In the News

Edward Lawlor, Dean and Associate Professor of the School of Social Service Administration, wrote an op-ed about incentives for organ donors that appeared in the Sunday, Nov. 28 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Lawlor contended that financial incentives similar to those used in other areas of social policy, such as foster care and adoption, may provide an alternative to the current “altruistic” rules of organ allocation, as well as avoid a pure market solution of cash payments for donated organs.

Kenneth Warren, Professor in English Language & Literature, wrote a theater review of Spinning into Butter by playwright Rebecca Gilman that appeared in the Friday, Dec. 10 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Crain’s Chicago Business published a story Monday, Dec. 13, about research being conducted by a group of University scientists who are working toward the development of faster, smaller computer chips. Working under a program called the Initiative for the Design of Bio-Inspired Materials, Norbert Scherer, Professor in Chemistry and Co-director of the University’s Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, is leading the research. The Crain’s story quotes Scherer.

Bernard McGinn, the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor in the Divinity School, was quoted in a story published by The Globe and Mail about an academic debate over whether or not those who lived during the end of the first millennium feared impending doom.

Martin Marty, the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Divinity School, has been quoted in recent articles about the end of the 20th century, including stories in The Detroit News and the Portland Press Herald that focused on the most significant religious events of the last 1,000 years.

A story published in the Sunday, Dec. 5 issue of The New York Times described how Nobel Prize-winning economists have spent or invested their prize money and how winning the prize has affected their lives. It mentioned, among others, Milton Friedman, the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Economics; Gary Becker, Professor in Economics; Robert Lucas Jr., the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor in Economics; Ronald Coase, the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics in the Law School; and recent Nobelist Robert Mundell, a former Professor in Economics at the University.

The Chicago Sun-Times featured the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art’s current exhibition “Surrealism in America During the 1930s and 1940s: Selections from the Penny and Elton Yasuna Collection” in a Sunday, Dec. 5 article.

Amanda Woodward, Assistant Professor in Psychology, spoke about young children and their learning as part of a panel of guests discussing early child development Monday, Dec. 20, on WGN-AM radio station’s Extension 720 program.

Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien, Professor Emeritus in East Asian Languages & Civilizations and Curator Emeritus of the East Asian Library at the University, was honored Friday, Dec. 17, by a delegation from the Chinese National Library. The Associated Press newswire service carried a story about Tsien, who, during the Japanese occupation of China in 1941, smuggled to the United States 30,000 volumes of Chinese books dating back to the 10th century. The United States Library of Congress had agreed to store the collection until the war ended. The Chicago Sun-Times also published a story in its Saturday, Dec. 18 issue about Tsien’s feat and the recognition he received for it.

University alumnus Jay Berwanger (A.B., ’36), winner of the first Heisman Trophy in 1935, was the subject of a story published by The New York Times on Sunday, Dec. 19. The story also featured the University’s football history, its current membership in the NCAA’s Division III program and its emphasis on the scholar-athlete. The story quoted Tom Weingartner, Associate Professor and Chairman of Physical Education & Athletics at the University. “I don’t think we have the same goals that Division I programs have. They’re a revenue stream and entertainment for the alumni. We buy into the old-fashioned notion of liberal education of the scholar-athlete, in that order.”

University alumnus John Grunsfeld (S.M., ’84, Ph.D., ’88), who flew in NASA’s Discovery mission two weeks ago, was featured in a Thursday, Dec. 23 Chicago Sun-Times story about the mission that sent astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The Chicago Tribune also published a story about the mission and Grunsfeld’s role in its Monday, Dec. 27 issue.