The University of Chicago Magazine

August 1997

CHICAGO JOURNAL

FOR THE RECORD


Pomp and romance: Degrees were conferred upon2,430 students during spring convocation ceremonies in June. Most ceremonieswere held in Rockefeller Chapel, but the Graduate School of Business sessionheld its ceremonies in Harper Quadrangle: the first al fresco U of C convocationin nearly 70 years.


Entrusted: Chicago executives E. David CoolidgeIII and Anthony Dean have been elected to the University's board of trustees.Coolidge is CEO of William Blair & Company. Dean, a member of the visitingcommittees for both the Humanities division and the Oriental Institute,is president and chief operating officer of the John Nuveen Company.


Pontification: Gary Becker, AM'53, PhD'55, Universityprofessor in economics, has been appointed to the Pontifical Academy ofSciences by Pope John Paul II. Becker, a pioneer in applying the theoryof human capital to show how family decisions are made on the basis ofeconomics, joins a group of scholars chosen to promote the use of the sciences"in the study of epistemological problems."


Top scorers: According to a new American Bar Associationguide, U of C law students have the nation's highest bar-exam passing rate:97%. Law School Dean Douglas Baird credits the students' high rate to "greatstudents and a rigorous place."


Changing chimes: To mark the retirement of EasleyBlackwood, a music professor who has taught at the U of C since 1958, theRockefeller Chapel carillon has changed its tune. The chimes now play "BlackwoodChime," a piece he composed in 1961. It replaces "Cambridge Chime,"which had been playing every 15 minutes for the past 10 years.


Timeworn: A proposal being considered this summerwould restore Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft's "Fountain of Time"to its original epic grandeur. The 100-piece sculpture, located on thewest end of the Midway, has badly deteriorated in 75 years, with an estimated$450,000 needed for repairs. The city's park district must approve theproposal.


Big Apple move: Alumni who need to contact theUniversity's New York Regional Office should make note of its post-LaborDay move. The new address will be 10 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 620, NewYork 10020. The new phone number is 212/218-7929; the fax number is 212/218-7935.


Good Press: The two-year-old University of ChicagoFree Press placed first in the 1997 Campus Alternative Journalism competition.Named the best newspaper, the Press also won first place for anti-sexistreporting and honorable mentions for both reporting and opinion writing.With a circulation of 7,000, the monthly supports itself on advertisingrevenues.


Baseball giant: Mark W. Mosier, AB'97, was draftedby the San Francisco Giants in June, the first Maroon signed by a major-leagueclub since the 1930s. Mosier played second base this summer for the Giants'Class A club in Salem, Oregon. Last season, Mosier led all Division IIIplayers in homers (15) and RBIs (57).


Summa cum laude: Six scholars received honorarydegrees in June. Philologist Jean Bottero philosopher Edouard Jeauneau,and literary critic Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo received doctorates of humaneletters. Doctor of Science degrees went to Emily Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, anexpert in language competence and primate cognition, and physicist CarlWieman. Legal historian Reinhard Zimmermann received a Doctor of Laws degree.

Geniuses at work: BracketteF. Williams, a visiting professor of anthropology, earned a "geniusgrant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation forher work on cultural production and social relationships. Berkeley sociologistLoic J. D. Wacquant, AM'86, PhD'94, won for his studies of the post--WWIItransformation of the ghetto.

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