Welcome to the MAY/07 issue of UCHICAGO.EDU, a monthly e-bulletin bringing you online news about the University of Chicago and its larger community of alumni and friends.

The MAY-JUNE/07 University of Chicago Magazine is in the mail—and it's also online at: http://magazine.uchicago.edu.

Here's a sampling from the issue:

* The Human Equation
Economic historian Robert Fogel sees a new species of human evolution in documents that detail the chronic suffering of Civil War veterans:
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0726/features/human.shtml

* Radio Head
Alisa Miller, MPP’99, MBA’99, heads the public-radio company that brings you The World, This American Life, and—coming soon—a challenger to Morning Edition:
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0726/features/glimpses.shtml

* Hands-On Theater
Taking a play from script to University Theater stage, Chicago students tackle race and a ravaged mind:
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0726/features/utheater.shtml

News from Chicago

* Dreams in Stone

Friday, May 4, saw the announcement of two gifts to name major University buildings:

Arts Center Gets $35 Million
Slated for completion in 2011, Chicago’s new arts building will be known as the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Logan, AB’39, JD’41, his wife Reva, X’43, their sons, and grandsons made a $35 million cash gift to support the center:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070503.ccpa.shtml

Landmark Gift Names GSB’s Hyde Park Center
Recognizing one of the largest cash gifts in the history of the Graduate School of Business, the school’s Hyde Park campus has been named the Charles M. Harper Center. Harper, MBA’50, is the retired chair and chief executive of ConAgra Foods:
http://www-
news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070505.harpercenter.shtml

* New Dean for the Humanities
Martha Roth, an expert on the ancient languages of Mesopotamia and editor-in-charge of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, has been named dean of the Division of the Humanities, effective July 1. Currently deputy provost for research and education, Roth succeeds Danielle Allen, professor in classics and the College, as Humanities dean:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070425.roth.shtml

Research at Chicago

* Secret Magnetism isn't Secret Anymore
Using X-ray holograms, scientists at the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, the London Centre for Nanotechnology, and the University of Chicago have gotten the first view of the inner workings of antiferromagnets—materials that exhibit “secret” magnetism undetectable at the macroscopic level. Reported in the May 2 Nature, the experiments could lead to use in emerging technologies such as quantum computing:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070502.magnetism.shtml

* It's a Conifer, It's a Lichen, It’s a Super Fungus!
Scientists at the University and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., have produced new evidence to resolve a century-old mystery surrounding the identity of what they regard as one of the weirdest organisms that ever lived: an organism that stood in tree-like trunks more than 20 feet tall and went extinct some 350 million years ago. The scientists’ chemical analysis, reported in the May Journal of Geology, confirms a theory first advanced in 1911 and indicates that prototaxites was a fungus—a very big fungus:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070423.fungus.shtml

Today @ UChiBLOGo

* The Faces behind the Gifts
The Magazine's Web log attends a day devoted to honoring donors:
http://uchiblogo.uchicago.edu

From the University of Chicago Alumni Association

* Alumni Weekend is for You
All alumni are invited back to campus May 31–June 3 for the annual celebration of the Chicago experience:

The UnCommon Core offers your choice of faculty-led lecture/discussion classes, this year featuring four Nobel Laureates:
http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/uncommon.shtml

Family-friendly events include the Young Maroon Procession across campus, led by the University’s bagpipe band; storytelling; parties; a hands-on lab class about wind and waves; and family activities at the Oriental Institute. For the Young Maroon program of events visit:
http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/family.shtml

On Saturday, June 2, special reunion gatherings include house and hall tours; a multicultural reception; and a student presentation and evening party hosted by LGBTQ. Check the full schedule:
http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/events.shtml

James Dewey Watson, PhB’46, SB’47, Nobel Prize winner for his discovery of the structure of DNA, will give the address at Saturday’s Alumni Convocation, where the 2007 alumni awards will be presented:
http://alumniweekend.uchicago.edu/events.shtml

Most events are free; all are popular. So don't miss out—register now:
https://alumniservices.uchicago.edu/events/EventView.asp?ID=1128&Private=N

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UCHICAGO.EDU is a joint project of the University of Chicago Magazine and the University of Chicago Alumni Association. Please send your comments and suggestions to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu.