* AUJOURD'HUI A PARIS: CHICAGO OPENS PARIS CENTER
It's official: Chicago's first University-wide foreign base. May 13-14 ceremonies mark the opening of the Paris Center. In addition to offering courses for Chicago undergraduates, the satellite campus--located on the Left Bank near the National Library--will be a site for doctoral and postdoctoral study and colloquia, open to French and other European scholars:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040511.pariscenter.shtml

* PERSIAN ARTIFACTS GO BACK TO IRAN
At a ceremony in Tehran last week, the Oriental Institute returned a set of 300 ancient Persian tablets to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization--the first return of loaned archaeological items since Iran's 1979 revolution:
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/040513/oi.shtml

* CHICAGO INITIATIVE HITS $1 BILLION, AND KEEPS ON GOING...
Two years after its April 12, 2002, launch, the Chicago Initiative--the University's $2 billion capital campaign--has passed the halfway mark:
http://chicagoinitiative.uchicago.edu/news/pressreleases/042304_convenes_pr.shtml

* SUPERNOVA SIMULATION DWARFS ALL THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE
Using 2.7 million hours of supercomputing time provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers at Chicago's Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes are preparing to run the most advanced simulation of a white dwarf star ever attempted. To learn more--and to see the project described in colorful detail via a video press release--go to:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.supernovae.shtml

* FOUR YOUNG SCIENTISTS WIN SLOAN FELLOWSHIPS
Of 116 scientists and economists to receive 2004 Sloan Research Fellowships, four teach at Chicago. The fellows will each receive $40,000 to pursue the topics that most interest them--from how small particles cluster into large objects with unusual shapes to developing new ways to model and analyze data on genetic variations:
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/040429/sloan.shtml

* SINGING THE BODY RELIGIOUS
Rutgers English professor Michael Warner discusses Walt Whitman's psalmic verse:
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/UChiBLOGo/

* ALUMNI WEEKEND IS COMING SOON
June 3-6 is the annual Alumni Weekend, and you are invited to attend the parties, receptions, fairs, festivals, classes, ceremonies, and concerts--most of them free of charge. Plus, special reunions and gatherings will be held for College classes ending in 4 or 9, the Class of 2003, the Harris School, the Graham School, the School of Social Service Administration, the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the Laboratory Schools, as well as graduate alumni in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Meanwhile, the Women's Athletics Association commemorates its 100th anniversary and Rockefeller Chapel its 75th, not to mention the 57th Street Art Fair and the Hyde Park-University of Chicago Arts Fest. Best of all, it's the grand opening of the University's new Alumni House. There's no better weekend to visit Hyde Park.

Although most events are free, many require registration. To find out more and to register online:
http://alumnireunion.uchicago.edu

* 2004 COMMON TEXT IS "COMMON SENSE"
Continuing the Chicago tradition of providing a common intellectual experience among all students, past and present, the Common Text program invites you to revisit and discuss key texts read as part of the College's Common Core. This year's text is Thomas Paine's "Common Sense." A faculty panel will discuss the text during Alumni Weekend on Friday, June 4. For the text, additional resources, and an online discussion group, visit
http://www.alumni.uchicago.edu/paine

* TAKE THE FAMILY TO COSTA RICA
There's still time to sign up for the alumni family trip to Costa Rica, August 5-14. From coast to cloud forests, we'll explore the country that's become a world model for national parks. Register by May 28 to secure your place. See the online brochure at:
http://www.alumni.uchicago.edu/study.html

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