Play was once thought to be something only humans did. But animal behavior expert Gordon Burghardt, SB’63, PhD’66, has dedicated has career to studying how animals play and experience emotions. https://bit.ly/4mpFB6u
All year UChicagoans and industry professionals have been coming together to celebrate the games they love, expand knowledge, and play. The Magazine took part in some of the many events the Year of Games has had to offer. https://bit.ly/3NWgNWV
Ever wondered what it takes to restore a pond from the mud up? UChicago’s Botany Pond now boasts native fish, turtles, blooming lilies, and islands for wildlife—and plenty to delight human visitors, too. Follow its journey: https://bit.ly/4dyET4p
Two people observe a jar filled with liquid outdoors near a pond and trees. One person holds the jar while pointing at its contents. The setting appears to be a garden or park.
“Most people don’t find copepods terribly charismatic. I do—I think they’re very cute. I could watch these guys all day.” Professor Michael LaBarbera shares the microscopic magic behind Botany Pond’s rebirth. Dive into all the tiny details: mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/how-rebu...
President Paul Alivisatos, AB’81, reflects on the powerful traditions and bold ambitions that define the University of Chicago. Learn more about his vision for the University’s next chapter: https://bit.ly/4soiuuo
Cover of the Spring 2026 Core magazine. Featuring a line drawing of Robert Maynard Hutchins reading a magazine or book and petting a large dog.
Out now: the Spring/26 issue of The Core! Check out an oral history of the Hutchins College, a Harper Library update, lessons from learning math as an adult, dispatches from Barcelona, and much more. mag.uchicago.edu/issue/spring...
Cover of the Spring 2026 University of Chicago Magazine. With an illustration of the main quads imagined as a video game.
The Spring/26 issue of the Magazine is here, featuring an interview with President Paul Alivisatos, AB’81; a Botany Pond update; a celebration of games; My Rich BFF; SNL sketches; animals’ inner lives; Irish romance fiction; and much more. mag.uchicago.edu/current-issue
“What has amazed me is the extent to which people’s stories are grounded in their ability to negotiate the contradictions in their own lives.” Read about how Alphine Jefferson, AB’73, became an oral historian. https://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/true-story
“Mr. Axelrod. It appears you never fulfilled your freshman swimming requirement,” read a message to David Axelrod, AB’76, from the registrar. On attending the College during a tumultuous era and graduating on time: https://bit.ly/4sv48sz
The Game Music Ensemble is seriously committed to performing music from digital media. The group’s repertoire includes music from video games, anime, television, and film. “This is just where music is right now,” says codirector Matthew Ahmon, Class of 2027. https://bit.ly/4stozG8
On October 9 alumni around the world participated in UChicago Alumni’s Global Pub Trivia Night. Try your hand at some of this year’s questions, written by Amara Balan, AB’20; Al Shah, AB’20; and Bailey Street, AB’20. https://bit.ly/4bbhbbG
“Look up from your phone at the universe!” Edward W. “Rocky” Kolb is our Winter/26 UChicagoan. Read the full Q&A with the cosmologist and former dean of the Physical Sciences Division: mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/edward-... Illustration by Aaron Sacco.
Randomized controlled trials are often seen as the gold standard for measuring impact. But Crown Family School professors Nicole P. Marwell and Jennifer E. Mosley argue that the dominance of RCTs in social policy is harming nonprofits https://bit.ly/3OSZ9Ds
Allison Morehead, PhD’07, recently curated the exhibition Lifeblood at MUNCH in Oslo, Norway, showing how Edvard Munch’s art interacted with the development of modern medicine. Learn more and read about other alumni whose names are in the news: https://bit.ly/46Jlzx0
“No one has edited The Canterbury Tales with more care,” says Christina von Nolcken, associate professor of English, of Edith Rickert, PhD 1899. Rickert was a novelist, medievalist, and code breaker, and she’s now the subject of a new biography by von Nolcken. https://bit.ly/4b4qSZi
Michael Swiatek, MBA’91, describes himself as “a business executive who happens to be blind/low vision.” As chief strategy officer and chief accessibility officer at the Abra Group, his work involves making air travel more accessible. Read the full interview: https://bit.ly/4t2tP4D
As copresidents of the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression Student Board, Snyder and Syed Ahmad are responsible for organizing events for students that foster free expression on campus. https://bit.ly/3YWwPSu
In a context where there are no risk-free choices, UChicago professor of geophysical sciences David Keith believes geoengineering deserves serious consideration as a tool to combat climate change. https://bit.ly/4agfDO3
Cults, machines, jazz, and more. Check out a selection of alumni releases: https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/releases-63
“After hearing my classmates’ stories of goals accomplished and accolades earned over those 10 years, I couldn’t help feeling a little insecure,” writes Xavier Serrani, AB’14. “I’ve had this nagging thought: Did I miss the aims of education?” https://bit.ly/3NA5CSY
Photograph of installations by Theaster Gates in an art gallery. In the foreground, a raised platform with stairs holds African sculptures, ceramics, and display cases. In the background, a sloped slate roof covers a wall to the right, and to the left, there is a bookcase and a long file cabinet.
On Arts and Humanities Day art enthusiasts took a tour of the campus buildings from which Theaster Gates sourced materials for the Smart Museum exhibition Theaster Gates: Unto Thee. Read about the tour and the day's events: https://bit.ly/49uOOV2
On Arts and Humanities Day in October, the University threw open its doors to the city and to artists and thinkers of every stripe. Read the Magazine’s dispatches from the day. https://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/broad-spectrum
In late 2023 the University shared a plan to reduce its budget deficit. Two years later, those measures have succeeded in shrinking the deficit substantially. University officers address those efforts, the University’s endowment, changes in federal research funding, and more. https://bit.ly/3LxmUzD
Hand holding a small, shrubby plant against a sunny, green background.
What’s that little plant on our Winter/26 cover? “You might say it’s a sedge only an ecologist could love,” writes Carrie Golus, AB’91, AM’93. Read more about the unlikely plants found growing on slag in the Calumet region. https://bit.ly/3LA9dQs
Slag is a byproduct of steelmaking. Dumped while molten, “it killed everything it touched, then hardened into a substance similar to asphalt.” But today UChicago alumnae are making the case that slag sites are novel ecosystems, valuable in themselves. https://bit.ly/3LA9dQs
Cover of the Winter 2026 issue of The University of Chicago Magazine. Features a photograph of a hand holding a small, shrubby plant against a sunny green background.
The Winter/26 issue is here, with stories about novel ecosystems, geoengineering, airline accessibility, game music, a Chaucer scholar and codebreaker, and much more. https://bit.ly/3NcPiHJ
Two decades ago Jacqueline Stewart, AM’93, PhD’99, began collecting amateur videos from Chicagoans on the South Side. Today the South Side Home Movie Project includes over 1,200 reels of footage documenting life in Chicago and more. mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanit...
Artist Amanda Williams, LAB’92, worked with UChicago chemists to recreate a hundred-year-old blue pigment invented by George Washington Carver. mag.uchicago.edu/university-n...
Patricia Manzolillo, AB’92, came from a Post Office family. Since 1996, she’s worked for USPS’s law enforcement arm, the United States Postal Inspection Service, helping to prevent crimes that involve the mail. mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-s...
In policy challenges at the IOP, Harris Public Policy, and the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, UChicago students compete to find creative solutions to real-world problems. mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/shark-ta...