Chicago Journal ::

Astronomical appointment

After a six-month search, U of C astrophysicist Robert Rosner was named Argonne National Laboratory’s new director, effective April 18. Succeeding Hermann Grunder, Rosner has served as Argonne’s associate lab director for physical, biological, and computing sciences and as its chief scientist since 2002. He is also the William Wrather distinguished service professor in astronomy & astrophysics.

Presidential present

Cited for expanding College research options and supporting programs to improve K–12 education, University President Don M. Randel has received a $500,000 Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation. Northwestern President Henry Bienen, AM’62, PhD’66, and Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohen also won the prize.

Gift to fund liberal arts

The estate of Katharine Graham, AB’38, former publisher of the Washington Post, has given the University $5.5 million. Of that, $4 million will go to the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, which recruits promising young scholars to teach liberal-arts courses in the College. The fellowships will support four four-year positions. Graham, who died in 2002, was a University life trustee.

Calvert House chaplain resigns

In early February the Rev. Michael Yakaitis resigned as chaplain of Calvert House, the campus Catholic student center, where he’d been since 2001. He left after another priest alerted officials that Yakaitis, age 52, had had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male seminarian 15 years ago, while serving at a suburban seminary. Yakaitis underwent counseling at that time.

New I-House director

William McCartney, former director of student housing and residence life at the University of Mississippi, became director of International House March 1. I-House director of finance Brian Davis had been serving as interim director since late 2003, after Henry Pernet, AM’67, PhD’79, resigned.

Case of the missing portrait

A portrait of Ida Noyes, hanging in the building that bears her name, was stolen in January. The thieves cut out the 6 x 3–foot painting and left the frame behind. Authorities searched for fingerprints but had no leads by spring. “If it’s a prank,” Tim Banks, Ida Noyes Hall associate director for facilities and event services, told the Maroon, “it’s not really one that can be taken back.”

St. Paul in our chambers

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the nation’s only full-time chamber ensemble, plans a three-week Hyde Park residency for a University of Chicago Presents series. Spread over November, January, and April 200506, the residency will include three concerts, a family program, local elementary-school events, and a series of master classes, composition readings, and chamber-music coaching for University students.

Science, math scholars awarded

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has recognized four Chicago scholars. The 2005 Sloan Research Fellowships went to Jesper Grodal, assistant professor in mathematics and the College; Chuan He and David Mazziotti, both assistant professors in chemistry and the College; and Monika Piazzesi, assistant professor of finance in the GSB, who are among 116 U.S. and Canadian winners. The Sloan fellowships recognize young faculty members in chemistry, computational and evolutionary-molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics.

Admitted to bigger quarters

The Office of College Admissions has moved from its cramped space on Harper Memorial Library’s first floor to an office suite on the first floor of Julius Rosenwald Hall. The office’s new, main-quads home was possible after the Graduate School of Business occupied its new building. In addition to the better location, the new offices have a larger waiting room and overflow space.

U of C doc heads new journal

Stephen Hanauer, Hospitals section chief of gastroenterology, has been named editor in chief of Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology & Hepatology. Launched last November, the journal is one of four new efforts from the Nature Publishing Group to translate basic research results into clinical practice. The journals will give physicians the key points without requiring them to read the entire body of literature.

No Proof yet

Originally scheduled for release in December, the film adaptation of Proof, David Auburn’s (AB’91) Pulitzer Prize–winning play, still has no opening date set, the Maroon reported. Some scenes were filmed on campus in fall 2003, when students and staff aided the movie-makers and performed as extras. Producer and backer Hart-Sharp productions has estimated a fall 2005 release but made “no guarantees.”

New light on dark energy

University scientists have cofounded an international collaboration to measure with new precision the mysterious force causing the universe to fly apart. The $20 million project, called the Dark Energy Survey, will collect data on 300 million galaxies spanning two-thirds of the universe’s history. The collaboration includes Chicago, Fermi Laboratory, the University of Illinois, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and groups from the United Kingdom and Spain. Funding will likely come from sources including the U.S. Department of Energy, European funding agencies, and the member institutions.