Welcome to the JUNE 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.

News from Chicago

* Architects Chosen for Logan Arts Center
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects—the husband and wife team who designed the award-winning American Folk Art Museum and are known for innovative modernist work, creative use of materials, and expertise in creating vibrant spaces for the arts—will design Chicago’s $100 million Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts, slated to open in 2011:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070601.artscenter.shtml

To see a video about the architectural competition, visit the new Logan Center Web site:
http://artscenter.uchicago.edu/

* The Gift That Launched an Odyssey
With a gift of $100 milllion—the largest in Chicago’s history—an anonymous College alumnus has established Odyssey Scholarships, a program that will allow the University to reduce student loans among undergraduates from low- and moderate-income families with high financial need. For details and press coverage of the innovative program, which also launched a $400 million undergraduate financial-aid campaign:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070530.gift.shtml

* Googling for Libraries’ Treasures
As part of a 12-institution consortium, Chicago has joined the Google Book Search project. Google will digitize select collections across all of the consortium’s libraries, up to 10 million volumes, with an emphasis on historically significant resources:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070606.googlebook.shtml

Research at Chicago

*Genes Go Out on a Limb
Long before animals with limbs (tetrapods) came onto the scene about 365 million years ago, fish possessed the genes associated with helping to grow hands and feet (autopods), report Chicago researchers in the May 24 Nature. The finding overturns a long-held, but much-debated, theory that limb acquisition was a novel evolutionary event:
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2007/20070524-hoxgene.html

* Danger: Stereotypes at Work
A popular stereotype that boys are better at mathematics than girls undermines girls’ math performance because it causes worrying that erodes the mental resources needed for problem solving. A research team, led by Chicago psychologist Sian Beilock, reports in the Journal of Experimental Psychology that such stereotyping also hinders success in other academic areas because mental abilities do not immediately rebound after being compromised by mathematics anxiety:
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/070524.beilock.shtml

Today @ UChiBLOGo

* Name That Graduate
The Magazine's Web log attends the rites of spring:
http://uchiblogo.uchicago.edu

From the University of Chicago Alumni Association

* Get Spotted in Africa
Explore the Serengeti and Zanzibar with alumni and friends on the Alumni Association trip to Tanzania and the spice island of Zanzibar, February 29-March 9. You’ll visit some of the world’s richest and most unspoiled wildlife areas, including Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, the Olduvai Gorge, and Ngorongoro Crater. Leading the trip is evolutionary biologist Michael LaBarbera:
http://www.globaladrenaline.com/UChicago/Africa2008/

*Psst...Wanna Help Choose the Next Generation of Chicago Undergrads?
The Alumni Schools Committee (ASC) is a network of College alumni who recruit and interview high-school students for Chicago. Volunteers represent the U of C at college fairs, speak with students at informal receptions, and interview applicants on behalf of the Admissions Office. Your inside perspective is a terrific asset in selecting the most interesting and dynamic students and getting them excited about a Chicago education. For more information or to sign up as an Alumni Schools Committee volunteer:
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/asc/

* Do You Love Your Job?
Whatever your answer, the Alumni Careers Network is the site to visit. If you want to share your insight and experiences with students and alumni curious about your profession, register to join the more than 15,000 alumni who have volunteered to be career contacts—it doesn’t take much time and you can choose how you’re contacted. Or if you are thinking about changing jobs, use the searchable database to find alumni contacts in the professions that interest you. Either way—you win:
http://alumnicareers.uchicago.edu

* Your Gift Matters, Participate Today!
Each year gifts from alumni and friends to the University provide vital resources for student scholarships, graduate fellowships, and faculty support. Chicago needs your support before June 30, the close of the fiscal year. Remember, every gift, regardless of its size, has the power to make a big difference in the lives of Chicago students and faculty members. Please make a gift online today:
https://alumniservices.uchicago.edu/giving/

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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.