Gary, Indiana
Chicago Harris’s Gary Project joins forces with a dynamic new mayor to reframe the Indiana steel town’s future.
Becker remembered
Reflections on the life and work of trailblazing economist Gary Becker.
Bret Stephens
Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens, AB’95, brings a UChicago intellectual spirit to the sword fight of political commentary.
Aspen Institute
How the University of Chicago, the great books craze, and a love of Goethe helped create the Aspen Institute.
Complex Oedipus
Philosopher Irad Kimhi teaches unhappiness in his own way.
Center in Delhi
A new home in India deepens the University’s historic academic connections to the country and concentrates its expertise on complex global problems.
Human nurture
Philosopher Jesse Prinz, PhD’97, trains a skeptical eye on biological accounts of our behavior, beliefs, and emotions.
Judith Nadler
Retiring University librarian Judith Nadler reflects on her prolific career.
Poetry
Poet, critic, and scholar Maureen McLane, PhD’97, argues for poetry that synthesizes, “with passion and knowledge,” what it means to be human. Plus—Three poems: An excerpt from This Blue.
Cloistered nuns
Cloistered nuns tell their stories.
Marine menagerie
Biology professor Michael LaBarbera has spent his career immersing students—and himself—in an underwater world and the unending adventure of science. Plus—Unplanned encounters: Surprise specimens in the lab.
Judith Grabiner
Mathematics historian Judith Victor Grabiner, SB’60, teaches math to the liberal arts masses.
Junk economy
Entrepreneurs meeting the demand for raw materials, not environmental virtue, drives the expansion of the recycling industry. Plus—Trash talker: Author Adam Minter, AB’93, weighs in on the wide world of waste.
Bygone Ethiopia
John Snyder traversed Ethiopia seeking inspiration for a screenplay. Instead he captured a landscape about to disappear.
Encyclopaedia editor
After more than three decades at Britannica, editor in chief Dale Hoiberg, AM’74, PhD’93, knows the encyclopedia business inside out.
Business in sports
From Major League Baseball and the NBA to Italian soccer and the NFL’s foothold in China, the sports world’s executive suites have a Maroon tint.
Man and ape
In his new book, anthropologist Russell Tuttle synthesizes decades of research to identify the characteristics that set our species apart.
Ancient trades
An exhibit at the Oriental Institute Museum pairs modern workers with the ancient tools of their trades.
Earl Shorris
Earl Shorris, X’54, established a free humanities course to help impoverished adults escape the “surround of force” that restricts their lives.
Lolita
Slavic studies professor Malynne Sternstein guides students through the deep game that is Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita.
Pilgrims
In one of the oldest chapters of American history—the Pilgrims’ flight from persecution—historian Jeremy Bangs, X’67, finds new ground to cover.
Campus architecture
New construction is about the exchange of ideas—within and beyond the campus. The University architect explains the theory behind the practice.
Playing with fire
To approach religion with intellectual rigor, says Divinity School dean Margaret Mitchell, AM’82, PhD’89, is to play with fire. She stokes the embers.
Dark energy
Astrophysicist Josh Frieman, PhD’89, works on the dark side, studying the night sky for insight into the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Favorite things
Keepers of University collections reveal the pieces closest to their hearts.
Social survey
For 40 years, the General Social Survey has cultivated a vast body of knowledge about Americans’ personal attitudes and opinions. Plus: “Survey Says.”
Carrie reborn
Kimberly Peirce, AB’90, revives the pop culture classic.
Point spread
Charles K. McNeil, PhB’25, was the point man in sports gambling.
Foster families
Davida Williams, AM’82, helps foster families navigate trauma and find trust.
Top shelf
They were the best of spines.
Friendly skies
American stewardesses and the making of an iconic advertising campaign.
Alumni Weekend
Scenes from a verdant and varied Alumni Weekend.
Jewel Lafontant
Jewel C. Stradford Lafontant, JD’46, was a lawyer and public servant who broke many barriers.
Campus talks
Spring quarter, like any other, offered an encyclopedia of public talks on campus, illuminating topics art historical, zoological, and everything in between. At 11 of these talks, the Magazine staff were there.
Butterfly genetics
Marcus Kronforst finds clues to evolutionary adaptation in butterfly wings.
Love in wartime
Researching her mother’s story of wartime flight and lost love, journalist Leslie Maitland, AB’71, finds the truth richer and stranger than any fiction. Plus: “Internal Investigation.”
Wine
Wine writer and restaurant critic Bill St. John, AM’77, AM’80, PhD’83, talks fear of wine and the scourge of ratings. Plus: “An embarrassment of riches.”
A Russian story
William Browder, AB’85, was once the biggest capitalist in Russia. After his lawyer was tortured and died in jail, he became one of the Kremlin’s fiercest enemies.
Hamlet and the law
A justice, a judge, a philosopher, and an English professor.