The Alumni News section of The University of Chicago Magazine features more than 40 bylined columns written by volunteer class correspondents. Full of news about jobs, awards, books, travels, hobbies, marriages, babies, and miscellaneous gossip, it’s the section many readers flip to first.

Legendary Magazine editor Mary Ruth Yoe recruited her first batch of class correspondents in 1997. Among them was Dorthea Juul, AB’72, PhD’89, who filed her first column in the October issue. More than 28 years later, she’s still doing it.

The newest member of the class correspondent corps is Rory McGann, SB’25. A former star intern at the Mag and Core, he inquired about becoming a correspondent in the spring of 2025, before he had even graduated.

Class correspondents often ask their classmates to share what’s new. We thought we would ask Juul and McGann to answer a few questions themselves—the standard list of questions for the UChicagoan interview, which runs in the very back of the Magazine, after class news.

What surprising job have you had in the past?

Dorthea Juul: Carhop at Hoppy’s A&W, Redwood Falls, Minnesota. It was the place to see and be seen.

Rory McGann: I haven’t had many jobs yet. I’m sure something off the wall will come my way.

What would you want to be doing if not your current profession?

Juul: Meteorologist, or if I’m being truly honest, weather reporter or “weather girl,” as they used to be called. I’m retired now.

McGann: So many choices! Maybe playwright.

What do you love that everyone else hates?

Juul: It’s a “who”: Edward Casaubon in Middlemarch. He’s a character most readers dislike, but I’ve come to appreciate him.

What do you hate that everyone else loves?

McGann: Bread. Mostly because it hates me.

What was the last book you finished?

Juul: George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, a powerful graphic novel, for my book group.

McGann: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, for a class last spring. I’ve been slacking.

What was the last book you recommended to a friend?

Juul: Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels by Rachel Cohen [professor of practice in the arts], recommended to fellow Jane Austen fans.

McGann: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. Speculative historical fiction that’s also a murder mystery.

What was the last book you put down before you finished it?

Juul: I almost always finish once I’ve started.

McGann: I’m very bad at starting books, but once I do, I’ll make it through.

What UChicago course book left the biggest impression on you?

Juul: History of Western Civilization: A Handbook by William H. McNeill [LAB’34, AB’38, AM’39]. Still have my copy (cover’s fallen off) and refer to it once in a while.

McGann: The text that comes to mind is Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Ibn Yaqzān: A Philosophical Tale from my SOSC sequence. Fascinating thought experiment about reasoning into religion.

Tell us the best piece of advice you’ve received …

Juul: From a former boss: Mind the money. Other things may matter more, but you need the money to accomplish them.

… or the worst.

McGann: I was once told that science isn’t a creative field. That confused me for a while, because almost everything I’ve learned and experienced since then has told me otherwise. Now I’m applying to PhD programs in microbiology and bioengineering/biomedical engineering.

What advice would you give to a brand-new Maroon?

Juul: Focus on reading and writing, especially writing—it’s thinking.

McGann: Don’t waste a second! Try not to leave with any regrets about things you didn’t do.

What did you learn at UChicago that still benefits you today?

Juul: How to read and write.

McGann: Grit.

What’s your most vivid UChicago memory?

Juul: Springtime on the quads—just being there.

McGann: The closing night of the show I directed in my third year will stay with me for a very long time. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder.