And the Quantrell goes to…

In recognition of their excellence in undergraduate teaching, economist Steven Levitt, biochemist Joseph Piccirilli, economist Allen Sanderson, classicist Laura Slatkin, and statistician Stephen Stigler were given the 1998 Quantrell awards. Students nominate professors for the award; over the past 60 years, Quantrells have been presented to 235 faculty members.

Genius at work

John Carlstrom, an experimental cosmologist and associate professor of astronomy at the U of C, was awarded one of 29 1998 MacArthur Foundation fellowships. He will receive $260,000 over the next five years.

A wise investment

Philip Halpern, former treasurer and chief investment officer at Caltech, joined the U of C as vice president and chief investment officer in July. He will oversee the University's $2.3 billion endowment and make recommendations on tactical asset allocation.

Great graduate teachers

The 1998 faculty awards for excellence in graduate teaching went to statistician Xiao-Li Meng, economist Lars Hansen, philosophy professor Ian Mueller, and English professor Janel Mueller. David Strauss won the Law School award for best teaching, and William Pollak received the SSA award for excellence in teaching.

Sharing seniors

The Class of 1998 chose to present the University with a check as its senior gift. Over 55 percent of the class participated in the campaign, raising $28,202 and breaking all previous senior class gift records. The money will be used to fund scholarships and research fellowships for undergraduates.

Tallying the totals

University-wide fund-raising in 1997-98 also broke records. The development office raised $140.5 million in cash, an 8.8 percent increase over the previous year's results.

Provost power

Provost Geoffrey Stone, JD'71, named Mary Harvey, PhD'87, associate provost and chose political science professor Mark Hansen as associate provost for research and education. Harvey, the former associate director of foundation relations , succeeds Pat Swanson, while Hansen follows philosophy professor Daniel Garber.

Certificates of approval

At convocation, the University awarded the first foreign-language proficiency certificates to 33 undergraduate students. The certification program requires students who are not concentrating in a foreign language to take foreign-language classes, study abroad, and pass a competency exam similar to one given to diplomats by the State Department. The certificate is noted on the students' transcripts.

Students teaching students

Four graduate students-Louis Fogel, physical sciences; Tonia Korves, biological sciences; Rebecca Sandefur, AM'97, social sciences; and Jae-Hoon Shim, humanities-were awarded Booth prizes for excellence in teaching in the College.

Headed to the court

This summer, the Law School sent five newly minted J.D.s to the Supreme Court for clerkships, one each with Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Clarence Thomas. Two more students will be clerks for the court in 1999.