Chicago Convenes to celebrate supporters

More than 500 alumni and friends of the University will join University Trustees Friday, May 6, at Chicago Convenes, a daylong event that will honor the generosity of supporters of the University and celebrate the ongoing progress of the Chicago Initiative, the University’s $2 billion capital campaign.

Chicago Convenes will offer guests a unique opportunity to participate in College classes and faculty-led seminars and to take part in behind-the-scenes tours of new facilities on campus. It will conclude with a celebratory, three-tiered dinner in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, which will be temporarily transformed into an elegant dining space with the installation of a platform above the pews.

At the dinner, James Crown, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Andrew Alper, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees, will induct new members into the Harper Society Founders Circle, a group that honors alumni, friends, corporations and foundations that have made lifetime gifts to the University of $1 million or more.

Also at the dinner, President Randel and Crown will confer the University of Chicago Medal on Gerald Ratner (Ph.B.,’35, J.D.,’37), for “distinguished service of the highest order.”

The University Medal has been awarded only 10 times since it was established in 1976.

Ratner will be recognized for his generous contributions to the University—including supporting the new athletic facility, the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, and for 70 years of advocacy for the College, the Law School and athletic programs on campus.