For the record
An MBA is a hot ticket
Applications for the full-time M.B.A. program increased by 70 percent this year, according to Don Martin, associate dean for enrollment management at the GSB. Martin was quoted in an April 2 Wall Street Journal article noting a similar trend at business schools nationally as students scurry back to school to wait out the recession.

New Argonne position
Robert Rosner, the William E. Wrather distinguished service professor in astronomy & astrophysics, physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College, has been appointed chief scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. The new position is designed to improve the lab's research planning, scientific programs, and collaborations with the University.

The Middle East on the Quads
Current events in the Middle East spilled over to campus as students hosted rallies on the Quads this April. Approximately 100 people attended a pro-Israel rally, and approximately 30 attended a pro-Palestine demonstration, both of which were peaceful. There were also Israeli and Palestinian film festivals on campus this spring showcasing Gaza Strip and Afula Express.

Academy elections
Nine Chicago scholars were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Carlos Kenig, SM'75, PhD'78, mathematics; Susan M. Kidwell, geophysical sciences; Steven Levitt, economics; Peter McCullagh, statistics; Bernard McGinn, divinity; David A. Strauss, law; William W. Tait, philosophy; Robert Vishny,GSB; Thomas A. Witten, physics. Meanwhile, John E. Carlstrom, professor of astronomy & astrophysics and physics, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Social Sciences dean
J. Mark Hansen becomes dean of the Division of the Social Sciences July 1. The Harvard professor taught at Chicago from 1986 to 2001. The former William R. Kenan Jr. professor in political science and the College, Hansen studies interest groups, citizen activism, and public opinion.

Computer collaboration
The Toyota Technological Institute (TTI) of Nagoya, Japan, is creating a department of information science on the U of C campus with classes beginning fall 2003. Initial enrollment will be ten master's degree students, and a Ph.D. program with a faculty of 30 is in the works. Financed with a $100 million endowment from TTI, the program will offer its own degrees, and it will be separate from but affiliated with the University's computer-science department.

Shakespeare scholar honored
The Renaissance Society of America honored David Bevington, the Phyllis Fay Horton distinguished service professor of English language & literature, comparative literature, the Committee on General Studies in the Humanities, and the College, with its Paul Oskar Kristeller Lifetime Achievement Award for his editorial accomplishments.

Faculty win Guggenheims
Four faculty have won Guggenheim fellowships: Andrew Abbott, AM'75, PhD'82, the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift distinguished service professor in sociology, will complete his book Time and Social Structure. Susan Gal, professor in anthropology and linguistics, will analyze communist and postcommunist political talk. Jonathan L. Rosner, professor in physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute, will study heavy quarks. Alison Winter, AB'87, associate professor in history, will write on the history of the sciences of memory.

Grant for urban studies
The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation gave a five-year, $10 million joint grant to the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies and the School of Social Service Administration. The funds will be used for full-tuition scholarships, professorships to study urban issues, and activities linking the U of C and the city, such as internships and policy briefings for public officials.

Applied physics
Not many physicists have skateboards riding on their work. But Peter J. Eng, a senior research associate at the James Franck Institute and the Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, is an exception. A skater, Eng did three-dimensional computer modeling for Free Basin, an art installation that doubles as a skateboarding rink. The six-ton rink, designed by Steve Badgett and Matt Lynch, was shown in the Hyde Park Art Center and the Wexner Arts Center at Ohio State University and will be on display at Documenta XI, an international art fair in Kassel, Germany.

GSB CEOs
Companies led by chief executives with an M.B.A. from Chicago have a higher median total return to shareholders than those led by graduates from any other business school. The April 25 report in Forbes ranked returns from graduates of Stanford and Harvard third and fifth, respectively. But before we get too excited, CEOs with no advanced degree generate higher returns, on average, than those with an M.B.A.

Yo no quiero Taco Bell
A nationwide boycott of Taco Bell has made the U of C its base. Students are protesting the labor conditions of farm workers employed by Taco Bell distributors: tomato pickers' annual salary, protesters say, is $7,500, and the workers have no health or disability insurance and no overtime pay. Students are meeting with administrators to discuss removing Taco Bell from the Hutchinson Commons food court.

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