Dear UChicago Emeriti and Friends,

It has been exciting to see campus bustling with students and faculty in these first days of the quarter. The beautiful fall weather has been a perfect backdrop to all the activity. Kimberly Kay Hoang, Associate Professor of Sociology, delivered the annual Aims of Education Address, now in its 60th year, and spoke to the newest members of our College community about three forms of discovery that await entering students: self, social, and scientific discovery. Opening Convocation took place on the Main Quadrangles and included the first public address of President Paul Alivisatos (AB’81), who recalled his own arrival on campus and the impact his years in the College had on his life. The official opening of the Rubenstein Forum also took place in September and brought together former UChicago Presidents Hanna Gray, Don Randel, and Robert Zimmer, who joined President Paul Alivisatos for a panel on the past and future of the University of Chicago, moderated by David M. Rubenstein.

An additional highlight of the Autumn Quarter will be the inauguration of Paul Alivisatos as the 14th president of the University. The ceremony, which will feature remarks from faculty, students, staff, and alumni of the University, as well as guest speakers Carol Christ, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and Prof. Steven Chu of Stanford University, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, will be held on October 29th at 10 a.m. and can be viewed virtually. Additional information and details of campus viewing locations are available on the inauguration website. 

Around campus, there currently are also tremendous opportunities to enjoy the arts. The Court Theatre has released its season schedule with in-person performances, the Logan Center for the Arts will host concerts, and UChicago Presents has put together a schedule with a variety of in-person options. 

To learn more about what’s happening off-campus in Hyde Park, UChicago’s Commercial Real Estate Operations has developed a new website, Welcome to Hyde Park, which features restaurants, attractions, and events across the community. We are pleased to share more announcements and opportunities below. 

The Summer Session Office is now accepting course proposals for the summer of 2022, and encourages emeriti to consider their potential courses in one of two categories:

• Undergraduate courses (Summer Quarter offerings for UChicago and visiting undergraduates, drawn from the existing College curriculum; proposed courses should fulfil a major or Core requirement)
• Pre-college courses (especially designed for academically advanced high school students from around the world who are ready to tackle undergraduate-level material; these courses serve as an important pipeline for the College, as more than 1 in 10 students who enroll in these courses go on to matriculate as undergraduates here)

For more information, including how to submit a proposal, please visit the College’s Summer Session website.  

Those interested in teaching may also contact Stephanie Friedman, Director of Academic Programs in the Summer Session Office, to discuss course ideas. The deadline to submit a proposal is October 20.

The Summer Session Office will seek final approval for all course offerings and candidates from the appropriate home department(s)/academic unit(s). Appointments must also be approved by the Offices of the Dean of the College and the Provost.

The Faculty Retirement Incentive Plan (FRIP) Review Committee concluded its work and submitted a report at the end of the Spring Quarter as Provost Lee detailed in a recent email to faculty. The report is now available for review on the Office of the Provost website. During Autumn Quarter, Provost Lee intends to discuss the report further with the Committee of the Council and the Council of the University Senate as the Office of the Provost seeks additional perspectives to help inform, implement, and communicate any changes to FRIP. After reviewing the committee’s report, emeriti can reach out to us at emeritifaculty@uchicago.edu or to Ingrid Gould, Associate Provost, at igould@uchicago.edu with questions or comments.

Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of the History of Religions, the Divinity School, the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on Social Thought, and the College, recently authored Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia, 2021).

Leon Kass, Addie Harding Clark Professor Emeritus of Social Thought and in the College, was recently featured in The University of Chicago Magazine’s Summer issue (Volume 113, Number 4) in an interview conducted by the magazine’s editor, Laura Demanski, AM ’94. Among other topics, they discussed his new position as dean of faculty at Israel’s Shalem College and recent work, including two new monographs: Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus (Yale, 2021) and Reading Ruth: Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel(Paul Dry Books, 2021), the second co-written with his granddaughter, Hannah Mandelbaum.   

Elissa Weaver, Professor Emerita of Italian Literature, published a study and translation of two seventeenth-century Italian satires by Arcangela Tarabotti, a Venetian nun and Francesco Buoninsegni, a Sienese scholar: Arcangela Tarabotti, Antisatire: In Defense of Women, against Francesco Buoninsegni, edited and translated by Elissa B. Weaver, The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series, 70 (Toronto, Iter Press and Tempe, AZ, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2020). Weaver was also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender in 2020. 

Rebecca West, William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Service Professor Emerita in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, and the College, published a short reading of Fellini’s film Roma entitled “Roma: Amor through the Looking Glass” in A Companion to Federico Fellini, eds. F. Burke, M. Waller, and M. Gubareva (Wiley Blackwell Publishers, 2020). She has a forthcoming interview regarding poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra in a special issue of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies which is devoted to Tonino Guerra. In addition, she has been invited to join the Honorary Board of Advisors of the newly created journal Quaderni Montaliani, devoted to the works of Nobel Prize-winning poet Eugenio Montale and continues to serve on the Editorial Board of the Italian and Italian American series of books published by Palgrave MacMillan.

UChicago Presents

UChicago Presents has announced its fall 2021 concert series and its theme, “MUSIC. FORWARD,” with performances planned for Mandel Hall, the Logan Center for the Arts, and streaming online. Tickets for performances are available for purchase through their online box office. Archived performances and conversations with many artists and performers remain available in the online Greenroom.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

The start of the academic year will also see the return of Carillon tours and more at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. Visitor hours will return this fall and continue throughout the academic year, Tuesday through Friday, 11a.m. - 5p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1p.m. Carillon tours will be available for UCID holders Tuesday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; those interested in touring should gather in the narthex of the Chapel (free as always). Tuesday Pipes returns with University organist Thomas Weisflog, guests, and students again playing a mixture of Baroque, Romantic, and contemporary music on the E.M. Skinner organ on Tuesdays at 4 p.m.  

Regular carillon recitals continue Monday through Friday at noon and 5 p.m., and you can now submit a song request. You can also enjoy recordings of past carillon performances and listen anytime. 

Harper Lectures

Alumni Relations and Development will continue its signature series of Harper Lectures this fall with a lineup of four virtual lectures followed by a roundtable discussion, “Democracy in Peril,” with faculty from the Social Sciences Division on November 15. The new series will kick off on October 13 with “Alleviating Global Poverty: Development Innovation and the Experimental Method,” delivered by Michael Kremer, University Professor in Economics and the College and the Harris School of Public Policy. All events will take place from 7 – 8 p.m. Central, except the roundtable discussion, which will be broadcast live from 6:30 – 8 p.m. Central. Registration for all events is free. Additional lectures, and archives of lectures from previous years, are available on the Harper Lectures website.

Humanities Day

Humanities Day, an annual tradition at the University since 1980, will celebrate the humanities on October 16 with its 41st installment of lectures, discussions, and performances. Wu Hung, the Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History and Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia, will deliver the keynote address, “In the Name of Art – Destruction and Reconstruction,” at 11 a.m., with an option to attend in person or virtually. Profiles of speakers, full event details, and registration information are available on the Humanities Day website.

On September 22, Provost Ka Yee Lee and Executive Vice President Katie Callow-Wright sent a message informing faculty, other academic appointees, postdoctoral researchers, and staff of the updated vaccination requirement. All University employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they have applied for and have been granted a medical or religious exemption; there will no longer be an option for employees who do not receive an exemption to participate in weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. As a reminder, this policy applies only to emeriti faculty who have a current, active post-retirement appointment with the University. We want to thank all emeriti who have already completed the verification process and uploaded proof of vaccination status.