The social sciences are the means by which we come to understand the world in which we live. Among many avenues of research, division faculty and students are studying the current moment in politics and democracy in the United States. This issue of Dialogo explores how those interests span disciplines. In the Common Ground conversation, Kathleen Belew (History) and Eric Oliver (Political Science) discuss their recent books, and in the feature, Cathy Cohen (Political Science), Mark Hansen (Political Science), and James Sparrow (History) address how they incorporate current events in their undergraduate courses.
Also in this issue, we highlight the many awards faculty have received in just the last few months, including Margaret Beale Spencer’s (Comparative Human Development) election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; Robert Pippin’s (Social Thought) Guggenheim fellowship; Jonathan Lear’s (Social Thought) and Roger Myerson’s (Economics) election to the American Philosophical Society; and Ben Lessing’s (Political Science) and Michael Greenstone’s (Economics) Carnegie fellowships. Please join me in congratulating each of them for these distinguished achievements.
As you’ll note in the Campaign Update, President Robert J. Zimmer announced in early May that The University of Chicago Campaign: Inquiry and Impact target of $5 billion has been achieved, with seven months remaining in the Campaign. On behalf of the Division’s faculty and students, thank you for helping make this remarkable achievement possible, and thank you too for your continuing and future support of our efforts.
Looking ahead, next spring, the Division will cohost an event celebrating the life and legacy of Allison Davis, PhD’42 (Anthropology), a groundbreaking scholar who was the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor in Education and the first African-American professor to receive tenure at the University of Chicago. I invite you to learn more about Professor Davis by reading David Varel’s The Lost Black Scholar, and I look forward to sharing more details about the program in the fall.
For alumni and friends in the Los Angeles area, please mark your calendar for Sunday, September 15. Greg Kaplan, professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, will discuss his pioneering work on economic inequality. Invitations will be sent in early July.
And during summer, please keep up-to-date on our latest news, research findings, events, and other accomplishments by following us on Twitter and Facebook.
With best wishes,
Amanda Woodward
Dean, Division of the Social Sciences
William S. Gray Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology
