Alumni and Student News
June 30, 2009
Matthew Rutherford, MPP'04, has been named deputy assistant secretary for federal finance by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. In this role, Rutherford will "oversee efforts to finance a budget deficit set to exceed $1.8 trillion in 2009."
Prior to his June 1 appointment at the Treasury Department, Rutherford, on loan from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, kept Geithner and senior officials updated on financial market developments. During his four years at the New York Fed, Rutherford held several advisory positions.
more >>
June 25, 2009
Bryan H. Samuels, AM'93, has been nominated for the position of Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Most recently, Samuels served as chief of staff for Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school system in the country. From 2003 to 2007, Samuels was director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. He has taught at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration, and has provided local and state governments technical assistance to improve human service delivery to vulnerable populations.
more >>
May 22, 2009
Erika Poethig, AM'96, has been appointed by President Barack Obama as deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Policy Development and Research.
Poethig is currently the associate director for housing in the program on Human and Community Development at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Before joining the MacArthur Foundation in 2001, Poethig worked at the City of Chicago's Department of Housing and at the Metropolis Project. more >>
May 22, 2009
Phylicia Lyons, MPP'06, was recently honored with the Community Renewal Society's "35 Under 35 Leadership Award." Lyons is the founder, president, and CEO of School Choice Illinois, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding educational opportunities throughout Illinois.
The 35 award recipients are committed to eliminating race and class barriers in the Chicago Metropolitan region. They were selected for their creativity and their ability to build bridges across economic, ethnic, and racial divides. more >>
April 27, 2009
Julie M. Anderson, MPP’01, was sworn in as deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday, April 14. Anderson previously served as a legislative aide to former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerry, a policy analyst at the Department of Transportation, and worked on public sector strategy at IBM Global Business Services.
April 9, 2009
Ron Davis, AM’81, MD’83, was honored last month with a posthumous lifetime achievement award by the American Legacy Foundation for his contributions to tobacco control, including smoking prevention and cessation. President of the American Medical Association from June 2007 to June 2008, Davis was a preventive medicine and public health advocate. Former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop, a friend and mentor to Davis, presented Davis’s widow, Nadine, with the award at the sixth annual America Legacy Foundation Honors ceremony in New York. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2008, Davis succumbed to the disease in November.
April 9, 2009
Barry Kozak, MPP’09, has been appointed to a two-year term on the Chicago Bar Association’s Board of Managers. The 14-member board assists the Association’s officers in the operation, policy initiatives, community outreach, and goal setting of the Chicago Bar Association.Kozak has also submitted his manuscript for a textbook and teachers manual, entitled Employee Benefit Plans: Regulatory Framework and Practical Applications, to be published by Carolina Academic Press.
April 8, 2009
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, AM’85 won the U.S. House of Representatives seat left by Rahm Emanuel. Read more >>
March 19, 2009
Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, AM’85 won the Democratic nomination in the Illinois 5th District primary on March 3. Read more >>
February 17, 2009
Study by UChicago professor Vineet Arora, AM'03 finds that patients often cannot identify their doctors. Read coverage:
"Many hospital patients can't ID their doctors," Health Day (February 13, 2009).
February, 2009
Sandeep Ahuja, MPP’06 has been invited to speak at the World Health Organization’s 2009 Stop TB Partners Forum in Rio de Janeiro. Held every five years, the conference is attended by 1,100 delegates plus health ministers and experts from over 50 countries. One of nearly 15 TB experts to speak during the conference, Sandeep will discuss Operation ASHA’s model of tuberculosis treatment, which has been included in the compilation of international best practices in TB treatment.
January 21, 2009
Alan Mascarenhas, MPP'09 comments on the Hyde Park response to President Barack Obama's inauguration. Read more >>
January 8, 2009
Sandeep Ahuja, MPP’06 discusses the work of Operation Asha in eradicating tuberculosis. Read more >>
November 10, 2008
In Memoriam: Ronald Davis, AM'81, MD'83, an alumnus of both the Harris School and the Pritzker School of Medicine, died November 6 after a ten-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Read more >>
October 2008
My’Ron McGee, MPP’07 comments on importance of education in an article on the role of young voters in the 2008 election. Read more >>
October 7, 2008
Neil Danberg, MPP'07 was recently profiled on Education Pioneer’s website. In the article, Danberg discusses his summer fellowship at the California Charter Schools Association and his current job at the Office of Management and Budget. Read more >>
October 2, 2008
Brian Jacob, PhD’01 has been named this year’s winner of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize, honoring the work of public policy researchers under the age of 40. Read more >>
September 16, 2008
Amanda Berenstein, MPP’05 provides her foreign perspective on the U.S. presidential election. Read more >>
September 11, 2008
Vineet Arora, AM’03 comments on doctors who make fun of patients. Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times and on ABC News.
June 27, 2008
Rick Mattoon, AM’85 comments on the potential economic effects of the Midwest floods. Read more >>
June 12, 2008
Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, MPP'96 comments on foreign interest in the U.S. presidential election. Read more >>
June 2, 2008
Mark Joseph, AM'04, PhD'02 comments on mixed-income housing on Chicago Public Radio. Listen >>
May 8, 2008
Tamara Robinson, MPP'05 educates students on the political process aboard the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 bus. Read more >>
April 24, 2008
Phylicia Lyons, MPP'06 participates in a panel discussion at the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools. Read more >>
April 22, 2008
Antonio Plascencia, Jr. interviewed as part of Loyola Marymount admission campaign
Second-year MPP student Antonio Plascencia, Jr. was featured in an article compiled by Loyola Marymount University's Office of Alumni Relations, as part of their 2008 Admission Campaign. Read more >>
March 20, 2008
Tabassum Haleem on Women in Islam
Second-year MPP student and executive director of the Organization of Islamic Speakers Midwest Tabassum Haleem spoke about woman in Islam in Elgin, IL on March 10. Part of the Gail Borden Public Library's Tapestry of Freedom programming for National Women's History Month. Haleem discussed Western stereotypes of Muslim women and their circumstances around the world. Haleem will speak on April 11 (again in Elgin) about the roots of Islam in America.
Read coverage of her talk: "Shedding light on women in Islam," The Courier News, March 19, 2008.
March 17, 2008
MPP Student Kyle Gracey on Clinton Global Initiative Conference
First-year student Kyle Gracey was one of 600 student leaders who recently attended a conference focused on solutions for global problems and organized by the Clinton Global Initiative in New Orleans. The conference was centered around four areas: energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace, and poverty alleviation. Gracey was invited to participate because of his role on the steering committee of SustainUS, an organization that seeks to advance sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States.
Listen to his interview on WGN Radio.
February 29, 2008
Tackling Tuberculosis among the World's Poorest
Sandeep Ahuja, MPP'06 and Dr. Shelly Batra spent this month in Chicago teaching a mini-course to Harris School students and spreading the word about their battle against tuberculosis in India. "We have taken a new paradigm," said Batra, a surgeon and president of Operation Asha, speaking to Harris School alumni last week. "We are taking TB treatments to the doorstep of slum dwellers." Read more.
January 31, 2008
Alumna Tanya Bodell appointed Vice Chair of an International Chamber of Commerce Committee
Tanya Bodell, MPP'93 has been named vice chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Standing Committee of the International Centre for Expertise. Bodell, appointed for a three-year term, is vice president with CRA International, a finance, economics, and business strategy consulting firm. Read more.
June 21, 2007
Alumnus John Gallagher, MPP'04 named White House Fellow
John Gallagher, a major in the U.S. Army and an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point, has been named a 2007-2008 White House Fellow. He serves as the director of West Point's national-merit scholarship program, president of the West Point chapter of the National Honor Society, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In addition to a degree from the Harris School, Gallagher earned a second master's degree in political theory from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from West Point. Read more.
Contact Information
Eleanor Cartelli
Associate Director of Publications
Phone: 773-834-4752
Email: cartelli@uchicago.edu
