In the News

The discovery of a 6,000-year-old Syrian settlement, Tell Hamoukar, which involved archaeologists from the University’s Oriental Institute, received extensive press coverage nationally the week of Monday, May 24. Broadcast outlets, including National Public Radio, WBEZ, ABC, WBBM-TV and WBBM-AM radio carried reports of the discovery. Stories of the discovery that quoted co-director of the expedition McGuire Gibson, Professor in the Oriental Institute and Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, were published by The Independent-London, Yahoo News, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Times, Discovery.com, The Christian Science Monitor and MSNBC.

Melissa Roderick, Associate Professor in the School of Social Service Administration, was noted as one of the 10 people in Chicago “who set the course for Chicago’s schools” in an article that appeared in Catalyst Chicago. Roderick was cited for her research on truancy, dropouts and ending social promotion.

A story about International House that appeared in the Friday, May 26 Chicago Tribune quoted President Sonnenschein after he announced the University would begin a process to follow recommendations made by the Committee on the Future of International House. Both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times published stories Friday, May 26, as part of their continued coverage of the I-House community and its building, which began with the initial March announcement that the building would close as a residence June 30. Commenting on the international programs and the I-House building at the University, Sonnenschein said, “There is no question that they prominently fit into the long-term plans.”

Dr. Jill Glick, Assistant Professor in Clinical Pediatrics, was quoted in a Tuesday, May 30 Chicago Tribune story about a pilot program set to be launched in October by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide additional protection to children who may be victims of child abuse.

The research of Don Coursey, the Ameritech Professor of Public Policy in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, and Doug Noonan, a doctoral candidate in the Harris School, were featured in a Sunday, May 28 story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. The two economists studied how home values in the Chicago suburbs of Orland Park and Palos Park are affected by the preservation of open green space. “Policymakers in small communities such as Palos Park and Orland Park now have a way to prioritize their planning decisions about the use of scarce resources,” said Coursey.

Homi Bhabha, the Chester D. Tripp Distinguished Service Professor in English Language & Literature, was quoted in a Saturday, May 27 New York Times story that reported on the link between student activists and the increase in political and social justice courses at universities. “At one point, students did this (activism) through the Peace Corps. Now they do this through courses. The academy has brought social justice areas in a global context into the classroom.”

A team of University students from the Graduate School of Business received recognition for a business-plan competition victory over Harvard Business School and Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School÷the two runners-up÷in a story published Monday, May 29, by the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago team won the first Bain Start-Up Challenge for its business-to-business exchange, Leasing Point. The team will receive $50,000 in seed capital and other support for their venture.

Pradeep Chintagunta, the Robert Law Jr. Professor in the Graduate School of Business, was quoted in a story about increasing gasoline prices that appeared in the Saturday, May 27 Chicago Tribune. Chintagunta told the Tribune that consumers will adjust to the high prices even as they continue to increase. “If people have been used to prices being relatively stable, it will take longer for them to adjust. If prices have been moving anyway, as with gasoline, it’s more likely they are willing to revise their reference prices quickly.”

The University’s open-source software venture, Open Channel, which aims to commercialize academic software with support from the Illinois Coalition, was the subject of a story published Friday, May 26, by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Ridgway Scott, Professor in Computer Science, who will serve as a consultant for the project, was quoted in the story. “What’s a little different about Open Channel is that we are organizing software by discipline, and there are leaders like me that will offer guidance. Our metaphor is that of a museum÷we will be curators.”

Bonnie Salomon, Assistant Professor in Medicine, wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Friday, June 2 Chicago Tribune. Salomon argued that the new surge in Internet-based consumerism for medical treatments and surgeries is a threat to medical professionalism. “Patients are not to be chastised for this latest high-tech devaluation of the doctor-patient relationship. After all, we live in the age of managed care, where we call patients ‘clients’ or ‘consumers’ and doctors ‘health-care providers.’ Managed care has forced all of us to think of health care in monetary terms÷as a commodity that is, indeed, managed.”

An article about America’s impoverished citizens published in The Economist May 20 quoted Susan Mayer, Associate Professor in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. “I really think people think the problem [of poverty] is solved,” said Mayer in the article, which described metropolitan areas where homeless people congregate, such as Chicago’s lower Wacker Drive.

Sam Peltzman, the Sears Roebuck Professor of Economics & Financial Services in the Graduate School of Business, was interviewed for a New York Times story and an Associated Press newswire story that reported on the planned merger between UAL Corporation and U.S. Airways Group and the opposition the merger faces from industry unions and antitrust concerns of critics.

A story about the University’s annual Scavenger Hunt was published in the Wednesday, May 17 Hyde Park Herald, which also carried a photo of students in the process of obtaining one of the points-eligible items on this year’s list.