Dan Bulla, AM’07, has made his mark on Saturday Night Live with his music-driven digital shorts. At the show’s 50th anniversary, he joined Adam Sandler onstage to perform a song they cowrote. Read about Bulla’s comedy career: https://bit.ly/4ecV06d @uchicagoalumni.bsky.social

A surfing legend, Jesus Springs, anomalies, barbarism—Check out a selection of recent books by UChicago faculty https://bit.ly/3QCTdzA

“Almost all humor involves some kind of deception, involves some kind of trickery, some kind of misdirection,” says linguist Jason Riggle. In The Language of Deception and Humor, students explored how these two modes interact and help us make meaning. https://bit.ly/4g9nD6Y

Artist and critic Maria Porges, MFA'79, began making ceramic sculptures again after teaching a course on the history of ceramics during the pandemic. https://bit.ly/4oqPNfV @uchicagoalumni.bsky.social

“I hope the more time you spend with me, the better you become, whether that’s smarter, richer, or feeling more stable. I want to leave people better than I found them,” says Vivian Tu, AB’16, aka Your Rich BFF. https://bit.ly/4eiLmiu @uchicagoalumni.bsky.social

“We’re not dealing with a regular trivia audience. We’re dealing with people who are used to being the smartest person in the room. They’re very willing to argue.” Three alumni discuss the art of writing for Global Pub Trivia Night. https://bit.ly/4vamD7i @uchicagoalumni.bsky.social

“If you don’t understand the political institutions in a society,” says economist and political scientist James A. Robinson, “there’s no way to make sense of the economic outcomes that they generate.” https://bit.ly/3S2S5FU

“A lot of these plants we’re seeing here are adapted to blooming early in the spring, using stored nutrients. They put leaves up, they bloom, they produce seeds, they disappear.” Tour Jackson Park’s flowering ephemerals with Professor Emeritus Michael LaBarbera https://bit.ly/3QigN4C

Bridge, Washington Prom, jazz clubs, Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap: Get swept away in the social whirl of the Hutchins College https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/university-utopia

Could you make the grade in the Hutchins College? Try your hand at a selection of comprehensive exam questions from 1937. https://bit.ly/4uwzjEP

“You took one test for every class. That was it, that was your grade. So if you weren’t feeling well that day, too bad,” says Marion Shorts, AB’46. Could you handle Hutchins-era comprehensive exams? Read about student life in the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

“A full four years of liberal arts is good for a person. At least that was what they made us think at the University of Chicago. And I think they were right,” says Ken Green, SB’59. Read about the Great Books–based curriculum in the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

“I was 14. I wasn’t the youngest,” says Coleman Seskind, AB’55, SB’56, SM’59, MD’59. Entrance to the Hutchins College didn’t require a high school diploma, and young teens studied alongside WWII and Korean War veterans. Read about student life in the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

Robert Maynard Hutchins was just 30 when, in 1929, he became president of UChicago. The “boy wonder,” as the press nicknamed him had the longest tenure of any University leader to date. Read an oral history of the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

Just sent the Spring/26 issue of The Core to press. That’s Robert Maynard Hutchins on the cover, drawn by his wife, artist and novelist Maude Hutchins. He led the U of Chicago from 1929 to 1951 and made all kinds of radical educational experiments.

“A university that is not controversial is not a university,” wrote Robert Maynard Hutchins, who led UChicago from 1929 to 1951, introducing bold innovations that transformed the College. Read an oral history of the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

What’s on the cover of The Core? It’s a drawing of Robert Maynard Hutchins by his wife, Maude Hutchins, an artist and novelist. Read an oral history of the Hutchins College https://bit.ly/4uwvG1F

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Seymour Hersh, AB’58, is the subject of the new Netflix documentary Cover-Up. Learn more and read about other @uchicagoalumni whose names are in the news: https://bit.ly/3QVpuBR

“Learning essential for a Republic must not only look internally but also be receptive to the world and strengthened by its exchange with other parts of the globe.” UChicago College Dean Melina Hale, PhD’98, reflects on the civic nature of higher education: mag.uchicago.edu/university-n...

Did you know Chicago Booth’s Harper Center houses more than 650 pieces of contemporary art? Join Professor Canice Prendergast for a faculty tour of this hidden campus gallery. https://bit.ly/4tHk37Q

Two years ago, Harper Library’s vast reading room contained no books. Today, the shelves are bursting with donated volumes. Discover Harper Library’s one-of-a-kind and ever-changing collection. https://bit.ly/4bZDrH1

Play along: Try your hand at a crossword puzzle by Eli Lowe, Class of 2027. https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/self-reflection

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

“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: https://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/how-rebuild-pond

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

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...

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: https://mag.uchicago.edu/science-medicine/edward-w-rocky-kolb 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

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

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

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...