The right direction

Daniel Aukin, AB’93, won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his work on Stereophonic (2024). Set in a recording studio in mid-1970s California, the play follows an up-and-coming folk-rock quintet as they record their second album. The prolonged recording process tests the group’s personal relationships and their creative collaboration. Written by David Adjmi and featuring original music by Will Butler, Stereophonic received 13 Tony nominations—the most ever for a play—and won five. Aukin previously directed Fool for Love (2015) on Broadway.

Doctors’ Order

Six alumni were elected to the National Academy of Medicine in October: Joseph Heitman SB’84, SM’84, professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine; Kenneth M. Langa, AM’90, PhD’92, MD’94, professor of medicine at the University of Michigan; Santa Ono, AB’84, president of the University of Michigan; David Pellman, AB’81, MD’86, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, professor of pediatric oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School; Jeffrey D. Rothstein, AM’79, professor of neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and Matthew G. Vander Heiden, SB’94, PhD’00, MD’02, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.

Exceptional Creativity

Ling Ma, AB’05, the author of Severance (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018) and Bliss Montage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022), was awarded a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship. In her fiction, Ma brings together mundane and fantastical elements to highlight the surreality of our everyday lives. The prestigious fellowship, which comes with an $800,000 grant, is awarded to 20 to 30 people annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It supports “individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more.” Formerly an assistant professor of practice in the arts in UChicago’s Program in Creative Writing, Ma will return to the University as an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature in January 2025.

Headlines Host

Tracy Mumford, AB’10, was named host and editor of The New York Times podcast The Headlines. Formerly available only on The New York Times Audio app, The Headlines became available on all podcast platforms in August. In 10-minute episodes, the show touches on the day’s biggest stories, with commentary from journalists around the world. Mumford has worked on the show as a producer, editor, and host since its early days. She was previously a producer, reporter, and host of the Minnesota Public Radio podcast 74 Seconds, which won a Peabody Award in 2017 for its investigation into the 2016 killing of Philando Castile during a traffic stop.

Playing Chicken

KJ Dell’Antonia’s (JD’94) best-selling novel The Chicken Sisters (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2020) has been adapted into a TV series. The novel centers on two small-town Kansas chicken restaurants and the women behind them. The rivalry between the restaurants reaches a boiling point when a cooking competition show comes to town. The eight-episode series, also called The Chicken Sisters, was released on the new Hallmark+ streaming service in September. It stars Schuyler Fisk, Genevieve Angelson, Lea Thompson, and Wendie Malick. Dell’Antonia’s most recent novels are In Her Boots (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022) and Playing the Witch Card (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2023).

From the Quads to the Senate

Four alumni were elected to the US Senate in November. Andy Kim, AB’04 (D-NJ), will become the first Korean American senator. He had served as a US House representative since 2019. Amy Klobuchar, JD’85 (D-MN), and Bernie Sanders, AB’64 (I-VT), each won reelection to seats they have held since 2007. Pete Ricketts, AB’86, MBA’91 (R-NE), who was appointed to the US Senate by Nebraska’s governor upon former Republican senator Ben Sasse’s resignation in January 2023, won a special election to serve the final two years of Sasse’s term.