The University of Chicago community has a new childcare option, which opened its doors to 124 children at 5610 S. Drexel Avenue earlier this month. Spaces are available to everyone, with priority given to faculty, staff, and students at the University and the University of Chicago Medicine.

“High-quality childcare options on campus will be a great benefit for our research and patient care missions, while enhancing the quality of life for our workforce,” said Kenneth...

Two major gifts will build momentum behind the University of Chicago’s leadership in biomedical computation by assembling experts in the field and furnishing them with the tools to use “big data” to understand disease and solve today’s health-related challenges.

These two gifts will fund related projects that are central to a much larger plan at UChicago that includes multiple data-driven discovery programs to improve health and medical care.

The gifts...

Nobel laureate James Cronin, SM’53, PhD’55, will receive the Alumni Medal, the highest honor for a UChicago alumnus, while 13 others will be recognized for their career accomplishments during Alumni Weekend.

Cronin shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1980 for showing that the laws of nature operate differently on matter and...

In the aftermath of the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15, Campus and Student Life is providing opportunities for students, faculty and staff to receive support and to grieve.

Student Counseling Services is available to all students and also available for staff/faculty support. SCS is located at 5737 S. University Ave. and can be reached at 773-702-9800. 

Drop-in hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 5737 S. University Ave.

After...

Rénu Kulkarni, founder and executive director of FutureMedia at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will join the University as Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives on April 15, 2013.

In her new position, Kulkarni will lead and support a range of major initiatives at the University of Chicago and will help develop important University partnerships and affiliations. She will work closely with...

Prof. Edward “Rocky” Kolb has been appointed dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences for a five-year term, President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum announced. Kolb’s appointment will take effect July 1.

Kolb is the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the College and...

Pioneering University of Chicago cosmologist Michael S. Turner will present the annual Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture, titled “Quarks and the Cosmos,” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 17. The free public lecture will take place in the Max Palevsky Cinema of Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St.

Turner is the Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, director of UChicago’s Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, and...

The Oriental Institute will mark the 10th anniversary of the looting of artifacts from the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad with a special exhibit and a seminar on Tuesday, April 16.

Experts from around the country will speak at the seminar, “Catastrophe! Ten Years Later: Looting Destruction, and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Iraq and the Wider Middle East,” which will be from 2 to 4 p.m....

David D. Awschalom has been elected to the European Academy of Sciences. The academy, which elects relatively few non-European scientists, bases its selections on pioneering new research fields that have substantial scientific impact.

...

In 1913, director Dadasaheb (Dhundiraj Govind) Phalke released Raja Harishchandra, India’s first feature film.

A century later, the University of Chicago is bringing together cinema experts and acclaimed Indian new wave director Adoor Gopalakrishnan for a three-day conference on the highlights, achievements and progress of Indian cinema in its first 100 years.

The April 11-13 event, “Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema,” will feature a symposium...

Bozhi Tian, assistant professor in chemistry, has been named a 2013 Searle Scholar and will receive $300,000 to support his research over the next three years.

Tian’s Searle Scholar project is titled “Silicon-based Biomaterials for an Electrical Study of Single-Neuron Dynamics.” The project will involve using nanoelectronic devices to study how neurons pass signals to one...

Before Roger Ebert, X’70, became one of the world’s most influential film critics, he began doctoral studies in English at the University of Chicago in 1966. Although Ebert left his studies to pursue a remarkable career as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and commentator, he never fully left the University, serving for 37 years as a lecturer on film for the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.

Ebert died of cancer on April 4 at age 70, prompting...

Michele A. Rasmussen, Dean of the Undergraduate College at Bryn Mawr College, has been appointed Dean of Students in the University after a national search. Her appointment is effective July 8.

Reporting to Karen Warren Coleman, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services, Rasmussen will work with senior leaders across the University to advance UChicago’s innovative vision for campus and student life. She will work closely with deans of students in each of the...

Brina Jones is a freshman at South Shore International College Prep High School, but the 14-year-old has already learned there's more than one way to solve a pandemic.

Jones was part of a recent gathering at UChicago’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, where 55 students from five South and West side high schools spent the day debating about, and attempting to resolve, some of the world's most pressing problems. 

“We frequently did a round robin...

The University of Chicago Alumni Association has launched a new alumni directory, designed to facilitate networking for alumni and students. The directory is a new addition to the UChicago Community Online, a hub...

The Center for Health Administration Studies, based at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a conference titled, "Equity and Choice in Health Care Access,” from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 12, at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center. 

“Since the founding of CHAS, its goal has been to promote active, interdisciplinary collaboration...

Seven student-designed projects have received funding from the new Graduate Student Innovation Grant, which provides seed money of up to $5,000 for initiatives overseen by graduate students from the academic divisions and professional schools.

One model for the new program is the student-run Uncommon Fund, which helps undergraduate and graduate students pursue creative ideas to enhance student life.

“We were very much...

The Western democratic practice of singling out religious liberty for special treatment under the law is not in sync with the world we live in today, argues University of Chicago Law School professor Brian Leiter in his new book, Why Tolerate Religion?

All people, both religious and non-religious, maintain core beliefs about what they feel they absolutely must do— a category Leiter calls “claims of...

About 90 percent of children with two copies of a common genetic variation and who wheezed when they caught a cold early in life later developed asthma by age 6, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

These children, all from families with a history of asthma or allergies, were nearly four times as likely to develop the disease as those who lacked the genetic variation and did not wheeze. The effects of each...

The pedestrian flow and green spaces of the University’s main quadrangles will extend east to Woodlawn Avenue and west past Ellis Avenue, through three projects that will create a central connection across the campus and enhance accessibility.

To the east, as part of the adaptive reuse project at 5757 S. University Ave., the block of 58th Street between Woodlawn and University avenues will be transformed...