Pope.L’s impact at UChicago extended far beyond the classroom—through his groundbreaking performances, scholarship, and deep ties to Chicago’s art scene. On Aug. 27, the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry honors his legacy with a launch event for Portable Gray: The Chicago Years, featuring Theaster Gates, Mami Takahashi, and a DJ set in his honor.

Twenty-six members of the University of Chicago faculty have received distinguished service professorships or named professorships, including Hoyt Long who has been named the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the College.

UChicago annually recognizes faculty for their incredible teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students through the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, believed to be the nation’s oldest prize for undergraduate teaching; and the Faculty Awards for Excellence in Ph.D. Teaching and Mentoring, which honor faculty for their work with graduate students. Two recipients are faculty members in the Division of the Arts and Humanities: Lenore Grenoble, the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Linguistics; and Timothy Harrison, Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature and the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought.

On May 6, 13, and 20, visionary opera director Yuval Sharon will present this year’s Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin Family Lectures, produced by the Division of the Arts & Humanities at the University of Chicago. Sharon’s three lectures are titled “Anarchy at the Opera” and will explore reimagining opera not through modes of nostalgia or imitation, but through experimentation and collaboration. Sharon’s third and final lecture on May 20 will include a rare performance of John Cage’s Europera 5. The lectures and performance will be offered both for in-person and online attendance—at 6 p.m. CDT at the Logan Center for the Arts, and on Zoom.