Humanities dean

On July 1 Deborah Nelson became the new dean of the Division of the Humanities. Nelson, the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor in the Department of English and in the College, has taught at UChicago since 1996 and focuses her research on American literature, photography, and Cold War history. Nelson previously served as deputy provost for graduate education and director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. She succeeds Anne Walters Robertsons, the Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music and in the College, who had been dean since 2016.

ISAC Leader

On September 1 Timothy P. Harrison, AM’91, PhD’95, becomes director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia and North Africa (ISAC), with faculty appointments in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and in the College. He succeeds Theo van den Hout, the Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor of Hittite and Anatolian Languages in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and in the College, who has served as interim director of ISAC since April 2021 and oversaw the institute’s recent renaming.

Woodward’s second term

Amanda Woodward, the William S. Gray Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology, has been reappointed dean of the Division of the Social Sciences. A scholar in the social development of infants and young children, Woodward was instrumental in establishing the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, along with the new PhD program in political economy—a joint enterprise with Harris Public Policy—during her first term as dean. Under her leadership, the division expanded support for graduate students through dissertation completion fellowships, the First Year Scholars Program, the Peer Mentoring Program, and the Alumni-in-Residence program. She has served as SSD’s dean since 2017.

Book of distinction

Elisabeth S. Clemens, AM’85, PhD’90, the William Rainey Harper Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and in the College, received the 2023 Gordon J. Laing Award for Civic Gifts: Voluntarism and the Making of the American Nation-State (2020). The Laing Award is conferred annually by the Board of University Publications upon the faculty author, editor, or translator whose book has brought the greatest distinction to the list of the UChicago Press.

Trio of science honorees

Three UChicago scholars are among this year’s 120 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences: Jeffrey Hubbell, the Eugene Bell Professor in Tissue Engineering in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; Anthony A. Kossiakoff, the Otho S. A. Sprague Distinguished Service Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and Eduardo A. Perozo, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Into the academy

Five UChicago faculty members have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Michael J. Franklin, the Liew Family Chair of Computer Science; Chang-Tai Hsieh, the Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth;Magne Mogstad, the Gary S. Becker Distinguished Service Professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics and in the College; Salikoko S. Mufwene, PhD’79, the Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Linguistics, the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, and the College; andShigehiro Oishi, the Marshall Field IV Professor of Psychology.

Math Prize

Vladimir Drinfeld, the Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics, is one of two recipients of the prestigious Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences for 2023. Since 2002 the prize has honored individuals who have achieved significant breakthroughs in academic and scientific research or applications and whose works have resulted in positive and profound impacts on humanity. Drinfeld shares the $1.2 million award with Shing-Tung Yau of Tsinghua University for their “contributions related to mathematical physics, to arithmetic geometry, to differential geometry and to Kähler geometry.”

Quantrells and more

The 2023 winners of the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching are Leora Auslander, the Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor in the Departments of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity and History; Michael Gladders, professor of astronomy and astrophysics; Robert L. Kendrick, the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Music and Romance Languages and Literatures; Phoebe Rice professor of biochemistry and molecular biology; and James Sparrow, associate professor of history. Faculty Awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring went to Elisabeth S. Clemens, AM’85, PhD’90, the William Rainey Harper Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology and in the College; Paola Iovene, associate professor of East Asian languages and civilizations; Katherine Kinzler, professor of psychology; Bozhi Tian, professor of chemistry; and David Wellbery, the LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor in the Department of Germanic Studies and the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought.