For the record
Guterman becomes SSA dean
Neil Guterman, the Mose and Sylvia Firestone professor at the School of Social Service Administration, has been appointed dean. His five-year term begins July 1. An expert on child abuse and neglect, Guterman joined the SSA faculty in 2006 from Columbia University’s School of Social Work. Guterman succeeds Jeanne C. Marsh, who has served three terms as dean, 1988–98 and 2005–10.
By popular demand
For “extending the reach and applicability of general equilibrium analysis and for establishing the modern theory of aggregate demand,” Hugo Sonnenschein received Spain’s BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance, and Management. Sonnenschein, the Adam Smith distinguished service professor in economics, shares the $540,0000 prize with his former University of Minnesota student Andreu Mas-Colell, now the secretary general of the European Union Research Council.
Grant expands teacher program
An $11.6 million grant from the Department of Education will expand the University of Chicago Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP). The funding allows UTEP to increase its collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools, add secondary math and science certification, and enhance recruitment to increase selectivity and diversity.
Mitchell helms Div School
Margaret M. Mitchell, AM’82, PhD’89, becomes dean of the Divinity School on July 1. An expert on the New Testament and early-Christian literature, she joined the faculty in 1998. Mitchell succeeds Richard Rosengarten, AM’88, PhD’94, who has served since 2000.
Precious medal
President Obama presented the 2009 National Humanities Medal to William H. McNeill, AB’38, AM’39, the Robert A. Millikan distinguished service professor emeritus in history, at a February 25 White House ceremony. A National Book Award recipient for The Rise of the West (University of Chicago Press, 1964), McNeill has written more than 20 books and helped design the University’s Western Civilization core sequence.
Heminger heads to Cambridge
Anne Heminger, AB’08, has been named a 2010 Gates Cambridge scholar, one of 29 U.S. recipients. Heminger plans to pursue an MPhil in musicology at the University of Cambridge, building on research for her Chicago thesis about how hymns drove acceptance of the Reformation in 16th-century Latvia.
Digital journals
The University of Chicago Press has joined JSTOR’s new project for making journal issues available online. The Current Scholarship Program begins next year, adding more recent issues to JSTOR’s collection of back issues from more than 1,000 journals, including 51 from the U of C Press.
President Posner
Mitchell Posner, vice chair of surgery and section chief of general and oncologic surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center, is the new president of the Society of Surgical Oncology. Named to a one-year term at the society’s March 6 meeting, Posner has authored more than 175 articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He studies the management and molecular and genetic basis of gastrointestinal cancer, along with viral gene therapy of solid tumors. An expert on esophageal, pancreatic, stomach, liver, colon, and rectal cancers, Posner joined the faculty in 1995.
Law of attraction
The 26th annual Law School Musical, All You Need Is Law: Because Love Is Inefficient, told the story of two students in love despite political differences. It satirized the Law School experience—classes, summer internships, job interviews—and included impersonations of faculty.
An alumni-relations development
Thomas J. Farrell, the University of Pennsylvania’s associate vice president for undergraduate and individual giving, becomes the University’s vice president for alumni relations and development July 1. Interim Vice President Michele Schiele returns to her role as the Medical Center’s vice president for development.
Turner’s star turn
Michael S. Turner, the Bruce and Diana Rauner distinguished service professor in astronomy and astrophysics, succeeded John Carlstrom as director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics on March 29. Known for his seminal work on dark energy and the connections between particle physics and cosmology, Turner served as Argonne National Laboratory’s chief scientist from 2006 to 2008.
Constantin = math fellow
Peter Constantin, the Louis Block distinguished service professor in mathematics, becomes a fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics at its July meeting in Pittsburgh. One of 34 fellows, Constantin will be honored for “contributions to the mathematical analysis of nonlinear partial differential equations, fluid dynamics, and turbulence.”
More renown for Rowley
In April Janet Rowley, PhB’45, SB’46, MD’48, received the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research from the American Association for Cancer Research. Rowley, the Blum-Riese distinguished service professor in medicine, molecular genetics and cell biology, and human genetics, has done pioneering research since the 1970s on chromosomal abnormalities in leukemia and lymphoma, leading to the development of life-extending treatments such as the drug Gleevec.
Father figure
Committee on Creative Writing lecturer Daniel Raeburn received a 2010 creative-writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Raeburn, the author of Chris Ware (Yale University Press, 2004) plans to use the $25,000 grant to write a memoir about fatherhood. To celebrate, he went to the Seminary Co-op “and bought myself about $200 worth of books that I have wanted for a long time.”
An ethical decision
Daniel Sulmasy, a Franciscan friar and the Kilbride-Clinton professor of medicine and ethics, has been named to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. The author of four books and editor-in-chief of the journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, Sulmasy took his vows in 1985. (His salary goes to the order, and he receives a stipend.) The commission replaces President Bush’s Council on Bioethics, whose members included chairman Leon Kass, SB’58, MD’62, and Janet Rowley.
Award stirs Lear’s imagination
Jonathan Lear, the John U. Nef distinguished service professor in social thought and philosophy, has received a 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Mellon Foundation. Lear plans to put the $1.5 million award toward several long-term projects, including research into the role of dreams and visions in the Crow Nation and seminars on the ethical significance of imaginative activity.
Archer aims at climate change
Geophysical-sciences professor David Archer has been elected a 2010 fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Specializing in chemical oceanography, global warming, and the human impact on climate, Archer wrote The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate (Princeton University Press, 2008), which received the 2009 Walter P. Kistler Book Award.
Academy awards
Nine Chicago faculty members are now American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellows: Peter Constantin, the Louis Block distinguished service professor in mathematics; Jan Goldstein, the Norman and Edna Freehling professor in history; Tom Gunning, the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman distinguished service professor in art history and the College; Robert Kottwitz, the William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman professor in mathematics; Martin Kreitman, professor in ecology and evolution; Olufunmilayo F. Olopade, the Walter L. Palmer professor in medicine and human genetics; Eric Posner, the Kirkland and Ellis professor of law; Thomas Rosenbaum, provost and John T. Wilson distinguished service professor in physics; and Robert Shimer, the Alvin H. Baum professor in economics and the College.