Humanities Division Returns to Rockefeller Chapel for 536th Convocation

The Humanities Division celebrated its first Convocation ceremony in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel since 2019.

While many still wore masks, graduates celebrated their first Division of the Humanities Convocation ceremony on June 3 in Rockefeller Chapel since 2019 with unequaled joy. It was finally time for the graduates, faculty members, families, and colleagues to move back to a familiar arena, which their pandemic experiences made the celebration more poignant.

“We were delighted to be back in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel commemorating the accomplishments of our graduates and looking toward their bright futures,”
said Anne Walters Robertson, Dean of the Division of the Humanities. “In my experience, the excitement, appreciation, and gratitude of this year’s graduates was unparalleled.”

In addition to celebrating the achievements of more than 150 graduating students with master’s and doctoral degrees, four leaders in the Humanities Division, including Dean Robertson and Dean of Students Shea Wolfe, recognized nine students and faculty members for their achievements.

How Teaching Film Inspired a UChicago Scholar to Bridge Media and Legal Studies

Salome Skvirsky

From George Floyd to Laquan McDonald, video evidence has galvanized public reaction in recent cases of police violence. For University of Chicago scholar Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky, representations of police have also become an important subject of interdisciplinary study. As part of her new book project, she will explore how the disciplinarity-specific resources of cinema and media studies can also inform case law.

As a cinema and media scholar, Skvirsky thinks a lot about the evidentiary status of lens-based photographic recordings and the nature of point of view in the moving-image media. She hopes to bring some of the considerable theoretical insights that have been developed in cinema and media studies on the topic of point of view to legal discourses on body and dashboard cameras, as well as on citizen sousveillant filming practices.

“My hope is to develop scholarship that can serve as a bridge between cinema and media studies and legal studies,” she said.

Salikoko Mufwene Elected to American Philosophical Society

Salikoko Mufwene

Renowned University of Chicago linguist Salikoko S. Mufwene has been elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States.

Mufwene is among the 37 new members honored this year from a wide variety of academic disciplines. The 2022 class was announced May 25.

The Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Linguistics and the College, Mufwene is one of the leading names in the world on the emergence of creoles and on globalization and language.

UChicago Instructors, Grad Students Honored in 2022 for Exceptional Teaching

Spring on the UChicago Hyde Park campus

The University of Chicago has honored nine instructors and graduate students for their exceptional work as teachers. Nominated by undergraduates in the College, these winners demonstrated the ability to push students to think beyond the classroom, and to share their disciplines in exciting ways.

Anne Beal, Benjamin Callard, Trevor Hyde, John Kennedy and Veronica Vegna have been awarded the Glenn and Claire Swogger Award for Exemplary Classroom Teaching, which recognizes outstanding teachers with College appointments who introduce students to habits of scholarly thinking, inquiry and engagement in the Core Curriculum—the College’s general education program.

Ian Bongalonta, Karlyn Gorski, Peishu Li and Marguerite Sandholm have been named the 2022 winners of the Wayne C. Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching, awarded annually to University of Chicago graduate students for outstanding instruction of undergraduates. 

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