research, training and support in this emerging area for years to come,” President Robert J. Zimmer said.

Rustandy’s gift comes as the center is developing an increasingly ambitious approach to research that informs best practices in organizations geared toward social impact. It will build upon successful programs such as the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge, training programs for nonprofit board members, and research that advances social innovation and entrepreneurship.

For Rustandy, the gift offers another opportunity to use his business success to make a positive impact. After completing his undergraduate degree in the United States in 1987, Rustandy returned to his native Indonesia and worked in the timber industry. But he left the position after just three years, finding the company’s vision and mission didn’t align with his ideals.

“I don’t believe in companies that just exist to make a profit. A company should also serve and guide people,” said Rustandy, who is a member of the Chicago Booth Council and Booth Global Advisory Board Asia cabinet.

Rustandy is the founder of the Jakarta, Indonesia-based PT Arwana Citramulia Tbk, one of the best-performing ceramic tile manufacturing companies in world. His belief in a socially beneficial approach to business was the driving force behind Rustandy’s decision to support UChicago and help advance the future of Chicago Booth’s social impact research and programs.

The Rustandy Center will advance social innovation in five areas:

Research on social sector institutions
Training and networks for nonprofit board members
Development of innovative and experiential curriculum
Resources for students and alumni interested in social impact careers
Programs related to social entrepreneurship and social venture funding

“As one of the most successful alumni of our Executive MBA Program in Asia, Tandean was able to apply his Booth MBA education to expanding his already successful business. This most generous commitment from Tandean will secure the future of Booth’s social enterprise activities,” said Doug Skinner, Chicago Booth interim dean and the Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting. “Our students and alumni are becoming increasingly interested in using their business training to solve social problems, and the Rustandy Center will serve as the venue for all of our efforts in this area.”

Because many organizations focused on solving social and environmental problems lack the necessary resources to address these issues, the Rustandy Center will assist nonprofits to recruit and train effective board members, help students and alumni pursue meaningful careers in the social sector, and share lessons from research and experts.

“I’ve been blessed by God so what I have I need to give back, and I want to give to an institution that can create so much—not just for the U.S. but for all the world. That is why I want to give this gift to the University of Chicago and to Booth,” Rustandy said.

New events augment UChicago Convocation traditions

Tue, 02 May 2017 12:08 -0500

Starting this year, Convocation weekend at the University of Chicago will include new events intended to help ensure a memorable and enjoyable experience for graduating students in the College and their families.

The College is creating a new celebration called Class Day, which will be a student-led ceremony held on the afternoon of Friday, June 9 on the Main Quadrangle. Saturday morning’s University-wide Convocation event on June 10 will continue in its existing format, including a Convocation address by a current faculty member and the verbal conferring of degrees by President Robert J. Zimmer. In the afternoon, undergraduates will receive their physical diplomas in new, smaller events according to their residence hall communities, allowing for diploma ceremonies that are less time-consuming and more personal.

“A primary purpose of Convocation is to recognize and honor this University’s intellectual community on every scale—from the University as a whole to the more intimate level of residence halls, houses and personal friendships,” said John W. Boyer, dean of the College. “These changes will add distinctive traditions that will improve the experience for graduates and their families while upholding the vision that our first president, William Rainey Harper, had for Convocation as a gathering of all the University’s many different parts.”

Class Day will celebrate graduates of the College and include student speakers who are selected annually by their peers, a guest speaker, an alumni speaker and the presentation of College awards. The ceremony is open to family and friends of graduating students as well as the larger University community. It replaces the Baccalaureate ceremony, for which attendance was limited by the size of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.

The June 10 Convocation ceremony will carry on the University’s commitment to gathering for a shared graduation. The event represents a calling together of the entire University, with graduating students, faculty and staff from the College and graduate divisions and schools gathering to recognize educational achievement.

Undergraduate students will receive their diplomas at one of eight simultaneous College diploma ceremonies, in groups according to residence hall communities. Boyer noted that resident masters from each hall will have the opportunity to tailor the ceremonies to their graduating students, and family members will be in a better position to take pictures of students receiving their diplomas.

As in previous years, graduate divisions and schools will hold individual ceremonies for the presentation of diplomas.

A mix of grand and intimate events

As announced in 2015, this year marks the first time the University is consolidating its quarterly convocation ceremonies into a single annual event in June. The change reflects the view of the University’s deans that holding a single, unified Convocation each year will make for a more meaningful graduation experience for students.

The addition of the Class Day tradition provides a new opportunity for students to celebrate their achievements and look back on their years in the College with family and friends. Students will serve as masters of ceremonies and will increasingly oversee the planning of Class Day in the years ahead. This year, the ceremony will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Main Quadrangle. The senior class reception will be held from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at the Museum of Science and Industry, as in previous years.

On Saturday, Convocation will start at 9:15 a.m. with a procession of the candidates. In a new change to the procession, graduate students will line up together to process into the Main Quad, and undergraduate students will pass through Cobb Gate, mirroring their opening Convocation ceremony when they arrived as first-year students. Undergraduate and graduate students will join together in the Quad for Convocation.

After the Convocation address and presentations of honorary degrees and awards, the ceremony will conclude with Zimmer conferring degrees to groups of students by academic program and degree type.

Following a lunch, graduates of the College and some graduate programs will attend their diploma ceremonies at locations around campus. Some graduate programs hold their ceremonies at different times during that week. Further details on locations for lunch and the diploma ceremonies are posted online.

“The College diploma ceremonies will give graduates a chance to celebrate their accomplishments in a more personal and unique way. We are excited to begin a tradition that provides an opportunity for families to be more involved in this important day for students,” said Jay Ellison, dean of students in the College.

Members of the community and visiting family and friends are advised that there will be street closures around campus and Midway Plaisance, and they should plan routes accordingly. More information will be posted at convocation.uchicago.edu. Convocation shuttles can be tracked at uchicago.transloc.com.

For those unable to attend, Convocation will be webcast live at news.uchicago.edu/webcasts. Follow the day on social media using #uchicago2017.

Tyehimba Jess, AB’91, wins Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 13:30 -0500

Tyehimba Jess, AB’91, has won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Olio, his collection of original verse.

Jess’ poems examine the lives of African-American performers from the Civil War up to World War I, revealing the history of America’s blues, work songs and church hymns. Jess was praised by the Pulitzer committee “for a distinctive work that melds performance art with the deeper art of poetry to explore collective memory and challenge contemporary notions of race and identity.”

A native of Detroit, Jess studied public policy while at UChicago and received his MFA from New York University. Jess is currently the poetry and fiction editor of African American Review and is an associate professor of English at the College of Staten Island.

This is Jess’ second book of poetry. His first, leadbelly, received the 2004 National Poetry Series award. Jess read from Olio this past December at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore.

Nutrition leader and alumnus Sam Kass to speak April 22 during UChicago’s Earth Fest

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:44 -0500

Sam Kass, AB’04, Lab’98—former White House chef, food policy adviser, executive director of Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” campaign and current food entrepreneur—will speak at Earth Fest on April 22 at 1 p.m. Monica Eng, WBEZ Chicago food, health and culture reporter, will interview Kass at the William Eckhardt Research Center about his time in the Obama administration, his thoughts on food security and his food-related ventures.

Kass’ interview will mark the fourth speaker sponsored by the Frizzell Family Speaker and Learning Series. It was established by a donation from the Frizzell family in commemoration of Alexandra Frizzell, a UChicago student with passionate interests in agriculture, health and the environment who died during her last year in the College in 2013. Past Frizzell Series speakers have discussed topics including the environmental origins of diabetes, urban sustainability and the “world’s greenest restaurant.”

The goal of the Frizzell Series is to foster better student interaction with leaders, faculty, alumni and advocates, building skills, knowledge and confidence through problem-solving related to a theme chosen by a student-led steering committee. The 2016-17 theme is food security. The annual series is administered by the Social Sciences Collegiate Division and the Program on Global Environment under the guidance of Sabina Shaikh, director of the Program on Global Environment.

“The Frizzell Series is an exciting opportunity for students in the College to develop intellectual leadership on issues with global impact,” said John W. Boyer, dean of the College. “It is a fitting way to honor the legacy of Alexandra Frizzell, and we are deeply grateful to the Frizzell family for making it possible.”

The talk is part of Earth Fest, which will showcase sustainable organizations, programs and initiatives from around campus and the city. A zero-waste track and field championship also will be happening that day at Stagg Field. Students are encouraged to volunteer for the activities being held across campus on Earth Day.

Kass has strong ties to the University of Chicago as an alumnus of the UChicago Laboratory Schools and the College. He was the Frizzell Series Student Committee’s first choice to speak at Earth Fest because of his unique perspective on food policy, healthy eating and urban agriculture.

“Chicago is a segregated place, and we live among a lot of food deserts. Sam Kass has perspective on a lot of urban policy issues that we’re interested in hearing about and how they relate to Chicago,” said May-May Chen, a fourth-year College student and Frizzell committee member. “We’re excited to bring his expertise to campus because food is such a hot topic right now, particularly issues related to sustainability and waste. Additionally, we want to know how college students, as well as people without means, can feed themselves healthfully.”

Chen is one of nine members of the student committee leading the Frizzell Series this year. They are contributing to a blog series on food security leading up to Earth Fest and are sponsoring a service engagement event on the South Side on April 8 in partnership with the University Community Service Center. All UChicago community members are invited to participate.

Applications for next year’s Frizzell Student Committee will be available in May. Elaine Yao, a Frizzell student committee member, encourages students with ideas for speakers and events related to the environment, agriculture or health to apply. “We have this wonderful fund to make things happen,” she said. “If you have a vision of what you want to see on campus and want to be part of a group that can make it real, the Frizzell Series gives you the resources to do it—and with great collaborators.”

Shaikh said the Frizzell Series is a fitting tribute to the issues that were important to Alexandra Frizzell.

“I had the great fortune of having Alexandra Frizzell in three of my courses,” said Shaikh. “From childhood travels around the world to a diverse range of college experiences, Alex developed a strong sense of community, a commitment to service and an endless quest for knowledge. The Frizzell Series instills these values and experiences in UChicago students by providing them with the opportunity to engage with the world in the way Alex would have intended—with dedication, passion and inclusivity.”

David Rockefeller, University trustee and descendent of UChicago’s philanthropic founder, 1915-2017

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 12:07 -0500

David Rockefeller, PhD’40, a prominent philanthropist, banking executive and University trustee whose grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Sr., was the philanthropic founder of the University of Chicago, died on March 20. He was 101.

Rockefeller’s ties to the University spanned a lifetime, from touring Egypt and the Middle East as a teenager with distinguished University archaeologist James Henry Breasted to the endowment of a professorship in UChicago’s economics department, from which he received his doctorate. Rockefeller was associated with the University’s Board of Trustees for seven decades, providing a strong connection to the institution’s founding in 1890.

David Rockefeller was a leader in finance as chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and was a prominent philanthropist, serving as chairman of such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art, the Council on Foreign Relations and Rockefeller University. His global work included the founding the Trilateral Commission, a non-partisan group to foster closer cooperation between the North America, Europe and Asia, and providing leadership and support for the International House Association, including International House at the University of Chicago.

“David Rockefeller led a truly remarkable life, characterized by his keen intellect, an understanding of global issues and a deep appreciation of the responsibility that his family’s legacy had given him,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “He was a generous supporter of the University and offered the benefit of his experience and good judgment. He will be remembered here for his prominent role in the University’s history.”

Rockefeller was born in New York City on June 12, 1915 to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He attended the Lincoln School in Harlem, which featured progressive teaching methods influenced by John Dewey. As a child and young man he knew his grandfather, the former leader of Standard Oil, who was one of the most influential corporate figures and philanthropists in American history, but whom David Rockefeller knew as a “benign, indulgent” patriarch who gave out dimes to children. “He was the least dour man I have ever known; he was constantly smiling, joking and telling shaggy dog stories,” David Rockefeller wrote in his 2003 book, Memoirs.

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David Rockefeller

Rockefeller remembered a youth filled with art and travel. In 1929, at age 14, Rockefeller and members of his family toured Egypt and the Middle East at the invitation of Breasted, whose work fascinated Rockefeller’s father. Such excursions “made us feel the excitement of the opportunities open to us and recognize the role the family was playing in so many areas. These experiences gave us an education that transcended formal learning,” Rockefeller wrote about the experience.

Rockefeller graduated from Harvard College in 1936, and after a year at the London School of Economics, arrived at UChicago to pursue a PhD. The school “boasted one of the premier economics faculties in the world…the fact that Grandfather had helped found the university played a distinctly secondary role in my choice,” he recalled. His thesis, “Unused Resources and Economic Waste,” was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1940.

“David was proud of his Chicago degree and spoke often of his admiration for the great economists he had encountered here,” said President Emeritus Hanna Holborn Gray. “He liked to reminisce about his boyhood trip with James Henry Breasted, which happened as the Oriental Institute and Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt became objects of the Rockefeller family’s philanthropy.”

While working on his dissertation, Rockefeller met Margaret “Peggy” McGrath. The couple were married for 55 years until McGrath’s death in 1996.

Service and leadership on a global stage

After completing his graduate work, Rockefeller began in government service, working for New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. During World War II, he served as an intelligence officer in North Africa and the south of France, achieving the rank of captain. With the return of peace, Rockefeller embarked on his career at Chase Manhattan and worked to continue his family’s tradition of philanthropy—what John D. Rockefeller Sr. called “the art of giving.” He was first elected as a trustee of the University of Chicago on May 8, 1947. He served as a trustee until 1963, became an honorary trustee until 1966, then was a life trustee until 2007 and was a trustee emeritus at the time of his death.

Rockefeller became chairman and chief executive of Chase, where he focused on global banking and developed important relationships with numerous world leaders. He was part of a generation of Rockefellers who held a prominent place in American civic life. His brother Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York and later vice president of the United States, while his brother Winthrop Rockefeller served as governor of Arkansas.

David Rockefeller’s civic work included helping New York City through its financial crisis, serving as a key supporter of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and leading Rockefeller University as chairman of its board of trustees. His many years of service to educational, civic and cultural institutions earned Rockefeller honors, including the U.S. Legion of Merit, the French Legion of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Gray said that when Rockefeller retired from Chase, the bank’s board decided to honor him by endowing a chair in his honor, rather than through a direct gift — after all, “what could you give a Rockefeller?”

There was a competition between Harvard and the University of Chicago for the chair, which was to be in international economics. Chicago won, and Rockefeller came for the announcement and dinner that inaugurated the chair. “He always remained interested in following its progress and learning of its incumbents,” Gray said.

The chair is now held by Nobel laureate Lars Hansen, the David Rockefeller Distinguished Service Professor in Economics.

John W. Boyer, dean of the College and author of The University of Chicago: A History, said David Rockefeller valued what his family had begun at the University of Chicago, and he contributed to its later successes.

“David Rockefeller served with great distinction as an active trustee of the University, as a generous philanthropist in support of the University’s academic programs and as a wise adviser to several of our presidents,” Boyer said. “The gifts of his grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Sr., to the early University of Chicago were primarily responsible for the founding of one of the great new research universities in modern America, setting a model for those who would follow in advancing the well-being of American higher education and society. David Rockefeller shared with his grandfather and his father a deep conviction about the profound responsibilities that the great American universities bear in enhancing the intellectual creativity and cultural progress of American civic life.”

Rockefeller is survived by five of his children, David Rockefeller Jr., Abigail Rockefeller, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, Peggy Dulany and Ellen Rockefeller Growald. He was preceded in death by his son Richard Rockefeller.

Papers of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow open for research at UChicago Library

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 10:00 -0500

The largest collection of Nobel laureate Saul Bellow’s personal papers is now open for research at the University of Chicago Library, documenting his creative process and literary fame, as well as his wide-ranging professional relationships.

Bellow, X’39, who spent three decades as a professor at UChicago, left a collection that extends 141 linear feet filling 254 boxes. It includes correspondence with writers such as Ralph Ellison and Philip Roth, manuscripts that reveal his writing process including a series of drafts of The Adventures of Augie March, and personal items such as a Rolodex and letters from U.S. presidents.

The opening of the archives is the culmination of an extensive effort by the Library’s Special Collections Research Center to organize the documents and catalogue them in a Guide to the Saul Bellow Papers, 1926-2015. The archival work, which was supported by a gift from Robert Nelson, AM’64, and Carolyn Nelson, AM’64, PhD’67, greatly increases scholars’ ability to discover materials in the collection online.

“Opening up the Bellow papers will provide generations of scholars with the materials they need to develop new insights into Saul Bellow and 20th-century American history and culture,” said Brenda Johnson, Library director and University librarian. “We are deeply grateful to Robert Nelson and Carolyn Nelson for their generous support of the processing and preservation of this collection.”

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Saul Bellow photography

A prolific writer, Bellow’s extensive revision process is manifest in the collection in numerous drafts of each of his best-known novels, including Herzog, Humboldt’s Gift and The Adventures of Augie March. Bellow’s long list of literary accolades include the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts and the National Book Award for Fiction.

“The Saul Bellow Papers offer a compelling view of modern American literature,” said Daniel Meyer, director of the Special Collections Research Center and University archivist. “The collection offers scholars, students and other researchers fresh perspectives on Bellow’s impact on the 20th-century novel and his distinctive voice in literary criticism and cultural commentary.”

An educator and intellectual with broad ranging interests in art and culture, Bellow found a home for his pursuits at the University of Chicago. He taught in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought from 1962 to 1993, serving as chair from 1970 to 1976, and his experiences in Chicago and at the University are at the heart of much of his writing.

Equally important to the collection is the extraordinary range of his correspondence, which includes thousands of letters Bellow received or sent to fellow writers such as Samuel Beckett, Allen Ginsberg, Lillian Hellman, Norman Mailer, Arthur Miller and Joyce Carol Oates. The Special Collections Research Center’s wide array of related materials—from the archives of Bellow’s faculty colleagues to collections documenting 20th-century literary and cultural life in Chicago—also will help scholars to uncover vital connections between Bellow and his contemporaries and his city.

“Bellow was someone who thought deeply about current events and politics, the state of culture and the arts in the 20th century, and the role of the writer,” said Processing Archivist Ashley Gosselar, who reviewed and organized the collection and created the guide to its contents. “The correspondence demonstrates the way he sought to keep his finger on the pulse of America in the mid-20th century.”

Additional items in the Saul Bellow papers include personal ephemera, writings by others given to or collected by Bellow, writings about Bellow's life and work, administrative and teaching materials from the University of Chicago and Boston University, awards, photographs and audio recordings, artwork, broadsides and posters. Materials date between 1926 and 2015, with the majority produced between 1940 and 2004.

Alumnus endows medical school scholarship program with estate gift

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 14:35 -0600

A physician who graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and his spouse are bequeathing their estate to the medical school, creating a new scholarship they hope will encourage future alumni to “pay it forward.”

The anonymous gift, valued at $12.3 million, will become the largest endowed scholarship fund at Pritzker. The gift comes as a result of the school’s Legacy Challenge, a campaign to increase student scholarships.

“This generous gift will ensure—in perpetuity—that bright, deserving students who want to pursue degrees in medicine will be able to do so regardless of their financial ability,” said Kenneth Polonsky, dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine. “It’s a testament to the donors’ deep connection to Pritzker and their desire that future generations of physicians are able to come here and thrive.”

The physician attended Pritzker thanks to financial aid provided by the school and arranged by the late Joseph Ceithaml, Pritzker’s dean of students from 1951 to 1986. Without the scholarship, he said he would have been unable to attend the renowned medical school.

“The donors feel privileged to be able to ‘pay it forward’ to a school that gave them so much,” said Holly Humphrey, Pritzker’s dean of medical education. “They hope this gift inspires current and future alumni to give back to Pritzker and ensure its legacy of medical education.”

Known as one of the country’s best training grounds for future physicians, Pritzker is among the nation’s top medical schools for both research and primary care. It’s the highest-ranking medical school for research in Illinois. A school with about 350 students, Pritzker places a strong emphasis on research and discovery while translating the most recent advances in biomedical science to the bedside.

Neubauer Family Foundation $25 million gift accelerates UChicago ability to attract high performance, high impact graduate students

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 11:00 -0600

The University of Chicago, in pursuit of knowledge creation and dissemination at its most rigorous levels, trains graduate students committed to pushing the boundaries of what is known and who are determined to find compelling ways to apply original thinking to fundamental problems. Such high performance, high impact doctoral students embody the University’s mission to pursue inquiry and impact at its highest levels.

A new $25 million gift from the Neubauer Family Foundation, the largest in the University’s history for PhD education, will provide enhanced resources to recruit PhD students in the divisions of the Humanities, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. Stipends will enable top students to choose an academic destination based on intellectual, rather than financial considerations. In addition, the gift will strengthen programs and support to enhance students’ professional skills, preparing them to become next-generation leaders in a broad range of careers.

“The most direct way to change the world for the better is to invest in human capital,” said Joseph Neubauer, MBA’65, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees. “This gift is intended to enable the University of Chicago to recruit top academic talent at the PhD level—future change agents who will graduate with both knowledge and purpose, intent on effecting substantive, lasting, positive improvement in their chosen fields.”

“The University of Chicago never stops probing for opportunity to push the boundaries of knowledge creation. In many places, there is an artificial divide between the utility of insights gained from the study of math and the physical sciences and those garnered from the humanistic and social sciences,” said Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer. “The University of Chicago is focused on complex problem-solving. Scientific knowledge helps with the ‘how.’ The humanities define the ‘why.’ Graduate students at the University are challenged by multiple perspectives and strengthened by their ability to use them.”

The Neubauers have supported groundbreaking research and innovative initiatives at the University through a series of major gifts in recent decades, with lifetime giving eclipsing $125 million. The Neubauer Family Foundation is particularly noted for innovative investments in human capital. Past gifts have supported the founding of the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, which creates new communities of inquiry through faculty research projects, a global fellows initiative and exhibitions. The Neubauers have supported fellowships for faculty in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and graduate students in the Division of the Humanities, the Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholars program and the International Odyssey Scholarship program, initiatives in the College to remove financial barriers for academically gifted students, and an expansion of research and education in the University’s Department of Computer Science. The Neubauer Family Assistant Professorship Program was established in 2007 to support tenure-track appointments of outstanding young faculty. The family also has endowed numerous student scholarships and other professorships, and supports the Oriental Institute’s Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli in southern Turkey.

“Recruiting the best doctoral students and ensuring that they can flourish and grow intellectually across a wide spectrum of inquiry is fundamental to the success of the University’s mission of research, education and impact,” said President Robert J. Zimmer. “The Neubauers’ support for graduate education will help the University attract and support the outstanding students who will go on to become leaders in many fields of endeavor. We are deeply grateful for this latest wonderful gift, which continues a remarkable commitment that brings widespread and lasting benefits for the University, its faculty and students.”

The Neubauer Family Graduate Student Leader/Change Agent Fund will award increased stipends for selected students entering doctoral programs at the University, starting in the 2018-19 academic year. The recipients will be known as Neubauer Family Distinguished Doctoral Fellows and will receive up to six years of enhanced support.

The gift also supports University programs and initiatives for current graduate students including UChicagoGRAD, which works in partnership with the divisions and schools to help graduate students and postdocs navigate their academic and professional careers. UChicagoGRAD’s resources include career support, teacher training via the Chicago Center for Teaching, development of communication skills and assistance in such non-academic areas as exemplified through the Family Resource Center.

“Our goal is to provide our PhD students with the education, support and skills they need to succeed at the highest levels in academia, industry, nonprofits and government. This gift will enable both current and future students to stand out in their chosen fields,” said Sian Beilock, executive vice provost and the Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology and the College, who oversees UChicagoGRAD.

Joseph Neubauer was elected chair of the University’s Board of Trustees in 2015. He is the retired chairman of ARAMARK Corporation and has served on the board since 1992. Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer founded the marketing and communications firm J.P. Lerman & Co. and is a former vice president of communications for Time Warner Inc.

Students lead effort to honor first black woman to earn a PhD from UChicago

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 14:25 -0600

Two UChicago undergraduates are spearheading a project to honor alumna Georgiana Simpson, one of the first black women to receive a PhD in the United States.

Launched by third-years Asya Akca and Shae Omonijo, the Monumental Women Project seeks to honor historical figures who have contributed to the University. For their first project, the students hope by this fall that a bronze bust of Simpson will be installed in the Reynolds Club—the first monument of its kind on campus.

“I think the idea of honoring a woman in an execution of art that isn’t traditionally made to honor women is really big,” said Akca. “I think that presence and air of importance is significant as we honor her.”

Simpson, AB’1911, was 55 years old in 1921 when she became the first black woman to earn a PhD from UChicago. A scholar of German philology, she promoted African American history and literature and later joined the faculty of Howard University in 1931.

Simpson ignited controversy when she attempted to integrate a UChicago dormitory in 1907. While Dean of Women Marian Talbot and her secretary Sophonisba Breckenridge allowed her to do so, President Harry Pratt Judson overturned their decision and asked Simpson to find off-campus housing. In 1923 President Ernest DeWitt Burton allowed black students to live in dormitories.

Simpson is one of the 45 black students who were granted PhDs at UChicago between 1870 and 1940—more than any other university in the country. She was close to many of the University’s prominent black alumni: She had a strong connection to Carter G. Woodson, AB’1908, AM’1908, and exchanged letters with Katherine Dunham, PhB’36. Simpson also engaged with W.E.B. Du Bois and Helen Pitts Douglass, Frederick Douglass’ second wife.

“She was as worthy of being on campus as any other student of her time or even now,” said Omonijo. “I think that’s the permanent purpose of public art, so everyone can see it.”

The life-sized bust of Simpson, by local artist Preston Jackson, will be located in front of Mandel Hall—a location that holds historical significance: The Reynolds Club was once exclusively for male students, and Simpson’s bust will be located across from a relief of President Judson.

“That’s the essence of the piece: to put her in a place where she wouldn’t have been allowed to inhabit in the first place,” said Omonijo, who along with Akca became interested in the topic of University housing during archival research at the University’s Special Collections Research Center. “You can’t change the past, but you can change the future.”

The Monumental Women Project began as a proposal to UChicago’s UnCommon Fund, in which Student Government supports student projects on campus. It also has earned grants from the Provost’s Office, UChicago Arts’ Student Creativity Grants, the Reynolds Club Endowment Fund and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Omonijo and Akca are partnering with Alumni Relations’ Crowdfunding campaign to raise the rest of the money for the Simpson project.

Omonijo and Akca also have begun a Crowdfunding campaign proposing a piece of public art in honor of Talbot.

UChicago raises fundraising campaign goal by $500 million to a record $5 billion

Mon, 06 Mar 2017 11:00 -0600

Strengthening a campaign that has rapidly surpassed records for fundraising and alumni engagement, the University of Chicago is expanding the fundraising goal of The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry and Impact to $5 billion.

“Every academic year, the University of Chicago is the preferred destination of the world’s best scholars and students,” said Joseph Neubauer, chair of the Board of Trustees. “This expansion capitalizes on our campaign momentum, which has enjoyed strong support from our board, alumni, parents and other friends of the University, to all of whom I express my deep gratitude. By raising the goal, we’re recognizing the success of the campaign to date, and affirming the University’s determination to broaden access for all students and support critical areas of inquiry.”

The public phase of the campaign launched in 2014 with an original goal of raising $4.5 billion to support pioneering scholarship by faculty and researchers, educational opportunities for students at all levels, and the University’s commitment to impact locally and globally. The campaign goal is being expanded to strengthen new and continuing priorities, including financial support for undergraduate and graduate students and research in a wide range of fields.

Neubauer, MBA’65, served as chair of the campaign before being elected chair of the board in 2015. He and his wife, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, are nationally known for their philanthropy and have been exceptionally generous supporters of the University.

When the $4.5 billion campaign launched in 2014, the University also announced a public goal to engage 125,000 of the University’s approximately 180,000 total alumni. As of March 1, 2017, the campaign has raised more than $3.61 billion and engaged more than 100,000 alumni—both records for a University campaign.

“Our academic community focuses on the highest standards of originality and impact, in the work of the faculty and in developing students who are able to make a positive impact in their chosen fields,” President Robert J. Zimmer said. “This campaign is a commitment to the future of what they will accomplish, and it continues to demonstrate the enthusiastic support of the University of Chicago community for an ambitious approach to intellectual exploration with broad impact.”

The $500 million increase in the campaign goal, approved unanimously at a recent meeting of the Board of Trustees, will help advance campaign priorities across the University, such as the expansion of the Odyssey Scholarship Program, which offers comprehensive support and career development opportunities for undergraduate students with the greatest economic need. The campaign will continue to support imaginative programming across the University, and financial support for undergraduate and graduate students.

The campaign already has affected virtually every part of the University. In 2015 the University announced the creation of The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Pearson Global Forum at the Harris School of Public Policy, supported by a $100 million gift from The Thomas L. Pearson and The Pearson Family Members Foundation. The campaign has greatly expanded financial support for students through a $100 million expansion of the Odyssey Scholarship Program launched with a $50 million gift and challenge from Harriet Heyman, AM’72, and her husband, Sir Michael Moritz; and a $13 million gift from the Neubauer Family Foundation to support both International Odyssey Scholarships, which provide aid for talented international students, and scholarships for highly qualified students in Hispanic and Latino communities. A $35 million gift from College alumni Joe Mansueto, AB’78, MBA’80, and Rika Mansueto, AB’91, supported the establishment of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation. A gift of $42 million from the Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation supported the creation of the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence at the University of Chicago Medicine, focusing on ways to improve the doctor-patient interaction. University Trustee David Rubenstein, JD’73, has given a total of $33 million for the Law School’s Rubenstein Scholars Program, which provides full-tuition scholarships for outstanding Law School students. The Neubauers gave $26.5 million to establish the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, which explores integrative research in humanities and humanistic social sciences, creating novel approaches to solving complex human problems.

The campaign has included a $50 million commitment to the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation by University Trustee Michael Polsky, MBA’87, the founder and CEO of Invenergy; and a $30 million grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to support the construction of the University’s new center in Hong Kong, which will house Chicago Booth’s Executive MBA Program Asia and is slated to open next year. Construction also is underway on the future home of the Harris School of Public Policy, to be named the Keller Center in recognition of the generosity of University Trustee Dennis J. Keller, MBA’68, who committed $20 million to Harris.

The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry and Impact is the University’s fifth major fundraising campaign, beginning with its founding campaign in 1886–1890, and most recently the Chicago Initiative, which ran from 2000–2008. The Chicago Initiative surpassed its $2 billion goal, eventually raising $2.38 billion.

College center raises awareness of national fellowship, research opportunities

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 09:30 -0600

Joe Joseph spent months last year applying to the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The rigorous process involved crafting a well-articulated personal statement and a detailed public policy proposal—one which offered a “fresh approach” to a pressing social problem—in just 500 words.

“It was grueling,” said Joseph, a fourth-year student in the College. “One of the most difficult application processes I have ever undergone.”

Joseph is one of hundreds of UChicago students who received help from the College Center for Scholarly Advancement, which the College founded in 2015 to raise awareness of nationally competitive funding prospects and post-graduate experiences, as well as undergraduate research opportunities. Since its inception, the center helped UChicago students and alumni garner a windfall of highly competitive awards, including the Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Gates Cambridge and Churchill scholarships.

“We see our office as being a hub of resources for College students when it comes to advancing as scholars and as citizens,” said Nichole Fazio, the center’s director. In its first year Fazio and the center’s assistant director, Nicholas Morris, helped more than 240 students, including alumni, submit applications—triple the engagement from previous years. “Increasing numbers of students are coming to us for support,” said Fazio, “and we see that as a sign of success.”

“The work our students undertake in applying for fellowships reflects the deepest values of the College,” said John W. Boyer, dean of the College. “The center helps students to articulate their own, personal vision and sense of purpose, and to realize this in their scholarship and plans for the future. This complements the formation that takes place over their undergraduate careers.”

Matching students with interests

After two years as a public policy consultant in Chicago, Aliza Warwick, AB’14, pivoted her focus to China and reached out to the center. Fazio noticed Warwick’s language proficiency—she had studied Mandarin intensively as an undergraduate, winning a prestigious Critical Language Scholarship. As a result, she was uniquely prepared to compete for the University of Peking’s Yenching Academy Scholarship, a fully funded master’s degree program in China studies.

“My engagement with the office helped me find something that really matched my interests,” said Warwick, who won the scholarship and is headed to China in the fall.

Each quarter Fazio and Morris offer a number of information sessions dedicated to specific awards programs or on topics such as writing strong personal statements. They point potential applicants toward their database of nearly 300 scholarship opportunities and to further resources on the CCSA website that support undergraduate researchers, including funding opportunities.

“Our staff members are particularly attuned to the characteristics of UChicago undergraduates,” said Jay Ellison, dean of students in the College. “As they work with students during their four years, our staff helps them focus on their scholarly aspirations and to identify and present their unique strengths.”

But the bulk of the work involves student advising. About two dozen scholarships are highly competitive, national awards—like the Truman—that require institutional endorsement and intensive applicant support. Among them are the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships, which provide full funding for graduate school in the United Kingdom.

Fazio and Morris help students identify opportunities and support them—not only in application review, but with interviewing skills and helping candidates “learn how to listen well and talk on their feet.”

“A lot of it is confidence-building,” said Fazio, who has studied and worked within the British university system. “It’s not easy to talk about yourself or justify what you study or hope to do, particularly when you’re 20 years old.”

Preparing for ‘high-stakes moments’

Although she was living in New York last fall when she applied for the Marshall Scholarship, Erin Simpson, AB’15, said the center’s staff held several mock interviews via Skype.

“The interviews for these awards are pretty intense, high-stakes moments,” said Simpson, who won a Marshall Scholarship in 2016 and a Truman Scholarship in 2014. “The center staff’s wise guidance was a grounding force—they approach all of this in a healthy, holistic way, as a process of reflection.”

Simpson and others who have engaged with the center said they’ve found a kind of support there that has value far beyond the outcome of individual awards. As a UChicago nominee, Joseph worked with Fazio to hone his Truman application—she read several drafts of that policy proposal—leading up to the final national deadline.

Although Joseph did not advance to the pool of national finalists (only a third of applicants do), he considered the experience anything but a failure.

“It provided a rare opportunity to do some really deep introspection about what motivates me and what I truly care about,” Joseph said. And in a follow-up meeting, Fazio was quick to point him toward other possibilities.

“One of the things we present to students is the value of taking the time and space to consider the choices they’ve made, looking for themes, values, commitments,” Fazio said. “We value that deep dive into their developing notion of purpose—and we try to talk a lot about developing complimentary plans, not only Plan A but Plans B and C.”

Crucial in that exploration is engaging in undergraduate research or other experiences that begin to create a coherent trajectory. Last summer, after he didn’t advance with the Truman, Joseph worked closely with a law professor on a project involving police brutality and misconduct that “completely shifted his worldview and career path.”

With that professor’s strong letter of support and some scholarly research under his belt, he is now a national finalist for a Fulbright scholarship.