Volume 110, Number 4
Summer/18

Also with this issue

The Core

The College Magazine

Features

Corrective measures

A UChicago professor spearheads an initiative to end mass incarceration.

Talking back

Reflections on the life and literature of Philip Roth, AM’55.

Bibliomania!

College students go head-to-head in a competition for the best undergraduate book collection.

Towering insights

English associate professor Adrienne Brown explores the complicated racial history of the American skyscraper.

Food for thought

Former White House chef Sam Kass, LAB’98, AB’04, is serving up new recipes and improvements to food policy. Plus: Kass’s recipe for brussels sprouts Caesar salad.

Course Work

Anatomy of song

Lights up on Thomas Christensenʼs Making and Meaning in the American Musical.

Editor’s notes

Remembrance of notes past

In dusty pages, pristine memories can live.

Letters

Readers sound off

Readers applaud class correspondents, debate health policy, ponder the merits of reflection and regret, and more.

On the agenda

Humanities’ reach expands exponentially

Dean Anne Walters Robertson on an exceptional time for the discipline.

UChicago Journal

Farsighted venture

James Chen, AB’82, is reenvisioning a centuries-old solution to transform millions of lives.

Forward thinking

The UChicago Empower Initiative changes the admissions conversation, adds more financial aid.

Value judgment

A Harris scholar fights to reform the property tax system.

Urban soundscape

At Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School, led by Helen Eaton, AM’00, anyone can play.

White power is not new

Historian Kathleen Belew finds an unexpected origin for a resurgent movement.

Original Source: Love notes

Even Nobel Prize–winning physicists get distracted in class.

Fig. 1: Habit farming

Historic agriculture crops up in modern life.

William Rainey Harper’s Index: Ventured and gained

The Edward L. Kaplan, MBA’71, New Venture Challenge, by the numbers.

Citations: Faculty research

Researchers investigate the mystery of shear thickening liquids, harness quantum entanglement, measure the benefits of a guaranteed work program in India, and say “good job!” to process praise.

For the Record: University news

A selection of the latest headlines from UChicago.

Peer review

Releases

The Magazine lists a selection of general interest books, films, and albums by alumni. For additional alumni releases, browse the Magazine’s Goodreads bookshelf.

Notes

Highlights from the latest alumni news columns.

Alumni essays

A good mayor is hard to find

The primary preoccupations of an unlikely political wife.

Empathy unmasked

To get outside himself, a writer takes up method acting.

Deaths

University obituaries

Recent faculty, staff, and alumni obituaries.

Lite of the mind

Doodlecore

Challenge yourself with the toughest UChicago entrance exam.

Summer/18
 

LONG

Science by the sea

In three weeks, there are just over 500 hours. The students in the Marine Biological Laboratory’s September intensive courses tried to use them all.

Nine weeks in Dakar

During winter quarter, the College offered a Study Abroad program in Dakar, Senegal—the westernmost city in West Africa—for the first time.

MEDIUM

Iʼll have what heʼs shooting

Max Teplitz, Class of 2020, puts his movie where his mouth is.

How to be a teacher on mars

Michael Wing, AB’85, on his career guide for “the PhD barista.”

Rip out your lawn

Retired attorney Charlotte Adelman, AB’59, JD’62, builds the case against nonnative plants.

How to make your yard more like a prairie

A list of native substitutes for nonnative (and boring) plants.

Can fifth graders do calculus?

Math Academy has the proof.

SHORT

A Yank at Eton

Miles Morgan, ABʼ17, AMʼ17, on teaching at one of Englands most famous boarding schools.

A breath of fresh air

James DuCanto, AB’88, on his “rock-star protection program” (aka saving people from choking on their own vomit).

Top 6 Farthest Study Abroad programs

When London or Paris just isnʼt far enough.

Whatʼs new in the College

Quantrell winners, prayer spaces, and more.

 

ET CETERA

Food: Riz au poisson

Tiebu djeun, the national dish of Senegal, cooked fresh in Bronzeville.

Lyrics for a band that doesnʼt exist

Peter O’Leary, AB’90, AM’94, PhD’99, on Rush, Yes, Steinbeck, Salinger, and faith.