In the News

While the Chronicle provides its readers with in-depth stories about the University community, faculty research and student achievements appear regularly in media throughout Chicago and across the country. In fact, the University’s faculty are among the most quoted in newspapers, radio and television among U. S. research institutions.

If you missed some of the most recent media coverage of University people in the news, the Chronicle offers a sampling here in a column that lists a few of those stories. “In the News” will appear each issue.

Dr. Janet Davison-Rowley has received much recent attention for the Lasker Prize and the National Medal of Science, which she was awarded for her identification of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer patients. The Dec. 27 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times offered a two-page profile about Rowley’s life and work.

The Dec. 28 New York Times published a front page article about the recent renovation of the undergraduate curriculum, plans to grow the College and enhancements to services and student life. “No other academic institution has exemplified intellectual seriousness quite like the University of Chicago,” the article stated, and it quoted President Sonnenschein, faculty and students extensively. Dean of the College John Boyer described the new foreign study programs, while student Bradley Henderson worried about changing “Chicago’s academic fabric, its uniqueness.” Professor Leora Auslander said, “There is no danger of the University of Chicago becoming less demanding. The danger I worry about is it becoming an anachronism.” And Professor Constantin Fasolt said, “The verdict of what we are doing will come in 20 to 30 years. Either they will say that this is when Chicago started going downhill or when it started to come together, when people started paying attention to it once again as the leader in undergraduate education.”

Sander Gilman, Chairman of Germanic Studies, was interviewed on National Public Radio’s “Public Interest” program Monday, Dec. 14, on the cultural issues surrounding plastic surgery. His work had also recently been profiled in the New York Times.

Austan Goolsbee, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Business, received front-page mention in the Thursday, Dec. 17 Wall Street Journal for his study showing that online purchases are highly sensitive to the lack of sales taxes on World Wide Web transactions.

The 41 percent increase in this year’s early applications to the College was prominently featured in a Sunday, Dec. 20 Chicago Tribune article that also noted the applicant pool had higher test scores than any previous such group.