Christian Konrad Wedemeyer (born 1969) is an American scholar and political and social activist.
92-616: The University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today is without any sectarian affiliation. It is ranked number one in the field of the study of religion according to the National Research Council's measure of faculty quality in its survey of all doctoral granting programs in religious studies. The scholarly work of
184-661: A 15-day sit-in at the college's administration building in a protest over the university's segregationist off-campus rental policies. After continued turmoil, a university committee in 1967 issued what became known as the Kalven Report. The report, a two-page statement of the university's policy in "social and political action," declared that "To perform its mission in the society, a university must sustain an extraordinary environment of freedom of inquiry and maintain an independence from political fashions, passions, and pressures." The report has since been used to justify decisions such as
276-686: A consulting capacity for a number of academic journals and presses. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 2000, and elected to membership in the American Society for the Study of Religion in 2012. In 2010, he was elected to a three-year term as Co-chair of the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion . In 2013, he was elected to
368-423: A copy of every book and journal published by the University of Chicago Press at no cost. The agreement provided that either party could terminate the affiliation on proper notice. Several University of Chicago professors disliked the program, as it involved uncompensated additional labor on their part, and they believed it cheapened the academic reputation of the university. The program was ended by 1910. In 1929,
460-466: A grand reading room for the university library and prevents the need for an off-campus book depository. The site of Chicago Pile-1 is a National Historic Landmark and is marked by the Henry Moore sculpture Nuclear Energy . Robie House , a Frank Lloyd Wright building acquired by the university in 1963, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a National Historic Landmark, as is room 405 of
552-553: A historian of medieval Christianity; Frank Reynolds (1992–2000), a historian of religions who specializes in Buddhist studies; W. Clark Gilpin (2001–2004), a historian of American Christianity and theology; Wendy Doniger (2004–2007), a historian of religion who specializes in Hinduism and mythology; and William Schweiker, who works in the field of theological ethics. In 1998, the Institute for
644-518: A large study space and an automated book storage and retrieval system. The John Crerar Library contains more than 1.4 million volumes in the biological, medical and physical sciences and collections in general science and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, and technology. The university also operates a number of special libraries, including the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Administration Library, and
736-676: A location on the University of Chicago campus. Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project , a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools. The university runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress. The university also operates
828-507: A major role in the development of many academic disciplines, including economics, law, literary criticism, mathematics, physics, religion, sociology, and political science, establishing the Chicago schools of thought in various fields. Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory produced the world's first human-made, self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Chicago Pile-1 beneath the viewing stands of
920-622: A member of the Baptist clergy who believed that a great university should maintain the study of faith as a central focus. To fulfill this commitment, he brought the Baptist seminary that had begun as an independent school "alongside" the Old University of Chicago and separated from the old school decades earlier to Morgan Park. This became the Divinity School in 1891, the first professional school at
1012-590: A nearby particle physics laboratory, as well as a stake in the Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico . Faculty and students at the adjacent Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago collaborate with the university. In 2013, the university formed an affiliation with the formerly independent Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The National Opinion Research Center maintains an office at
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#17328766010321104-615: A new school could go by the name of the city. In 1890, the American Baptist Education Society incorporated a new University of Chicago as a coeducational institution, using $ 400,000 donated to the ABES to supplement a $ 600,000 donation from Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller , and land donated by Marshall Field . While the Rockefeller donation provided money for academic operations and long-term endowment, it
1196-737: A second term as co-chair of the AAR Buddhism Section and elected to a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the North American Association for the Study of Religion. He is also a member (and former officer) of the American Oriental Society ; and active in the International Association for Tibetan Studies and the International Association of Buddhist Studies . In 2010–2011 he was a Fellow of
1288-415: Is Katherine Baicker since March 2023. The current president of the University of Chicago is chemist Paul Alivisatos , who assumed the role on September 1, 2021. Robert Zimmer , the previous president, transitioned into the new role of chancellor of the university. The university's endowment was the 12th largest among American educational institutions and state university systems in 2013 and as of 2020
1380-636: Is Associate Professor of the History of Religions and Chair of the History of Religions Area at the Divinity School , an associate member of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Assistant Marshal of the University of Chicago . His work within the field of the history of religions has largely been concerned with the history, literature, and ritual of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism . In addition to historical and philological studies of Sanskrit and Tibetan religious literature, he has written on
1472-498: Is in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side , near the shore of Lake Michigan about 7 miles (11 km) from the Loop . The university is composed of the undergraduate College of the University of Chicago and four graduate research divisions: Biological Science, Humanities, Physical Science, and Social Science, which also include various organized institutes. In addition,
1564-463: Is the largest gift in the university's history and the largest gift ever to any business school. In 2009, planning or construction on several new buildings, half of which cost $ 100 million or more, was underway. Since 2011, major construction projects have included the Jules and Gwen Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, a ten-story medical research center, and further additions to the medical campus of
1656-732: The George Herbert Jones Laboratory , where Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were the first to isolate plutonium. Hitchcock Hall , an undergraduate dormitory, is on the National Register of Historic Places . The campus is soon to be the home of the Obama Presidential Center , the Presidential Library for the 44th president of the United States with expected completion in 2026. The Obamas settled in
1748-674: The Great Depression . Nonetheless, in 1933, Hutchins proposed an unsuccessful plan to merge the University of Chicago and Northwestern University . During World War II, the university's Metallurgical Laboratory made ground-breaking contributions to the Manhattan Project . The university was the site of the first isolation of plutonium and of the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction by Enrico Fermi in 1942. The university did not provide standard oversight of Bruno Bettelheim and his tenure as director of
1840-743: The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought . The university contains eight professional schools: the University of Chicago Law School , the Pritzker School of Medicine , the Booth School of Business , the University of Chicago Divinity School , the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy , the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration , the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies (which offers non-degree courses and certificates as well as degree programs) and
1932-624: The Miller–Urey experiment , was conducted at the university. REM sleep was discovered at the university in 1953 by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky . The University of Chicago (Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics) operated the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin from 1897 until 2018, where the largest operating refracting telescope in the world and other telescopes are located. Christian K. Wedemeyer He
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#17328766010322024-515: The Orthogenic School for Disturbed Children from 1944 to 1973. In the early 1950s, student applications declined as a result of increasing crime and poverty in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In response, the university became a major sponsor of a controversial urban renewal project for Hyde Park , which profoundly affected both the neighborhood's architecture and street plan. During this period
2116-761: The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . The Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association , the Divinity School is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , and Pritzker is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education . The university runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools. It operates
2208-665: The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (a private day school for K-12 students and day care ), and a public charter school with four campuses on the South Side of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute. In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities, and the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School , a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems, maintains
2300-458: The University of Chicago Medical Center . In 2014 the university launched the public phase of a $ 4.5 billion fundraising campaign. In September 2015, the university received $ 100 million from The Pearson Family Foundation to establish The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Pearson Global Forum at the Harris School of Public Policy . In 2019,
2392-831: The University of Chicago Press , and the University of Chicago Medical Center , and oversees several laboratories, including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) , Argonne National Laboratory , and the Marine Biological Laboratory . The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission . The university runs on a quarter system in which the academic year is divided into four terms: Summer (June–August), Autumn (September–December), Winter (January–March), and Spring (April–June). Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter for approximately nine weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in late May. After its foundation in
2484-529: The University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in the United States. The University of Chicago Library system encompasses six libraries that contain a total of 11 million volumes, the 9th most among library systems in the United States. The university's main library is the Regenstein Library , which contains one of the largest collections of print volumes in the United States. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library , built in 2011, houses
2576-519: The 1890s, the university, fearful that its vast resources would injure smaller schools by drawing away good students, affiliated with several regional colleges and universities: Des Moines College , Kalamazoo College , Butler University , and Stetson University . In 1896, the university affiliated with Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois. Under the terms of the affiliation, the schools were required to have courses of study comparable to those at
2668-535: The 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the University of Chicago Quadrangles were selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois). After the 1940s, the campus's Gothic style began to give way to modern styles. In 1955, Eero Saarinen was contracted to develop a second master plan, which led to the construction of buildings both north and south of
2760-559: The Advanced Study of Religion was renamed the Martin Marty Center, to honor its founding director for his singular distinction as historian, author, and commentator on religion and public life. A number of faculty in the Divinity School and the humanities departments of South Asian Languages and Civilizations (SALC), East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), History, and Art History participate in an interdisciplinary program in
2852-520: The Baptist clergy, Chicago's first university president William Rainey Harper believed that a great research university ought to have as one central occupation the scholarly study of religion, to prepare scholars for careers in teaching and research, and ministers for service to the church. Having taught at what was then the Baptist Theological Union Seminary, Harper incorporated it into the University of Chicago as its Divinity School,
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2944-654: The Chicago firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill . Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004, produced the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center (2003), the Max Palevsky Residential Commons (2001), South Campus Residence Hall and dining commons (2009), a new children's hospital, and other construction, expansions, and restorations. In 2011, the university completed the glass dome-shaped Joe and Rika Mansueto Library , which provides
3036-571: The Dean of the Divinity School from 1970 to 1980. Martin E. Marty , a historian of modern Christianity, worked closely with Dean Kitagawa to formulate the purposes and operation of the institute within the context of the Divinity School's general mission of teaching and graduate research. The Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion officially opened in October 1979, with Professor Marty as its director. Subsequent directors have been Bernard McGinn (1983–1992),
3128-569: The Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science. Harper Memorial Library is now a reading and study room. According to the National Science Foundation , University of Chicago spent $ 423.9 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 60th in the nation. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and
3220-469: The Hyde Park campus and is affiliated with multiple academic centers and institutes. The University of Chicago has been the site of some important experiments and academic movements. In economics, the university has played an important role in shaping ideas about the free market and is the namesake of the Chicago school of economics , the school of economic thought supported by Milton Friedman and other economists. The university's sociology department
3312-569: The John Gray Rhind Award, to an advanced student in the ministry program at the Divinity School whose excellence in academic and professional training gives notable promise of a significant contribution to the life of the church, and the J. Coert Rylaarsdam Prize, to a student who has made special efforts, curricular or extracurricular, to promote interfaith relations, particularly between the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions. Additionally,
3404-608: The Law . The university has an extensive record of producing successful business leaders and billionaires. The College of the University of Chicago grants Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 51 academic majors and 33 minors. The college's academics are divided into five divisions: the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division,
3496-547: The Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge , Holabird & Roche , and other architectural firms in a mixture of the Victorian Gothic and Collegiate Gothic styles, patterned on the colleges of the University of Oxford. (Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's Magdalen Tower , and the university Commons, Hutchinson Hall , replicates Christ Church Hall. ) In celebration of
3588-568: The Midway, including the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle (a complex designed by Saarinen); a series of arts buildings; a building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the university's School of Social Service Administration, a building which is to become the home of the Harris School of Public Policy by Edward Durrell Stone , and the Regenstein Library , the largest building on campus, a brutalist structure designed by Walter Netsch of
3680-601: The National Endowment for the Humanities. He was awarded the 2013 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (Historical Studies) for his book, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions . In February 2008, he was elected to a four-year term as Committeeman for the 5th Ward of the City of Chicago , Illinois (Green Party); and he
3772-422: The Old University of Chicago are recognized as alumni of the University of Chicago. William Rainey Harper became the university's president on July 1, 1891, and the Hyde Park campus opened for classes on October 1, 1892. Harper worked on building up the faculty and in two years he had a faculty of 120, including eight former university or college presidents. Harper was an accomplished scholar ( Semiticist ) and
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3864-622: The Social Sciences Collegiate Division, the Humanities Collegiate Division, and the New Collegiate Division. The first four are sections within their corresponding graduate divisions, while the New Collegiate Division administers interdisciplinary majors and studies which do not fit in one of the other four divisions. Undergraduate students are required to take a distribution of courses to satisfy
3956-449: The United States. The university's students, faculty, and staff has included 101 Nobel laureates . The university's faculty members and alumni also include 10 Fields Medalists, 4 Turing Award winners, 52 MacArthur Fellows , 26 Marshall Scholars , 54 Rhodes Scholars , 27 Pulitzer Prize winners, 20 National Humanities Medalists , 29 living billionaire graduates, and 8 Olympic medalists . The first University of Chicago
4048-481: The University of Chicago Hospitals (now called the University of Chicago Medical Center ) finished construction and enrolled their first medical students. Also, the philosophy oriented Committee on Social Thought , an institution distinctive of the university, was created. Money that had been raised during the 1920s and financial backing from the Rockefeller Foundation helped the school to survive through
4140-553: The University of Chicago announced plans to establish the Milton Friedman Institute , which attracted both support and controversy from faculty members and students. The institute would cost around $ 200 million and occupy the buildings of the Chicago Theological Seminary . During the same year, investor David G. Booth donated $ 300 million to the university's Booth School of Business , which
4232-601: The University of Chicago are known for their demanding standards, heavy workload and academic difficulty; according to Uni in the USA , "Among the academic cream of American universities – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and the University of Chicago – it is UChicago that can most convincingly claim to provide the most rigorous, intense learning experience." The university graduate schools and committees are divided into four divisions: Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences, and eight professional schools. In
4324-468: The University of Chicago consists of 217 acres (87.8 ha) in the Chicago neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn , approximately eight miles (13 km) south of downtown Chicago . The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the Midway Plaisance , a large, linear park created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition . In 2011, Travel+Leisure listed the university as one of
4416-462: The University of Chicago. Harper recruited acclaimed Yale baseball and football player Amos Alonzo Stagg from the Young Men's Christian Association training school at Springfield to coach the school's football program. Stagg was given a position on the faculty, the first such athletic position in the United States. While coaching at the university, Stagg invented the numbered football jersey and
4508-681: The University of Chicago. Candidates for the Ph.D. choose among 11 areas of academic focus: The faculty are organized into three Committees of Study: The Committee on Religion and the Human Sciences The Committee on Historical Studies in Religion The Committee on Constructive Studies in Religion The vision of establishing an institute for the advanced study of religion at the University of Chicago came from Joseph M. Kitagawa ,
4600-461: The University of Chicago. A student or faculty member of an affiliated school was entitled to free tuition at the University of Chicago, and Chicago students were eligible to attend an affiliated school on the same terms and receive credit for their work. The University of Chicago also agreed to provide affiliated schools with books and scientific apparatus and supplies at cost; special instructors and lecturers without cost except for travel expenses; and
4692-408: The ashes, a reference to the fire and foreclosure of the Old University of Chicago. A single stone from the rubble of the original Douglas Hall on 34th Place was set into the wall of the Classics Building. The dean of the college and University of Chicago and professor of history John Boyer has argued that the University of Chicago has "a plausible genealogy as a pre–Civil War institution". Alumni from
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#17328766010324784-416: The autumn quarter of 2022, the university enrolled 10,546 graduate students on degree-seeking courses: 569 in the Biological Sciences Division, 612 in the Humanities Division, 2,103 in the Physical Sciences Division, 972 in the Social Sciences Division, and 6,290 in the professional schools (including the Graham School). The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including
4876-399: The board of trustees and donor of the Ryerson Physical Laboratory) Adolphus Clay Bartlett and Leon Mandel, who funded the construction of the gymnasium and assembly hall, and George C. Walker of the Walker Museum, a relative of Cobb who encouraged his inaugural donation for facilities. The new university acknowledged its predecessor. The university's coat of arms has a phoenix rising from
4968-408: The central research library, the Joseph Regenstein Library. Southwest of Swift Hall and connected to it by a stone cloister is the Joseph Bond Chapel. Both Swift Hall and Bond Chapel were designed by the architects Coolidge and Hodgdon at the end of the Gothic revival period in America. The chapel was given by Mrs. Joseph Bond in memory of her husband, a former Trustee of the Baptist Theological Union,
5060-419: The chapel was renovated and its organ was replaced by the Reneker Organ. Inspired by instruments built in northern Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Reneker Organ was built by Canadian master organ builder Karl Wilhelm in 1983 for Graham Taylor Hall at the former home of the Chicago Theological Seminary. It was dedicated in 1984 in honor of the late Robert W. Reneker and Betty C. Reneker, and
5152-450: The downtown Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. The Center in Paris, a campus located on the left bank of the Seine in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs. In fall 2010, the university opened a center in Beijing, near Renmin University 's campus in Haidian District . The most recent additions are a center in New Delhi , India, which opened in 2014, and a center in Hong Kong which opened in 2018. In 2024,
5244-420: The first professional school at the university. The Baptist Theological Union (BTU) had founded the Seminary, established in 1865, "alongside" the Old University of Chicago which opened nine years earlier in 1856. The old university had ceased operations under bankruptcy in 1886, with the exception of its law school which was absorbed by Northwestern University . The Divinity School is located in Swift Hall, on
5336-409: The global top 10 for eleven consecutive years (from 2012 to 2022). The university's law and business schools rank among the top three professional schools in the United States. The business school is currently ranked first in the US by US News & World Report and first in the world by The Economist , while the law school is ranked third by US News & World Report and first by Above
5428-412: The historiography of Esoteric Buddhism and its antinomianism currents, textual criticism and strategies of legitimating authority in classical Tibetan scholasticism, and the semiology of esoteric Buddhist ritual. He is the editor of the international journal History of Religions , former Buddhism editor for Religious Studies Review (Blackwell), and serves on the editorial boards of, and acts in
5520-415: The huddle. Stagg is the namesake of the university's Stagg Field . The business school was founded in 1898, and the law school was founded in 1902. Harper died in 1906 and was replaced by a succession of three presidents whose tenures lasted until 1929. During this period, the Oriental Institute was founded to support and interpret archeological work in what was then called the Near East. In
5612-421: The journals History of Religions and The Journal of Religion . Completed in 1926, Swift Hall was designed by Coolidge and Hodgdon in the collegiate Gothic style of architecture. It contains lecture halls, seminar rooms, faculty offices, a student-run coffee shop, a commons, and administrative offices. The lecture hall was formerly the home of the Divinity Library, before its holdings were consolidated into
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#17328766010325704-605: The late 19th century, the University of Chicago quickly became established as one of the wealthiest and, according to Henry S. Webber, one of the most prestigious universities in America. To elevate higher education standards and practices, the university was a founder of the Association of American Universities in 1900. According to Jonathan R. Cole , universities such as Chicago leveraged endowments to fund research, attracting accomplished faculty and producing academic advancements, leading to sustained growth and maintenance of their institutional profile such that Chicago has been among
5796-412: The main quadrangle of the university's campus in close proximity to the Divisions of the Humanities and the Social Sciences for interdisciplinary work. The University of Chicago Divinity School grants Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Arts (M.A.), and Master of Arts in Religious Studies (A.M.R.S.) degrees. It offers several dual-degree programs with other schools at
5888-413: The most beautiful college campuses in the United States. The first buildings of the campus, which make up what is now known as the Main Quadrangles, were part of a master plan conceived by two University of Chicago trustees and plotted by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb . The Main Quadrangles consist of six quadrangles , each surrounded by buildings, bordering one larger quadrangle. The buildings of
5980-457: The most distinguished research universities in the US for more than a century. The university is described by the Encyclopedia Britannica as "one of the United States' most outstanding universities". ARWU has consistently placed the University of Chicago among the top 10 universities in the world, and the 2021 QS World University Rankings placed the university in 9th place worldwide. THE World University Rankings has ranked it among
6072-443: The number of required courses from 21 to 15. When The New York Times , The Economist , and other major news outlets picked up this story, the university became the focal point of a national debate on education. The changes were ultimately implemented, but the controversy played a role in Sonnenschein's decision to resign in 2000. From the mid-2000s, the university began a number of multimillion-dollar expansion projects. In 2008,
6164-420: The predecessor institution of the Divinity School. Mr. and Mrs. Bond's daughter, Elfleda, married Edgar J. Goodspeed, a member of the university faculty noted for his translation of the New Testament. After her death in 1949, Mr. Goodspeed donated the stained-glass windows in her memory. The cornerstone of the chapel was laid by Mrs. Bond on April 30, 1925, and the chapel was opened in October, 1926. In 2012–2013,
6256-416: The president are the provost, fourteen vice presidents (including the chief financial officer, chief investment officer , and vice president for campus life and student services), the directors of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab , the secretary of the university, and the student ombudsperson . As of May 2022, the current chairman of the board of trustees is David Rubenstein . The current provost
6348-591: The school awards a prize for Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing. The school also awards the Divinity School Prize for Excellence in Teaching, to recognise the efforts of doctoral students in their teaching, and the Tikva Frymer-Kensky Memorial Prize, for a student who has written the most accomplished essay integrating the materials and insights of at least two of the fields to which Professor Frymer-Kensky's own scholarship contributed: Hebrew Bible, biblical law, ancient Near Eastern studies, and ritual and/or feminist theology . The Divinity school publishes
6440-403: The school is organized through the work of three faculty committees, each of which is further subdivided into areas of study. PhD students concentrate their work in one of the eleven areas of study. Students in the various master's programs combine study in these areas with courses specific to their programs. All students are taught by the same faculty. A distinguished Semiticist and a member of
6532-426: The student movement. In 1978, history scholar Hanna Holborn Gray , then the provost and acting president of Yale University , became president of the University of Chicago, a position she held for 15 years. She was the first woman in the United States to hold the presidency of a major university. In 1999, then-President Hugo Sonnenschein announced plans to relax the university's famed core curriculum , reducing
6624-505: The study of the Buddhist Traditions. Degrees are offered through matriculation in one or the other of these programs. The program sponsors workshops and seminars throughout the academic year. Affiliated faculty include Daniel A. Arnold , Steven Collins, Paul Copp, Matthew Kapstein , James Ketelaar, Gary A. Tubb, and Christian K. Wedemeyer . Each year, the Divinity School awards prizes for specific student achievements. These include:
6716-451: The university agreed to pay $ 13.5 million to settle a lawsuit that it and other universities conspired to limit financial aid to students. The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the College , four divisions of graduate research, seven professional schools, and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies . The university also contains a library system,
6808-444: The university created its first school in three decades, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . On April 29, 2024, students at the University of Chicago set up an encampment on the university's main quad as a part of the nationwide movement in support of Palestine at institutions of higher learning across the country. The encampment was cleared by the University of Chicago Police Department on May 7. The main campus of
6900-619: The university includes eight professional schools, which also house academic research: the Booth School of Business ; Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice ; Divinity School ; Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies ; Harris School of Public Policy ; Law School ; Pritzker School of Medicine ; and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering . The university has additional campuses and centers in London, Paris, Beijing, Delhi, and Hong Kong, as well as in downtown Chicago. University of Chicago scholars have played
6992-577: The university opened the John W. Boyer Center in Paris, designed by architectural firm Studio Gang and nearly tripling the size of the Center in Paris which had opened in 2003. The university is governed by a board of trustees. The board of trustees oversees the long-term development and plans of the university and manages fundraising efforts, and is composed of 55 members including the university president. Directly beneath
7084-426: The university's Stagg Field . Advances in chemistry led to the "radiocarbon revolution" in the carbon-14 dating of ancient life and objects. The university research efforts include administration of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory , as well as the Marine Biological Laboratory . The university is also home to the University of Chicago Press , the largest university press in
7176-813: The university's Hyde Park neighborhood where they raised their children and where Barack Obama began his political career. Michelle Obama served as an administrator at the university and founded the university's Community Service Center. In November 2021, a university graduate was robbed and fatally shot on a sidewalk in a residential area in Hyde Park near campus; a total of three University of Chicago students were killed by gunfire incidents in 2021. These incidents prompted student protests and an open letter to university leadership signed by more than 300 faculty members. The university also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The university's Booth School of Business maintains campuses in Hong Kong , London , and
7268-512: The university's fifth president, 30-year-old legal philosophy scholar Robert Maynard Hutchins , took office. The university underwent many changes during his 24-year tenure. Hutchins reformed the undergraduate college's liberal-arts curriculum known as the Common Core, organized the university's graduate work into four divisions, and eliminated varsity football from the university in an attempt to emphasize academics over athletics. During his term,
7360-511: The university's general education requirements, commonly known as the Core Curriculum. In 2012–2013, the Core classes at Chicago were limited to 17 courses, and are generally led by a full-time professor (as opposed to a teaching assistant ). As of the 2013–2014 school year, 15 courses and demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language are required under the Core. Undergraduate courses at
7452-521: The university's refusal to divest from South Africa in the 1980s and Darfur in the late 2000s. In 1969, more than 400 students, angry about the dismissal of a popular professor, Marlene Dixon , occupied the Administration Building for two weeks. After the sit-in ended, when Dixon turned down a one-year reappointment, 42 students were expelled and 81 were suspended, the most severe response to student occupations of any American university during
7544-467: The university's smaller musical groups, such as Collegium Musicum. It seats about 300 persons. Several publications associated with the university: 41°47′19″N 87°36′0.5″W / 41.78861°N 87.600139°W / 41.78861; -87.600139 University of Chicago The University of Chicago ( UChicago , Chicago , U of C , or UChi ) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois , United States. Its main campus
7636-467: The university, like Shimer College and 10 others, adopted an early entrant program that allowed very young students to attend college; also, students enrolled at Shimer were enabled to transfer automatically to the University of Chicago after their second year, having taken comparable or identical examinations and courses. The university experienced its share of student unrest during the 1960s, beginning in 1962 when then-freshman Bernie Sanders helped lead
7728-433: The university, to notify the university early of any contemplated faculty appointments or dismissals, to make no faculty appointment without the university's approval, and to send copies of examinations for suggestions. The University of Chicago agreed to confer a degree on any graduating senior from an affiliated school who made a grade of A for all four years, and on any other graduate who took twelve weeks additional study at
7820-532: The university—and a number of National Resource Centers , including the Center for Middle Eastern Studies . Chicago also operates or is affiliated with several research institutions apart from the university proper. The university manages Argonne National Laboratory , part of the United States Department of Energy 's national laboratory system, and co-manages Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) ,
7912-702: Was a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation from 1946 through June 29, 2016, when the group's name was changed to the Big Ten Academic Alliance . The University of Chicago is not a member of the rebranded consortium, but will continue to be a collaborator. The university operates more than 140 research centers and institutes on campus. Among these are the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa —a museum and research center for Near Eastern studies owned and operated by
8004-415: Was founded by a small group of Baptist educators in 1856 through a land endowment from Senator Stephen A. Douglas . It closed in 1886 after years of financial struggle and a final annus horribilis in which the campus was badly damaged by fire and the school was foreclosed on by its creditors. Several years later, its trustees elected to change the school's name to the " Old University of Chicago " so that
8096-516: Was moved to Bond Chapel in the autumn of 2012. The cloister connecting Bond Chapel to Swift Hall was reconstructed in 2014. A cloister garden is due to be installed between Swift and Bond in 2015. As a Divinity School chapel in a major university, its main function is to provide a sanctuary for reflection, worship, and community gatherings. It is used extensively for weddings, funerals, mid-week Divinity School worship services, other religious services, theater presentations, and musical events performed by
8188-715: Was reappointed for a second term in 2012. In June 2014, he was elected Secretary of the Cook County Green Party. From 2007 until 2011, he was co-chair of the Hyde Park Green Party, a local chapter of the Illinois Green Party , Green Party of the United States . He has consulted for the Metropolitan Museum of Art , CNN , the United States Department of Justice , the National Endowment for
8280-446: Was stipulated that such money could not be used for buildings. The Hyde Park campus was financed by donations from wealthy Chicagoans such as Silas B. Cobb , who provided the funds for the campus's first building, Cobb Lecture Hall , and matched Marshall Field's pledge of $ 100,000. Other early benefactors included businessmen Charles L. Hutchinson (trustee, treasurer and donor of Hutchinson Commons ), Martin A. Ryerson (president of
8372-533: Was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the Chicago school of sociology . In physics, the university was the site of the Chicago Pile-1 (the first controlled, self-sustaining human-made nuclear chain reaction, part of the Manhattan Project ), of Robert Millikan 's oil-drop experiment that calculated the charge of the electron, and of the development of radiocarbon dating by Willard F. Libby in 1947. The chemical experiment that tested how life originated on early Earth,
8464-418: Was valued at $ 10 billion. Since 2016, the university's board of trustees has resisted pressure from students and faculty to divest its investments from fossil fuel companies. Part of former university President Zimmer's financial plan for the university was an increase in accumulation of debt to finance large building projects. This drew both support and criticism from many in the university community. In 2023
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