It all began with Hanna Gray. I was just 10 when Mrs. Gray became the first woman to serve as president of a major research university. This news of a formidable woman leading a serious institution utterly got my attention. I applied to the College in part because of how her presidency captured my imagination, though it wouldn’t be until graduate school and after her time in office that I made my way to Hyde Park.

Then came Wayne Booth, AM’47, PhD’50. In my first job out of college, I was the assistant to the editor of his anthology The Art of Growing Older: Writers on Living and Aging (Poseidon Press, 1992) and took on the freelance job of securing reprint permissions for the writing and art collected in the book. When we first signed the book, my boss was ecstatic. She admired him so much.

And Wayne was a giant; I’d been assigned to read his work in a critical theory seminar in college. His friendly and down-to-earth demeanor when we worked together quickly turned my awe to respectful affection. That turned to deep gratitude when he wrote a recommendation letter for my grad school applications—and more so when he took me to lunch at the Quad Club my first week here, making me feel like I belonged before I did.

Maybe this is a common pathway to the University of Chicago, through admiration, however distant or close-up, of the minds that call it home. I always felt that they—the thinkers, the writers, the Sagans, the Sontags—had some subjective quality that spoke of their connection to this place, like a just-discernible watermark.

This past spring, that special quality got an apt name with the launch of the University’s new comprehensive fundraising and engagement campaign: Chicago Minds. The name honors all who have learned and taught and discovered here, like the 90 people who appear on this issue’s cover. Among them are some of my personal UChicago heroes, such as Janet Lewis, PhB 1920; Clair Patterson, PhD’51; and Roger Ebert, EX’70. Also in the heady mix (pun intended) are today’s faculty giants, including the one who leads the University and the campaign, and current students representing the emerging generation of Chicago minds.

Over the life of Chicago Minds, we’ll bring you news and stories of the campaign in a new section, debuting in this issue. There you’ll learn more about the effort, the vital work it supports, and how you can play a part—and, I hope, see your own Chicago mind reflected.

One of us!

Speaking of Chicago minds, please welcome Carrie A. Smith, AB’07, as the Magazine’s new Alumni News editor. A bibliophile like the rest of us, Carrie most recently worked for American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association. A word nerd like us, she studied English and creative writing in the College. More athletic than at least one of us, she owns more bicycles than the rest of the editors combined. We’re beyond delighted to have Carrie on the masthead and on our team.