Announcements

The King speech

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Watch a live webcast of the MLK Commemoration Service, featuring Judith Jamison’s keynote address, today at 3:30 p.m. CST. Learn more.

Hey, peeps, chick it out

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Can you top this chick and bunny art? Test the waters in our Peeps Diorama Contest, back by popular demand.

Laura Wunder, AB’85, tasted sweet victory in 2009 with her diorama “Peeps at the Point.” Her competition proved sticky, as entrants included the minutest of details in Nobel Prize ceremonies, UChicago film scenes, and naked polar-bear runs. See the entries, for laughs or for inspiration, on the Magazine’s Flickr set. This spring we bring back our Peeps Diorama Contest. The rules:

  1. Make a diorama using Peeps. All shapes of the sprinkled-sugar and marshmallow confections are accepted.
  2. The Peeps should portray a Maroon moment—a campus scene, a local hero, or a book, phrase, film, or production with a University connection. Originality counts.
  3. Send a high-resolution JPEG of your finished product to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu, with “Peeps Diorama Contest” in the subject line. All entries must arrive by midnight Sunday, April 3 April 10.
  4. Include your name, degree/graduation year or other UChicago affiliation, contact information, and a brief description of your scene. Puns and wordplay welcome.

Just Born candy company will send prizes to the winners, as judged by the Magazine staff. First prize: a $100 gift certificate to the Peeps & Company store, presented in a gift box with Peeps and other Just Born candies. Second place receives a $50 gift certificate to the online store, also in a gift box. Just Born has permission to post winning dioramas.

After you’ve spent hours on your installation, make sure it shows well to the judges. Longtime Magazine photographer Dan Dry offers tips on how to shoot your diorama—lighting, background, zooming, positioning, and editing.

Amy Braverman Puma

"Peeps at the Point" by Laura Wunder

By a hare’s breadth

A stolen moment captured the judges' affection in the Magazine's Peeps Diorama Contest.

By Jason Kelly


The bagpeeps and tearful parents were sweet. Court Theatre’s Peep and Bess set was a treat too (see below). But in the end, Lee Pruett’s (AB’99) depiction of the 1996 theft of former University President Hanna Gray’s portrait from Hutchinson Commons (above) gave the Magazine’s Peeps Diorama Contest judges the biggest sugar rush. So much so that we were willing to overlook an anachronism: Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf (2001) had not been published at the time. That aside, the masked-bandit bunnies—and the lookout chick—stole our hearts. All three winners will receive a gift card and a treat box from Just Born candy. Still: one does wonder how Pruett knew enough to recreate the portrait caper in such detail. She didn’t make a peep about that.

Left: The entry from Jim Vanides, father of Aaron Vanides, AB’10, captured parents’ emotions on Opening Day when dean of the College John W. Boyer, AM’69, PhD’75, declares, “Now we must divide.” (We love the tiny tissues.)

Right: The entry from Court Theatre’s Melissa Aburano-Meister; Drew Dir, AB’07; Jennifer Foughner; Brea Hayes; and Allison Rich reveals the high production—and caloric—value of Peep and Bess. (Note the circus-peanut Gershwin brothers.)

See all of this year's entries on Flickr.

Alumni receive access to online academic resources

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UChicago alumni may now connect to the EBSCO Academic Search, Business Source, and eBook databases via the Alumni & Friends Online Community.

EBSCO Academic Search provides the full text of articles from more than 3,350 academic journals, as well as indexing and abstracting for more than 8,200, covering nearly every area of academic study. EBSCO Business Source includes the full text of some 1,540 business publications, from peer-reviewed academic journals to popular magazines. eBooks are also available.

These new services, provided by the Alumni Association, address longstanding requests by alumni for access to scholarly resources that they were accustomed to using on campus via the Library’s domain-wide license. It is hoped that alumni will find the service useful when conducting independent academic or professional research.

Sign-in to the Alumni & Friends Online Community using your CNET ID to access these resources and more.