Dear University of Chicago Staff,

This Friday, Oct. 9, the University will observe its 500th Convocation in a special ceremony at 10:30 AM in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. All students and staff are invited to attend what is one of the University's most distinctive traditions. One of the purposes of convocation is to draw together members of the campus community to reflect upon the University's past, present, and future, and this will be an especially good opportunity to recollect the University's culture, values, and history.

The day will begin with an academic procession from the Main Quadrangle to Woodlawn Avenue to Rockefeller Chapel, starting between 9:45 and 10 AM Free coffee, pastries, and fruit will be available in the Main Quadrangle and in the park at 58th Street and Woodlawn Avenue starting at 9:30 AM for those who wish to gather and watch the procession. At 10:30 AM the Convocation ceremony will begin in Rockefeller Chapel. Tickets are not required for seating in the Chapel, but space is limited, and guests are encouraged to arrive early.

For those unable to attend in person, the ceremony will be simulcast in Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall, and in the Bartlett, Pierce, and South Campus dining halls. The ceremony may also be watched live by webcast from the University's homepage: www.uchicago.edu. In the afternoon, distinguished alumni of the University and those who will have received honorary degrees at the ceremony will be giving lectures on a broad range of topics.  The lectures begin at 1, 3, and 4:30 p.m. The schedule of lectures is available online at http://500convocation.uchicago.edu and is printed below.

Please note that classes will be in session on Friday, and students are expected to attend unless otherwise directed by the instructor. While staff should have the opportunity to participate, any staff members interested in attending specific events should work with their supervisors to ensure that department responsibilities are met.  We do hope you will participate in as many of Friday's events as you can, as the University celebrates a significant milestone.

Sincerely,

Nim Chinniah, Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Kimberly Goff-Crews, Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students in the University

 

Lectures in Celebration of the 500th Convocation
Friday, Oct. 9, 2009

1:30-2:30 p.m.

"Transgressing Disciplines," Robert McCormick Adams Jr., PhB'47, AM'52, PhD'56,
Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego. Hosted by the Department of Anthropology.
Location: Oriental Institute, Breasted Hall

"Religious Identity, Justice, and Hope: The Case of Peacebuilding," Lisa Sowle Cahill, AM'73, PhD'76, J. Donald Monan Professor, Department of Theology, Boston College. Hosted by the Divinity School.
Location: Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture Hall

"The Effect of Employment Protection on Worker Productivity: Evidence from Public Schooling," Brian A. Jacob, PhD '01, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy & Professor of Economics, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. Hosted by the Harris School of Public Policy Studies.
Location: Harris School, Lecture Hall 142

"Boom Town? The State of Black Business in Chicago," John Rogers, Lab'76, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ariel Investments; Trustee of the University. Hosted by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture.
Location: Social Sciences, Lecture Hall 122

"Learning from AIDS: Remaining Challenges in the HIV Epidemic," Paul A. Volberding, AB'71, MD, Professor and Vice Chair, UCSF Department of Medicine Chief, Medical Service SF Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Co-Director, UCSF-GIVI Center for AIDS Research. Hosted by the College.
Location: Kent Hall, Room 107

"The Human Genome Project: Its Impact on Science and Medicine," Robert Waterston, M.D.'72, PhD'72, Professor and Chair, Department of Genome Sciences University of Washington. Hosted by the Department of Human Genetics.
Location: Biological Sciences Lecture Center, Room 001

3-4 p.m.

"Tearing Down the Berlin Wall Intermedially: Alexander Kluge and Heiner Muller in Dialogue," David Bathrick, PhD'70, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Theatre, Film, & Dance, and German Studies, Cornell University. Hosted by the Department of Germanic Studies.
Location: Regenstein Library, Franke Institute

"Seasonality, Mood and Migration," Ruth M. Benca, PhD'79, MD'81, Director, Center for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research; Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hosted by the Department of Medicine.
Location: Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, First Floor Auditorium

"More Unknowns than Equations: Yes, We Can!," David L. Donoho, PhD, Department of Statistics, Stanford University. Honorary Degree Recipient.
Location: Oriental Institute, Breasted Hall

"Chopin's Pencil," Jeffrey Kallberg, PhD'82, Professor of Music History and Chairman of the Department of Music, University of Pennsylvania. Hosted by the Department of Music.
Location: Goodspeed Hall, Fulton Recital Hall

"Plato and Paradox," Stephen Menn, AM'84, PhD'89, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, McGill University. Hosted by the Department of Philosophy.
Location: Harper Memorial Library, Lecture Hall 130 (Please note this is a 90-minute lecture.)

"The Past, Present, and Future of Civil War," Stathis Kalyvas, AM'90, PhD'93, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Yale University. Hosted by the Department of Political Science.
Location: Ida Noyes Hall, Max Palevsky Cinema

4:30-5:30 p.m.

"Intelligent Design on Trial," David DeRosier, SB'61, PhD'65, Professor of Biology Emeritus, Abraham S. and Gertrude Burg Chair of Life Sciences, Brandeis University. Hosted by the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology.
Location: Kent Hall, Room 107

"Evolutionary Trees and Population Genetics: A Family Reunion," Joseph Felsenstein, PhD'68, Professor of Genome Sciences and of Biology, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington. Hosted by the Department of Ecology and Evolution.
Location: Biological Sciences Learning Center, Room 115

"Civic Republicanism and the Establishment of Religion," Judge Michael W. McConnell,JD'79, Director, Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School. Hosted by the Law School.
Location: Law School Courtroom

"Proving the Object," Stephen Melville, AB'71, PhD'81, Professor Emeritus, Department of the History of Art, Ohio State University. Hosted by the Department of Comparative Literature.
Location: Oriental Institute, Breasted Hall

"Science, History of Science and the Muse of Discovery," Ali Mehmet Cel^al Seng"or, PhD,Professor of Geology, Istanbul Technical University. Honorary Degree Recipient.
Location: Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, First Floor Auditorium

"How to Put Together a Goddess out of Musical Scales," David Shulman, PhD, Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Honorary Degree Recipient.
Location: Ida Noyes Hall, Max Palevsky Cinema