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2005 Alumni Award Winners with President Don Michael Randel.
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The Alumni Medal
The Alumni Service Medal
The Norman Maclean Faculty Awards
The Young Alumni Service Citations
The Alumni Service Citations
The Public Service Awards
The Professional Achievement Awards
The
Alumni Medal
Created in 1941, the Alumni Medal is awarded to recognize
achievement of an exceptional nature in any field, vocational or voluntary,
covering an entire career. It is the highest honor the Alumni Association
can bestow. Because the value of the medal is defined by its recipients,
it has been given sparingly. The medal is awarded to no more than one
person each year and need not be awarded on an annual basis.
 DAVID
BRODER
David Broder, AB’47, AM’51, is the national political correspondent
for The Washington Post and the most widely read columnist
in the United States. His twice-weekly column on American political
life is syndicated in more than 300 newspapers around the world. Additionally,
millions of television viewers watch Mr. Broder’s regular appearances
on NBC’s Meet the Press and CNN’s Inside Politics.
Among numerous awards, his work earned a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s
highest honor, in 1973 for distinguished commentary. In the years since
Mr. Broder has continued to be acclaimed for his integrity, factual
accuracy, and insight. Fellow journalists consider him the unchallenged
dean of their profession. Before joining the Post in 1966, Mr. Broder
covered national politics for The New York Times (1965-66),
The Washington Star (1960-65) and Congressional Quarterly
(1955-60). He has reported on every national campaign and convention
since 1960, traveling up to 100,000 miles each election year to interview
voters and report on the candidates.
Mr. Broder is known for his willingness to mentor young
journalists, especially fellow Chicago graduates. Recently he formalized
this teaching role as a professor of political reporting at the University
of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He is the
author of seven acclaimed books, among them Behind the Front Page:
A Candid Look at How News Is Made (1981), The System: The American
Way of Politics at the Breaking Point (1996), and most recently,
Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money
(2000).
He is universally admired by journalists and politicians
and academics, one of whom enthusiastically thanked the University of
Chicago for “sharing him with the world” and deemed him
“a national treasure.” Others writing in support of his
nomination called him, “the embodiment of the very best values
of the very best journalists: brave, honest, independent, fair,”
who sets the “ethical gold standard in journalism.” As Warren
Buffett wrote, “In political journalism, there’s David Broder—and
then there is everyone else. The second group doesn’t count. David
outworks, out thinks, and out writes anyone else in the field.”
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The
Alumni Service Medal
The Alumni Service Medal was established in 1983 to honor a lifetime
of achievement in service to the University.
 MAURICE
FULTON
Since his graduation from the Law School more than 60 years ago, Maurice
Fulton, AB’40, JD’42, has demonstrated an unwavering devotion
to the University of Chicago through a host of volunteer positions
and wide-ranging philanthropic commitments.
Mr. Fulton’s involvement with the University of Chicago began
as an undergraduate in the College, where he met his future wife,
Muriel Fantus Fulton. Mr. Fulton then entered the Law School, where
he was an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.
After service in the U.S. Navy during World War II (for which he
received the Navy’s Commendation and a Presidential citation
for “outstanding heroism”), Mr. Fulton joined the Fantus
Company, the world’s oldest and largest consulting firm devoted
exclusively to industrial location and economic development. As Principal,
President, and then Chairman of the Board for thirty-five years, he
acted as a consultant in more than 6,000 location decisions for industries
producing everything from semiconductors to automobiles. The field’s
recognized authority, Mr. Fulton has published many books and articles
and has lectured extensively on economic development and industrial
location. He has taught at the University of Chicago’s Graduate
School of Business and Department of Geography and at Northwestern’s
Graduate School of Management. Mr. Fulton has also served as consultant
to two U.S. presidents and the governors of eleven states.
Despite his busy schedule, Mr. Fulton has always made time for his
alma mater. He is particularly devoted to the Law School, where, in
1988, he established and endowed the annual Maurice and Muriel Fulton
Lecture in Law and History, now widely regarded as the nation’s
preeminent legal history lecture series. Additionally, Mr. Fulton
underwrote construction of the Maurice and Muriel Fulton Room in the
D’Angelo Law Library and endowed book and periodical subscriptions
for that student reading room.
For decades, Mr. Fulton has been a valued adviser and dedicated supporter
of the University of Chicago Libraries, where he has endowed book
collections in geography and cartography and in law and economics
that together add more than 200 new titles each year. A member of
the Visiting Committee to the Library, in past years he has been active
on the Visiting Committees to the Social Sciences Division and the
Law School and in the Law School Alumni Association. Friends, family,
and fellow volunteers describe Mr. Fulton as a tireless advocate for
the University whose breadth of service has benefited the campus in
countless and lasting ways.
“The earliest, and most profound, influence of the University
of Chicago on my life was, and is, undoubtedly my meeting with Muriel
Fantus on the campus, in the spring of 1938. After 60 years of married
life we continue to rejoice at the unbelievably good luck, which
brought us together in front of the old Law School building.
The College program, with its diversified survey courses, has enriched
my life to this very day. The frightening, challenging, stimulating,
and ultimately rewarding sessions with Hutchins, Adler, and Levi
gave me a perspective, which impacted my entire professional, and
personal life. Work as an Editor on the Law Review provided an ongoing,
useful skill.
No other institution or experience has shaped my life more: is
it any wonder that I view “the University” with such
esteem and affection.”
The
Norman Maclean Faculty Awards
The Norman Maclean Faculty Awards were given for the first
time in 1997. Named for Professor Norman Maclean, PhD’40,
who taught English at the University for 40 years, the awards recognize
emeritus or very senior faculty members who have made outstanding
contributions to teaching and to the student experience of life
on campus.
 STUART
RICE
Stuart Rice, the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
in the Department of Chemistry, has been a major figure in both theoretical
chemistry and chemical physics for more than 50 years, almost all
of which were spent at the University of Chicago. In 1999 he was honored
with the National Medal of Science, for “changing the very nature
of modern physical chemistry through his research, teaching and writing,
using imaginative approaches to both experiment and theory that have
inspired a new generation of scientists.” His outstanding contributions
to research have been coupled with equally extraordinary teaching
and dedication to his students. His first PhD student graduated in
1960, and last year Professor Rice celebrated a remarkable milestone
with the graduation of his 100th PhD candidate. Former students, many
of whom are now distinguished academics and scientists, acknowledge
his profound intellectual impact: “He is totally devoted to
his students and focuses on them with a laser-like intensity that
is exciting but never daunting,” one wrote. “He treats
his students as equal partners, listening to them with a powerful
concentration and encouraging them to take chances. His encouragement
and devotion were constant.” Another recalled that “he
had a magical ability to inspire inexperienced new students to solve
difficult theoretical problems from the outset of their training.
Because of this, his students developed the kind of confidence that
allowed them to become independent scientists early on, a confidence
that propelled many of them to become leaders in their fields.”
Winner of a Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching,
Professor Rice helped mold science teaching at the University as chair
of the Department of Chemistry, Director of the James Frank Institute,
and the longest-serving Dean of the Physical Sciences in the division’s
history. Colleagues attest that his mentorship improved their own
teaching. One recalled, “Stuart contributed to the training
of students by teaching his younger faculty colleagues how to do it…Your
office door should be open, and when somebody appears at your door
wanting to talk science, you put down whatever you are doing and talk.
It does not matter whether the someone is a faculty colleague, your
own graduate student, somebody else’s graduate student, or an
undergraduate.”
“From the day of my arrival the unique intellectual
environment of this University supported and challenged me. The openness
of colleagues to new ideas, the culture that expected me to probe
deeply whatever I considered important, the ease of collaboration
with others with very different backgrounds, and the intense focus
on excellence, stimulated me to roam widely across chemistry and physics.
And the opportunity to work with wonderful students, both at the graduate
and undergraduate levels, enabled that roaming to generate novel contributions.
I do not think that my fit to the culture of the University could
have been matched at any other institution, and in a very real sense
whatever I have accomplished has been a consequence of the environment
provided by the University.”
 LORNA
STRAUS
Lorna Straus, EX, SM’60, PhD’62, is Professor Emeritus
of Organismal Biology and Anatomy in the Biological Sciences Collegiate
Division, former Dean of Students in the College, and University Marshal.
Over the past 45 years, Professor Straus has been an active campus
force, striving to improve student life while engaging undergraduates
in the classroom and research lab. Her commitment to excellence in
undergraduate teaching has been acknowledged by an almost unprecedented
two Quantrell Awards, won in 1970 and 1987. She also received the
2003 Gold Key Award from the Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni
Association in recognition of outstanding and loyal service. An enthusiastic
supporter of student athletes, Professor Straus is well known for
indefatigable school spirit and was instrumental in building the Women’s
Athletic Association. She has volunteered in several administrative
capacities, including chairing the College Curriculum Committee and
serving on the University Council, the Task Force on Undergraduate
Education, the Committee on the Future of International House, and
the Faculty Committee of the Council. In 2000, Professor Straus was
appointed University Marshal, the chief ceremonial officer of the
University. Her external accolades include election as Chair of the
Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges
and Schools.
Many alumni of the College cite Professor Straus’s encouragement
and teaching as the primary reason they completed their undergraduate
degrees and were able to enter graduate programs. She taught in the
biological core curriculum for more than thirty years, and her upper-level
mammalian biology course, team taught with her physician husband,
was one students lined up (and slept out) to register for. One former
student wrote, “She strongly contributed to a sense that women
are accepted and can succeed in science, but more importantly, that
women and men can use their integrative skills for the enrichment
of both their personal and professional lives.” A former student
and current colleague wrote, “It is hard to imagine an area
of the University that has not been touched by the care and attention
of Lorna Straus. Her energy is amazing, but her love for the University
is even more staggering.”
“I have taught at the University since 1964-
the biological sciences common core, an upper level course in
the College, and in the Medical School's first year anatomy
course. Each has been interesting in its own way. Teaching students
who are taking a Bio Core course to meet the College's requirement
is a special challenge and can be very rewarding when students
realize biology is not as difficult or uninteresting as they first
thought. The course in the structure and function of mammals
was often the first opportunity students had to see if further study
in this area was what they wanted to do so there have been generations
of hopeful pre-meds in this class, some of whom I would meet
again in the Medical School teaching. I have genuinely enjoyed
virtually every aspect of my teaching.
My time as College Dean of Students, and a stint as Dean of Admissions,
were rewarding ways to learn about the College and to help many
of our wonderful students navigate their ways through their programs
and their lives here. And as a faculty member I have served
on many College and University Committees, helping this place be
the remarkable place that it is. As University Marshal I oversee
official ceremonies, another way to help our wonderful University”.
The Young
Alumni Service Citations
The Young Alumni Service Citations-awarded for the first time
during the 1992 University Centennial-acknowledge outstanding volunteer
service to the University by individuals aged 35 and younger.
 KATHLEEN
ABBOTT
In the decade since her graduation, Kathleen Abbott, AB’95, provided
enthusiastic and energetic alumni leadership. A three-sport varsity athlete,
she continues to support women’s athletics and helped plan the Graduate
Women’s Athletic Association 100th anniversary celebration in 2004.
As young alumni program chair for the San Francisco alumni club, Ms. Abbott
has shown considerable creative verve in planning and executing events
to attract a large and diverse audience. She has also used her organizational
talents and creativity on behalf of the College Class of 1995. As program
chair for its 5th reunion, she was influential in adding special events
such as a Cubs Game to the weekend festivities. Co-chairing this year’s
10th reunion program committee she has continued her efforts to engage
and reconnect classmates.
In addition to being a key reunion volunteer, Ms. Abbott has served her
class as its correspondent since 1998, submitting alumni news for nearly
every issue of the University of Chicago Magazine. Soliciting
news by affinity group and inviting “guest correspondents”
to write the column are just two ways she has used her innovative flair
to keep classmates in touch and involved.
Despite the demands of her law career as in San Francisco, Ms. Abbott
manages all of her volunteer responsibilities with grace and agility.
Albert Chang, AB’93, the president of the San Francisco alumni board,
describes Ms. Abbott as a passionate supporter who is “wildly in
love with the University of Chicago,” and who sparks enthusiasm
when talking to prospective students, alumni, and faculty. Another supporter
described her as a volunteer whose commitment to the University is so
deep that she “bleeds maroon.”
 EBONI
HOWARD
Eboni Howard, AB’92, began her service to Chicago athletics as an
undergraduate, when she served as both captain of the Lady Maroons basketball
team and president of the Women’s Athletic Association. After graduation,
she stayed on at the University for one year as assistant basketball coach
of the Lady Maroons. Since 1996, Ms. Howard has co-chaired the Graduate
Women’s Athletic Association (GWAA), which supports the University’s
current and alumni female athletes. In leading the organization, Ms. Howard
has shown a keen appreciation for the history of women’s athletic
competition and she has encouraged older alumni from the 1940s to more
recent graduates to serve as mentors to younger members. She was instrumental
in guiding GWAA’s successful development effort for the Ratner Athletic
Center, and was a leader in planning the group’s 100th anniversary
celebration. A valuable member of the guidelines committee for the University’s
Athletics Hall of Fame, she also helped select the inaugural class of
athletes, inducted in 2003. In all these roles, Ms. Howard has been a
steadfast advocate for women athletes at Chicago.
In both her volunteer and professional capacities, Ms. Howard constantly
motivates others to achieve success. She has been active with Career Advising
and Planning Services, assisting students as they face career decisions.
In addition to her University alumni activities, Ms. Howard volunteers
her time encouraging minority women to get involved in athletics and training
them to compete in triathlons. A Senior Researcher for the Chapin Hall
Center for Children, Ms. Howard explores the influence of social programs,
poverty, ethnicity, governmental support, and other social dynamics on
the well-being of families and children.
“Two influences have had significant impacts on all aspects of
my life, my biological family and my U of C family. The mottos I grew
up with in my biological family were “there is no such word as
can’t,” and “if work was supposed
fun, they’d call it play.” These mottos
were central in my ability to face the intellectual challenges and succeed
in the rigorous work environment at U of C.
On top of that, U of C introduced me to a second family of lifelong
friendships through women’s basketball and other activities. From
this family, I learned two other phrases that have carried me beyond
my college years: “A self-sustaining chain reaction” and
“carpe diem.” Like that self-sustaining chain reaction,
my educational, athletic, and social experiences at the University of
Chicago, continue to carry me through life and seize the day by making
the most of it!”
 GREG
MIARECKI
Greg Miarecki, AB’94, JD’97, is an energetic, dedicated volunteer
who has made an outstanding effort to revive significant campus traditions.
As an undergraduate, Mr. Miarecki was student government finance chair,
a member of the Model United Nations, and an active member of the Delta
Kappa Epsilon fraternity. His work with campus fraternities continued
after graduation, when he served as the driving force behind the revitalization
of the annual inter-fraternity council sing competition (IF Sing). The
oldest such competition in the country, Chicago’s IF Sing began
in the 1920s and drew hundreds of Greek alumni back to campus each spring.
Concerned by dwindling support for IF Sing, in the late 1990s Mr. Miarecki
forged a coalition of alumni, fraternity leaders, and University administrators
to revive the tradition of Sing and pass it along to future generations.
Thanks to Mr. Miarecki’s vision and leadership, Sing has returned
to its traditional venue in Hutchinson Commons and is once again a marquee
event during Alumni Weekend. Its success has helped draw a growing number
Greek alumni back to campus and has increased interaction between alumni,
students, and faculty.
Mr. Miarecki, a litigation attorney at the law firm of Winston and Strawn,
has spent hours working with current students to promote Greek life at
Chicago and to ensure the vitality of his own fraternity, encouraging
leadership and service to the University. Fellow alumni describe him as
a “true visionary and leader” whose efforts and dedication
set a standard for others to follow.
“Beginning on a cold and windy morning in the fall of 1990, the
University of Chicago began to have a major impact on my life -- an
impact that continues today. It introduced me to many of my best
friends, not the least of whom is my beautiful and intelligent wife.
It also introduced me to the great Chicago academic tradition, which
demands that you work hard to ask the tough questions and work even
harder to come up with the right answers. For all of this, I am
most grateful.”
The Alumni
Service Citations
Created in 1988, the Alumni Service Citations are awarded for
outstanding volunteer work on behalf of the University through service
in alumni programs, on advisory committees, and through efforts made
to ensure the welfare of the institution.
 DEANNA
BENNETT
Deanna Bennett, AB’67, uses her creative intelligence, enthusiasm,
and organizational skills on behalf of the alumni community. As president
of the Tampa Bay Alumni Club, she has revitalized the group’s
activities, spearheading well-attended public forums focusing on current
events, academic trends, and social issues. Club members credit her
effervescent personality and unflagging commitment for energizing Chicago
activities in Florida. She has personally welcomed dozens of alumni
new to Tampa Bay, inviting them to attend club events. On behalf of
the College admissions office, Ms. Bennett has helped recruit prospective
students with the club’s popular book award for outstanding high
school students. She interviews applicants and has hosted Summer Send-off
parties for new and returning students and their families.
Ms. Bennett has also been the key communicator for the
College Class of 1967, serving since 1997 as class correspondent and
providing alumni news for every issue of the University of Chicago
Magazine. As co-chair for her 35th reunion committee in 2002, Ms.
Bennett was instrumental in re-establishing contact with many classmates
and planning an outstanding reunion celebration. In the midst of varied
activities, which include writing a mystery novel, acting with her husband
in their improvisational theater company, designing and creating costumes,
and running the writers’ program at her local library, Ms. Bennett
continues to be a stellar volunteer for Chicago.
“The University of Chicago. Those few words evoke
a rush of images and emotions: the classroom barrage of challenging
ideas and thinking that enriched my life forever; the gratitude I feel
when I can really listen to a symphony or view a painting and understand
what its creator intended me to see; my treasured economics degree;
pride in the raised eyebrows when someone hears that this is my alma
mater; the excitement whenever I return to campus. Its product is and
ever shall be an intellectually alive, truly educated individual, which
I most gratefully hope I have become.”
DOUGLAS M. JACKMAN
Douglas M. Jackman, AB’89, MBA’95, began his volunteer service
to the University of Chicago even before his graduation from the College.
A student athlete, his leadership in extracurricular activities was
recognized at graduation with the Howell Murray Award. He has continued
to serve the University every year since. As a young alumnus working
in New York, he was active in the New York Alumni Club, helped organize
the University’s New York Centennial Dinner, and interviewed prospective
students for the College admissions office.
Returning to the University to earn an MBA from the Graduate School
of Business, Mr. Jackman served on the Visiting Committee to the College.
In 1995 he was elected to the University’s Alumni Board of Governors
and served a six-year term. While on the Board, he chaired the Nominating
Committee. He has continued to work on Board initiatives as a founding
sponsor of the Externship Project that offers second-year College students
the chance to “shadow” alumni in a variety of professions.
He has also served as a panelist for Taking the Next Step, a careers
program for third-year students, and regularly interviews applicants
for the Metcalf student internship program. An enthusiastic advocate
for the University, Mr. Jackman co-chaired his fifth, tenth, and fifteenth
class reunions. An active member of the Graduate Order of the C, he
served on the committee to select the inaugural class of the University’s
Athletics Hall of Fame. Each summer Mr. Jackman and his wife Kristine,
AB’87, host a Summer Sendoff party at their home for new and returning
College students.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to have attended
both the College and the GSB as they both had a significant impact and
helped me form the foundation for both my personal and professional
life. The environment was always stimulating and challenging whether
you were in the classroom, hanging out at the dorm or fraternity or
competing on the athletic field. I continue to remain involved with
the University as our alumni bring this same level of passion, energy
and dedication to their volunteer efforts. I am grateful for the many
friendship I have formed and look forward to supporting the University
for in the years ahead.”
 JOAN
SPOERL
Joan Spoerl, AB’85, has provided vision and leadership in several
volunteer capacities on behalf of Chicago’s alumni community.
She has been active in planning reunions for the College Class of 1985;
she has hosted Summer Send-off parties for new and returning College
students; and she has participated in the Volunteer Leadership Caucus
to train and celebrate alumni volunteers.
A long time member of the Chicago-area alumni club (UC2MC),
Ms. Spoerl led the movement to eliminate membership dues, expanding
communication about alumni events to all 35,000 alumni in the Chicago
area. Elected club president in 2003, she brought the club through a
period of transition, built a more cohesive volunteer board, and used
her presidency to introduce a series of events aimed at alumni not previously
targeted by programming. Using her expertise as an early childhood educator,
Ms. Spoerl initiated popular family programs on campus and at cultural
venues around the city. She also organized a screening and discussion
of a critically acclaimed documentary, Brother Outsider, the Life
of Bayard Rustin, which engaged a diverse group of alumni, faculty,
and students. Her leadership brought to a marked increase in alumni
involvement. Ms. Spoerl’s recent relocation to Cleveland has given
her the opportunity to continue building alumni community. Recognizing
the need for an alumni club in the Cleveland area, Ms. Spoerl arranged
a planning meeting in her home and is working to on the city’s
first alumni-initiated event. Friends, fellow alumni, and community
members call her a “fountain of ideas” whose indefatigable
energy is sure to increase the University’s visibility wherever
she goes.
“During my primary and secondary school years,
I was able to distinguish between good and bad teaching. I longed for
better. I got it at Chicago, where wonderful professors and my fellow
students taught me how to live, learn and teach. At the time, I had
no thoughts of becoming a teacher myself. Nonetheless, my academic experiences
at Chicago fed a desire to work with young children. As a teacher, I’ve
wanted to foster my young charges’ innate passion for learning
so that they too could learn how to learn, value learning for learning’s
sake and thus become life-long learners.”
 DAVID
AND MARI TERMAN
David Terman, LAB’51, AB’55, SB’56, MD’59, and
Mari (de Costa) Terman, LAB’51, EX’53, EX’59, share
an extraordinary commitment to the University of Chicago, as evidenced
by their years of volunteer leadership in University activities. The
couple’s dedication to the University, and to each other, began
at the Laboratory Schools, where they met as students. Dr. Terman remained
at Chicago for his entire education, graduating from both the College
and the School of Medicine. A distinguished psychiatrist and psychoanalyst,
he is the director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Mrs.
Terman matriculated at the University, but earned her undergraduate
and graduate degree at Radcliffe College and her MBA from Northwestern
University. The couple’s younger son received his MD from the
Pritzker School of Medicine in 1994, becoming fourth generation of his
family to graduate from the University’s Medical School.
Over several decades, the Termans have used their personal
talents and interests to serve the University. Dr. Terman was a mainstay
of the Medical and Biological Alumni Association, serving as a member
of its executive council and then as its president. He served for six
years on the University’s Alumni Board of Governors, has participated
in reunion planning and gift committees for his College class, and is
currently on the Visiting Committee to the Social Sciences Division.
Mrs. Terman has served the Oriental Institute for many years and in
many capacities. She is a member of the Institute’s Visiting Committee
and serves as a Museum docent, giving tours of exhibitions. She has
also worked with Oriental Institute archaeologists who are excavating
an ancient site in Tell Atchana, Turkey.
 Together,
the Termans are generous supporters of the University’s fundraising
initiatives and are eager to get others involved. Fellow alumni know
them to be dedicated and effective advocates on behalf of Chicago.
“The University shaped essential parts of my character. It
informed my approach to and understanding of the phenomena of the
world. It directed me to look for the essentials of knowledge in any
field and to try to understand the logic of the construction of the
field. It opened a lifetime of inquiry, wonder, and appreciation.
It allowed me to develop my mind and my soul and enabled me to experience
the joy that comes from that.” (David Terman)
“The Laboratory School, the College and the Division of Biological
Sciences enabled me to meet and work with a group of thoughtful, creative
students and teachers for whom I have the highest admiration. By encouraging
young minds to go beyond their typical limits, the U of C salvaged
and nurtured the potential of so many. We have used the knowledge
and skills that we acquired in those years in myriad ways. I am very
grateful.” (Mari Terman)
The Public
Service Awards
The Public Service Citations honor those alumni who have fulfilled
the obligations of their education through creative citizenship and
exemplary leadership in service that has benefited society and reflected
credit on the University.
 CHARLES
G. CURIE
Charles G. Curie, AM’79, has devoted his professional career to
ensuring that people with addictive and mental disorders have the opportunity
to participate fully in society and has significantly advanced state
and national policy on prevention, treatment and recovery. A social
worker by training, Mr. Curie has been guided by humane and informed
concepts of how best to meet the needs of people with mental health
and substance abuse problems, their families, and their communities.
As Deputy Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the Pennsylvania
Department of Public Welfare, he empowered consumer and family advocacy
groups to reform mental health and substance abuse care. The new partnerships
resulted in the significant reduction and certain institutions the elimination
of seclusion and restraint procedures from the Pennsylvania system and
have made the state a model for system reform.
Today Mr. Curie serves as Administrator of the U.S. Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a presidential appointment
within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Curie was
instrumental in launching the President’s New Freedom Commission
on Mental Health, the first such commission in more than 25 years. He
has argued strongly and successfully for the passage of parity legislation
to guarantee the same insurance benefits to treat individuals with mental
illnesses as those for individuals with physical illnesses. Similarly,
Mr. Curie has fostered a national debate on the elimination of the use
of seclusion and restraint procedures to control people with mental
illnesses. Mr. Curie has also made important contributions to the professional
literature on mental health and substance abuse services. In each of
these areas, Mr. Curie’s leadership and steadfast commitment to
achieving what individuals need to attain and sustain recovery has made
a positive difference in the lives of millions of Americans.
“My exposure to systems theory and other scientific
theories at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration,
formed a very sound foundation for my career as a social worker and
ultimately as the Administrator of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration. A fundamental lesson I learned was to
look at the individual in any situation in the context of his or her
environment – family, school, work, community. In particular one
of the pioneers in our field – Helen Harris Perlman, a leader
from the University of Chicago pointed out that social work is really
all about problem solving and helping an individual create a design
for action to solve that problem. This problem solving process, rooted
in the science of what works has served me well over time and in countless
situations as a clinical social worker, administrator and public policy
maker.”
 ROBERT
A. DEVRIES
In his distinguished career as academic, health care administrator and
CEO, and international health consultant, Robert DeVries, SB’58,
MBA’61, has made contributions to the health care field and advanced
health management and policy education internationally. He served for
nearly three decades as director of health programming for the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation, one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations.
He was a pioneer in the origins of hospice, holistic health care, and
community benefits standards. Mr. DeVries was founding director of the
Kellogg International Leadership Program, and for nine years directed
the foundation's international grants for master’s and doctoral
studies that involved more than 1,000 fellows from 30 countries. Since
his 1999 retirement, Mr. DeVries has lent his health care experience
and insights to numerous organizations. In China, where he serves as
valued adviser to several hospitals and the Ministry of Health, he helped
introduce quality assurance standards to the national health care system.
In 2003 he received a certificate of honor from Peking University. He
also helped establish the European Healthcare Management Association.
Mr. DeVries is the author of more than fifty publications
and a reviewer for six professional journals. In addition to lecturing
worldwide, he has been adviser on rural health to two U.S. secretaries
of Health and Human Services. Active in his community, Mr. DeVries volunteers
in a number of capacities, including as board member of LifeCare Ambulance
Service, Leila Arboretum Society, and North Pointe Woods. He chairs
the Quality Committee of the board of Battle Creek Health System, serves
on three committees of the Battle Creek Community Foundation, and is
Assisting Minister at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Battle Creek. He
and his wife Eleanor have a long commitment to philanthropic support
for the arts and education, including medical and nursing education
in this country and abroad.
“UC opened a new world for me, just at the right moment, with
scholarship support. As a Chicago Public Schools’ graduate from
a steelworker’s family, the College produced many intellectual,
nearly overwhelming, challenges. My daily four-hour bus/train commute
was study time.
The undergraduate articulated courses (Social Sciences = Sociology,
Psychology, Anthropology) demanded new ways to think and solve problems.
In final exams: “compare and contrast…” forced broad
thinking and honed writing skills. Although a science major, I grew
to love the arts and humanities. Chicago required you to “dissect”
classical music and draw and paint (Prof. Hal Hayden’s wonderful
class)! The MBA curriculum was a bit easier although Accountancy and
Economics tested my mettle.
Clearly, my UC education has benefited me throughout life.”
The Professional
Achievement Awards
The Professional Achievement Citations were established in 1967
to recognize alumni who have brought distinction to themselves, credit
to the University, and benefit to their communities through their vocational
work.
 HARRY
GROVES
Harry Groves, JD’49, a leader in legal education for more than
five decades, entered the University of Chicago Law School following
Army service in World War II. After graduation, he received a prestigious
Ford Foundation Fellowship to study at Harvard University where he became
interested in constitutional law, especially in the constitutions of
newly formed nations. This passion became a lifelong professional interest,
leading him to a professorship and deanship at the University of Singapore,
several lecture tours in Asia, and numerous publications on Asian law,
including four books on the constitution of Malaysia. In addition to
his expertise in constitutional law, Professor Groves is a widely published
scholar of affirmative action and domestic law. A distinguished administrator,
Professor Groves served as Law School Dean at Texas Southern University
and North Carolina Central University, University President at Central
State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, and Brandis Professor of Law
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is Professor
Emeritus. Colleagues credit him with superb leadership in advocating
diversity in Southern law schools during and after the civil rights
movement.
Professor Groves has served as a public
leader in virtually every community in which he lived. He was elected
to the Fayetteville, North Carolina City Council in 1951 and chaired
the Ethics Committee for the United States Olympic Committee in 1993.
His service has brought Professor Groves many honors, including the
1986 Judge John J. Parker Memorial Award from the North Carolina Bar
Association, and a 1991 induction into the National Bar Association
Hall of Fame.
“When I reported at my first
job in 1949 I was asked if my J.D. gave the right to use the title “doctor”.
I thought it did but I had no intention of using it. The J.D. was then
quite new in the country, and it seemed an odd title for a lawyer. North
Carolina Central was having trouble meeting its accreditation requirements,
not unusual for underfunded “Negro” schools. When the Dean
said $500 would be added to my annual salary if I used the title, I
said, “Please call me doctor.”
 WILLIAM
NISKANEN
William A. Niskanen, AM’55, PhD’62, is one of the nation’s
most highly regarded micro-economists and an enthusiastic proponent
of the Chicago school of economics. In the course of his long and distinguished
career, he has served as acting chairman of President Reagan’s
Council of Economic Advisors, professor of economics at the University
of California-Berkeley and UCLA, director of economics at Ford Motor
Company, defense analyst for the Pentagon, the RAND Corporation, and
the Institute for Defense Analyses, founding editor of the magazine
Regulation, and president of the Public Choice Society. Since
1985, Mr. Niskanen has been chairman of the Cato Institute, a libertarian
public-policy research foundation that emphasizes what it terms "the
traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty,
and free markets." Under his leadership, the organization has emerged
as one of the most important public-policy advocacy groups in the world.
Mr. Niskanen is a recognized expert in many areas of public
policy, including defense, education, health care, taxes, trade, and
regulation. Thirty years after its publication, his book Bureaucracy
and Representative Government remains the standard in its field,
while Reaganomics: An Insider’s Account of the Policies and
the People was named one of the ten best books of 1988 by Business
Week. Most recently, Mr. Niskanen is the editor and major contributor
to After Enron: The Lessons for Public Policy. Supporters describe
him as “the embodiment of what the University of Chicago stands
for in terms of scholarship, professionalism, integrity, and dedication.”
“A friend once introduced me by saying that “Bill
Niskanen has the best of both worlds: A Harvard degree and a Chicago
education.” For Chicago made me a professional economist –
by teaching me how to develop the implications of a core theory to pose
testable hypotheses and to test these hypotheses by the most advanced
techniques then developed. Chicago also gave me the confidence to address
a wide range of public policy issues by working, for the most part,
outside the academy.”
 RICHARD
RORTY
Richard Rorty, AB’49, AM’52, is regarded by many as the
greatest living American philosopher. His 1979 book Philosophy and
the Mirror of Nature offered a major critique of the analytic philosophy
that long dominated American and British academia and revived the uniquely
American tradition of pragmatic philosophy. This book and his subsequent
work decisively changed the way people think about not only philosophy
but also literary theory, political theory, and history, and shaped
the course of the humanities and social sciences in the second half
of the 20th century. In addition to scholarly work, Professor Rorty
has published regularly in such magazines as The Nation and Dissent.
His latest book is Philosophy and Social Hope.
Currently Professor of Comparative Literature and Philosophy
at Stanford University, Professor Rorty taught with distinction at the
University of Virginia, Princeton University, and Wellesley College.
His many honors include presidency of the American Philosophical Association,
Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, and membership in the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. One supporter described Professor Rorty’s
writings as “prolific, incredibly wide-ranging, iconoclastic,
and brilliant,” while another wrote that “he has, for the
first time since Dewey…become a major philosophical voice heard
in the broader world of American cultural and political debate.”
“Thanks to the so-called ‘Hutchins College’,
I was able to enter the University of Chicago just before my fifteenth
birthday. I stayed until just before my twenty-first. Nowhere else in
the world could I have spent those six years so profitably--being taught
by great scholars and rejoicing in the company of brilliant fellow-students.
Those years were the richest of my life, and I shall always be grateful
to Chicago for its willingness to accept applicants in their mid-teens.
The ‘Hutchins College’ was, I believe, one of the most successful
experiments in the history of American higher education.”
 HENRY
SCHWARCZ
Henry Schwarcz, AB’52, is an internationally recognized geologist
whose innovative, interdisciplinary approach has greatly advanced research
in both environmental earth science and archeology. His scholarship
has linked geology, archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, climatology,
ichthyology, and seismology to revolutionize the dating of archaeological
artifacts. He pioneered the use of electron spin resonance to determine
the age of teeth, and his results produced the strongest evidence yet
that humans lived in the Middle East during the Ice Age, much earlier
than previously thought. Additionally, his work with isotopes is helping
archaeologists uncover new information on ancient diets. An extraordinarily
versatile scientist, he has made serious contributions in the study
of numerous related topics, including paleoclimates, stable isotope
geochemistry of human and animal bone, and isotopic analysis of food
residues on ceramics.
Professor Schwarz is now Professor Emeritus at McMaster
University in Ontario, Canada, where he has taught since the 1960s.
A leader in the academic community, he chaired the Geology Department
and has been a generous mentor to junior faculty and to generations
of students, many of whom are now working as geoarchaeologists. His
honors include election as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada,
a Canada Council Killam Fellowship, the Archeological Geology Division
Award from the Geological Society of America, and the Fryxell Award
from the Society of American Archeologists. Professor Schwarcz is also
an accomplished violinist who volunteers as the concertmaster of a local
community orchestra.
“I came to the College in 1949 and found a unique
educational environment of highly dedicated teachers who threw themselves
with energy and passion into the task of shaping our very young minds.
Through their efforts (and mine!) I came to some understanding of the
pillars of knowledge on which our civilization was founded. Only after
that did I begin to learn the details of the science my later career
required. But it was that start in the College that eventually sent
me curving back to see how that science could be used in the study and
service of humanity.”
 CLIFFORD
J. TABIN
Cliff Tabin, AB’76 has done pioneering work in developmental biology—how
a fertilized egg gives rise to an adult animal. In particular, his work
has led to major advances in our understanding of the molecular basis
by which form and structure are regulated during vertebrate development.
Among his contributions, together with two colleagues, Professor Tabin
discovered a family of molecules, called the hedgehog genes, which are
responsible for left-right asymmetry, setting up patterns throughout
the body, including establishing differences between the left and right
sides of the body and organization of the limbs, heart, and of parts
of the brain. He is widely regarded as one of the premier developmental
biologists of our time.
Professor Tabin received his PhD in biological sciences
from MIT in 1984, and completed postdoctoral work in biochemistry at
Harvard and in molecular biology at Massachusetts General Hospital before
joining the faculty of Harvard Medical School in 1989. He has remained
at Harvard Medical School where he has won seven teaching awards including
the 2002 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. His knack for explaining
complicated genetic developments has made him a much sought-after keynote
speaker at national and international venues.
Many honors have been bestowed on Professor Tabin, including the 1999
Award in Molecular Biology from the National Academy of Sciences. In
addition to Professor Tabin’s many academic accomplishments, friends
repeatedly praised his kind heart, humility, and heroic willingness
to take risks for others.
 HAROLD
TICHO
Harold Ticho, SB’42, SM’44, PhD’49, has been a leader
in the creation and development of experimental elementary particle
physics. By contributing to the discovery of several resonances that
led to the quark elementary particle model, his work shaped current
understanding of the basic composition of matter. He was an important
member of the Nobel Prize winning research team lead by Louis Alvarez,
SB’32, SM’34, PhD’36. His own research has been recognized
with numerous awards, including two Guggenheim fellowships. His most
recent investigations dealt with electron-positron annihilations at
the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
Professor Ticho also has made significant contributions
to science education. A professor of physics at the University of California
at Los Angeles (UCLA) for 35 years, he is credited with founding and
building the institution’s program in high energy physics. A skilled
administrator, Professor Ticho chaired UCLA’s Physics Department
and served as Dean of the Physical Sciences Division. In 1983 he became
the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of California
at San Diego, where he is now Professor Emeritus. Recognized as a leader
in the academic community, Professor Ticho has served on several important
committees, including the Board of Trustees of the Universities Research
Association, and he chaired the Management committee for the Keck Telescope
and the review board of the U.S. Department of Energy’s high energy
physics program.
“I arrived in Chicago from Czechoslovakia in 1939.
My uncles did not know what to do with an utter greenhorn, but they
took a chance and sent me to the University of Chicago. Overwhelming
at first, but with courses that were a celebration of learning, lively
classmates who did not disdain a foreigner and intellectual ferment
all around, the Hutchins-era college was to me a wonderfully magical
world. Eventually I got a physics Ph.D. at the University, but it was
the undergraduate experience that shaped the way I look at the world
and truly enriched my life.”
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