Chicago Journal ::

New CIO joins University
Peter Stein, formerly the managing director of Princeton University Investment Company, became the University’s new vice president and chief investment officer July 11. His appointment, overseeing Chicago’s $3.55 billion endowment, followed an almost-yearlong search to fill the position after Philip Halpern stepped down last June.

Old deans are new again
The Divinity School’s Richard Rosengarten, AM’88, PhD’94, and Graduate School of Business’s Edward Snyder, AM’78, PhD'84, both returned as deans for a second five-year term beginning July 1. Jeanne Marsh, who served as dean of the School of Social Service Administration from 1988 to 1998 and as acting dean this past year, also was appointed to a five-year term.

Freak journalism
Steven D. Levitt, the Alvin H. Baum professor of economics, began writing a monthly column, with journalist Stephen Dubner, for The New York Times Magazine June 5. Based on their bestseller Freakonomics (William Morrow, 2005), the column examines “human behavior from an economic perspective,” the Times said in a news release.

Coming to roost
Christine O’Neill Singer, X’72, formerly the vice president for development at the Lincoln Park Zoo, has joined Chicago as associate vice president for Development & Alumni Relations and executive director of the Alumni Association. Singer grew the zoo’s membership to the highest levels in its history and headed up a $130 million capital campaign.

Ombudspersons appointed
President Don M. Randel has appointed political-science graduate student Victor Muñiz-Fraticelli as next year’s student ombudsperson. Law, Letters, and Society major Kirk Schmink, ‘06, will be the associate ombudsperson. The two students will investigate and assist in responding to their peers’ concerns and questions.

Demographic consequences
The Population Association of America awarded Robert Michael, the Eliakim Hastings Moore distinguished service professor in the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, the Robert J. Lapham Award. The award recognizes Michael’s demographic research, including his studies on adolescent sexual behavior and family economics.

The glass is half Fulbright
This year 28 Chicago graduate students received Fulbright-Hays fellowships, which support study for six to 12 months in non-Western countries. For the 19th consecutive year, Chicago students have won more Fulbright-Hays fellowships than any other U.S. academic institution.

Here’s Waldo
Waldo Johnson, PhD’93, professor in the School of Social Service Administration, is the new director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, following political-science professor Cathy Cohen’s three-year stint. Johnson studies the fathers’ involvement in teen pregnancies and mental-health issues confronting African American families.

Bio labs and bike shorts
When he isn’t doing lab work, Todd Yezefski, a rising second-year doctoral student in the University’s cancer-biology program, is most likely zipping up the lakeshore path on his bicycle. Yezefski’s 20-hour-per-week training regimen paid off in May when he won the 2005 Collegiate Road Cycling national championship.

Smoking gun
Dennis W. Carlton, professor of business economics at the GSB, was the final witness to testify in the government’s conspiracy case against the nation’s leading tobacco companies, including Philip Morris and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company. Carlton, who testified on behalf of the defendants, stated that a simple court injunction would more effectively restrain the companies than proposed national programs to help reduce smoking.

This is not a test
PrepMe.com, an online, SAT-prep company that recruits high-achieving college students to tutor high schoolers, won the ninth annual Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge business-plan competition at the Graduate School of Business May 27, besting 58 other companies and garnering $20,000. Karan Goel, AB’04, MBA‘06, Avichal Garg, a 2005 Stanford graduate, and Joe Jewell, a 2004 Caltech graduate, wrote PrepMe’s business plan.

Gender change
Deborah Nelson, associate professor in English language & literature, succeeds Rebecca West as director of the Center for Gender Studies. Nelson has been involved with the center since 1996, the year she came to the University and the center was created. She previously served as the center’s faculty associate director.

Excitations
The University of Chicago Law Journal, The Supreme Court Review, is the most cited law journal in the English language, according to the “Most-Cited Legal Periodicals” list published by the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Helsing takes Court stage
Dawn Helsing, formerly the development director for Centerstage, a Baltimore theater company, became Court Theatre’s new executive director in July. Helsing’s appointment ended an eight-month search to replace Diane Claussen, who left the Court to become managing director at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. Helsing will lead Court Theatre through its 51st season along with artistic director Charles Newell.